Buchanan's Heart's With The GOP

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, June 19) -- The Taxpayer Party may still be trying to get conservative commentator Pat Buchanan on its presidential ticket, but Buchanan is showing no signs of leaving the GOP.

"I intend to go to the (San Diego]) convention as a Republican and I hope to leave as one," Buchanan said in a statement Tuesday.

But Taxpayer Party leader Howard Phillips is trying to pull Buchanan onto the third-party ticket, banking on GOP divisions that may alienate more conservative members from the party.

Phillips noted that although Buchanan declined a spot on the Taxpayer's Ticket, likely GOP nominee Bob Dole has since called for a "declaration of tolerance" on abortion in the Republican platform, a move that angered many party conservatives.

Buchanan will go to the GOP convention to fight for preserving the anti-abortion plank in the platform and see that Dole picks a suitably conservative running mate, said Buchanan's campaign press secretary Greg Mueller.

"We're miles away from making any decision on supporting ... Dole," said Mueller.

Phillips said Buchanan wants to stay in the Republican Party so he can seek the GOP nomination in four years. But Phillips is hoping Dole's "big tent" will collapse, sending fed-up conservatives to the Taxpayer Party's Aug. 15-18 convention -- also in San Diego.

"We don't want people who are unhappy with Republicans to have too far to walk," Phillips said. Ross Perot's Reform Party is also considering a convention on the West Coast, tentatively scheduled for the weekend before the Republicans' Aug. 12-15 convention.

The Taxpayer's Party, founded in 1992, will be on the ballot in at least 30 states this year, Phillips said. "Sore-loser" statutes could keep Buchanan, if he appeared on the Taxpayer's ticket, off the ballot in Colorado, Mississippi, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and South Dakota. Such state laws prevent a person who sought a party's nomination in the primary season from running in the fall as an independent or third party candidate. The Taxpayer's Party is currently challenging the Texas law.

Phillips said if Buchanan remains in the GOP, the Taxpayer's Party might nominate James Dobson, founder of the grassroots organization Focus on the Family, a group that emphasizes moral values. But he said after a recent four-hour conversation with Buchanan and his sister and campaign manager Bay Buchanan, Phillips had the impression that a weakened GOP stance on abortion and sufficient campaign resources on the part of the Taxpayer's Party could cause Buchanan to seriously consider the third-party bid.

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Buchanan's Heart's With The GOP

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