A Third Try For Buchanan

Pat Buchanan, the fiery conservative who shook the Republican establishment with his combative rhetoric in 1996, will launch his third presidential bid Tuesday, associates said Thursday.

Buchanan scheduled a "major announcement" in the state of New Hampshire, scene of his greatest triumphs. Aides said he intended to announce his candidacy for the presidency.

A statement faxed to news organizations under the letterhead "Buchanan 2000" said he would then embark on visits to Iowa, Louisiana, Alaska, and North and South Dakota—all states that hold early presidential caucuses or primaries.

Buchanan, who is 60, took a leave of absence from his job as host of the CNN program Crossfire earlier this week.

An aggressive campaigner, Buchanan had a major impact in both his previous campaigns. In 1992 he won 37 percent of the vote in the crucial New Hampshire primary, badly hurting then President George Bush.

He went one better in 1996, winning New Hampshire and almost pushing frontrunner Bob Dole out of the race.

"Pat Buchanan has a good chance of reassembling his coalition. The Republican establishment has consistently underestimated him," said Terry Jeffrey, Buchanan's campaign manager in 1996, who isn't working for him this time.

A Buchanan candidacy, appealing to religious conservatives, could badly hurt the rival campaigns of former Vice President Dan Quayle and conservative activist Gary Bauer, who are positioning themselves to vie for the same votes.

Apart from Quayle and Bauer, six other Republicans have already set up campaign committees. Three more powerful potential candidates are expected to join the contest: Texas Gov. George W. Bush, former Cabinet secretary Elizabeth Dole, and multimillionaire publisher Steve Forbes.

With Buchanan in the race, Forbes, who is about to launch his second bid for the presidency within the next few days, may find it more difficult to win the support of the religious right.

Buchanan would also be expected to challenge Bush, whom, like his father, he regards as a moderate in disguise who would drag the Republican Party away from conservatism and toward the political center.

Buchanan gained his success in 1996 with a populist message, which mixed economic protectionism with a conservative social agenda, including staunch opposition to abortion.

But he sometimes gets carried away by his own rhetoric, as when he called on "peasants with pitchforks" to storm the Republican establishment and take over the party.

Buchanan rejected his party's historic support for free trade. He charged that the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico has cost tens of thousands of American workers their jobs. He also vowed to get tough with China and Japan to eliminate the U.S. trade deficit.

But he was unable to broaden his appeal beyond the right wing of the Republican Party. Viewed by may Americans as a polarizing figure, Buchanan has been accused of holding anti-Semitic views, a charge he vehemently denies.

Buchanan is a former White House speechwriter who used to boast of being "a graduate of the Richard Nixon school of politics." He also worked as White House communications director under former President Ronald Reagan.

By Alan Elsner