Politics

Bauer's Hat Is In The Ring

April 21, 1999 / 1:29 PM EDT / AP

Social conservative Gary Bauer declared his candidacy for the presidency Wednesday by telling students at his former high school that the killings in a Colorado school fit a pattern of "despair, violence and death" that he hopes to reverse for America.

"This country can be better than it is today; I intend to make it better," Bauer said.

Bauer decided to shelve huge chunks of his prepared text to focus on the shootings in Littleton, Colo., where 15 people were killed.

The text made clear that Bauer is betting that his hardscrabble background, tax-cut plans and morality-bound foreign policies will set him apart in the crowded presidential field.

"Virtue is in free fall," he said, and cannot be reclaimed for America without a family-friendly national agenda.

"Reverence and respect are disappearing, and the question before us is: Will the family, as well?" the Republican said. "We clobber it with taxes; we marginalize it with judicial decrees; we undermine it with hostile policies and redefine it with trendy ideas."

The son of a janitor, Bauer, 52, returned to the blue-collar river town across the Ohio from Cincinnati to underscore empathy for Americans of all classes and races. "God's light shines for all," he said.

Several hundred students and local residents nearly filled the Newport High School gymnasium, which reverberated with loud cheers and country music. Without fireworks and sports stars, Bauer's announcement lacked the flash and energy that accompanied former Vice President Dan Quayle's opening a week ago.

But his emotional, off-the-cuff remarks drew thunderous applause several times.

"You and I know that despite ... a Dow Jones Industrial Average over 10,000, a growing economy and despite all of the things to our credit, you and I know there is something wrong in America," Bauer told the crowd.

Little-known outside Washington, the former Reagan White House adviser made his name in the nation's capital by running conservative political organizations.

He has a wide fund-raising base and deep roots in the social conservative community, but still is considered a long-odds candidate for the 2000 GOP nomination. He raised an impressive $1.4 million in the first quarter of 1999, though the campaign has already spent much of it.

Bauer must outpace several other candidates competing for the same votes and convince increasingly pragmatic social conservatives that he could win a general election.

"They want to see a candidate that not only communicates their issues, but also a candidate who can win," said Randy Tate, executive director of the Christian Coalition.

Former Vice President Dan Quayle, political commentator Pat Buchanan, radio broadcaster Alan Keyes, New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith, millionaire businessman Steve Forbes and Bauer are competing for the same base.

Bauer's strength is is knack for communicating the values of grassroots conservatives, particularly on abortion.

"I stand, without apology, for the right of the voiceless and defenseless to take their first breath, and be welcomed into the world," he said.

He pledged to introduce legislation making unborn children protected by the 14th Amendment.