Politics

Buchanan And Trump Jilt GOP

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

October 24, 1999 / 2:37 PM EDT / CBS

With a pledge to shake up American politics, presidential candidate Pat Buchanan announced Monday that he's bolting the Republican Party after 40 years to seek the Reform Party nomination.

Real estate tycoon Donald Trump also joined the Reform Party on Monday, but made no announcement about his presidential ambitions.

"We are here to make a little bit of history, my friends," Buchanan told a group of at least 300 supporters. "I'm ending my lifelong membership in the Republican Party, and ending my campaign nomination and declaring my intention to seek the nomination of the presidency of the United States."

The pugnacious conservative commentator, whose insurgent campaigns hobbled Republican front-runners in 1992 and 1996, formally announced his defection in Falls Church, Va.

Standing Pat?
A new image for the veteran campaigner. Click here for a Salon.com feature .

GOP presidential campaign never broke out of the single digits in polls, and he had trouble raising money.

CBS News Correspondent Phil Jones reports that the Republican front-runner, George W. Bush, said Monday that he was confident that the vast majority of conservatives will stay in the party, the same view expressed by Lyn Nofziger, a former Buchanan supporter.

"I think they will stay in the party, because people don't like to throw a vote away," Nofziger said.

Buchanan is not assured of the nomination. In fact, war has broken out. Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, the party's highest elected official, is now rethinking his options.

Trump, meanwhile, wasted no time attacking Buchanan.

"He's got a certain group of little wacky people on the very far right," Trump said.

Trump, who said talk show host Oprah Winfrey would be an ideal running mate, has not announced whether he will seek the Reform Party nomination. The casino owner has said he would do so if he was sure he could win.

Watching all this bloodletting is Ross Perot, who has tried twice before to reach the White House through his Reform Party. Before it's over, he may decide to run again.