Buchanan Gets The Cash

Pat Buchanan became $12.6 million richer Thursday.

The Federal Election Commission voted unanimously to award his presidential campaign the money the Reform Party is due, and the Treasury wired him the full amount just hours later.

"I'm feeling rich," said Buchanan's sister and campaign chairwoman, Bay Buchanan. "We're thrilled. It's been a long time coming, but we're ready to get this campaign kick-started."

The Reform Party was due the money because of the 1996 election showing of party founder Ross Perot, who won 8 percent of the national vote that year.

Iowa physicist John Hagelin had also sought the money, contending that he and not Buchanan was the real Reform Party nominee. He had planned to appeal the FEC ruling to a federal court but now has decided to drop his challenge.

"It got to be too time consuming," said Hagelin's spokesman, Bob Roth.

The Hagelin campaign also was deterred by the previous day's ruling by a California Superior Court judge who declared Buchanan the party's true candidate and ordered Hagelin to stop campaigning as such. Hagelin will abide by that order but will continue to run for the presidency, Roth said.

"John Hagelin has emerged as the leader of this reform movement, and now with the support of Ross Perot, his strength will only grow in American politics," Roth said.

The Buchanan campaign plans to use their new money to help pay legal fees incurred in the party infighting. Some money also will go to campaign staffers who helped get Buchanan's name on state ballots nationwide.

Money will go toward advertising, too, said Bay Buchanan.

A pair of radio ads that already have been paid for were scheduled to air through the weekend in South Carolina and Michigan, the two states that will lead off Buchanan's campaign tour next week. One of the ads is an anti-abortion message, the other focuses on workers.

Buchanan's first stop on Monday will be in South Carolina at Bob Jones University.