Ottumwa Courier's Strait reports
Pat Buchanan, on a swing through IA, said he was taking advantage of his second time in Ottumwa to get southern Iowans interested in the 8/14 Ames straw poll. Buchanan also spoke about his differences with George W. Bush, and in reiterating his opposition to NAFTA, Buchanan linked the trade pact to babies afflicted with drug-related complications.
Buchanan: "And that's in part a result of the
NAFTA trade treaty where these trucks are pulling up to Mexico
and the illegal immigrants are bringing in these drugs. So
that's another area where I disagree with Mr. Bush" (6/22). Buchanan 6/21 charged that IA's
"methamphetamine problem has been worsened" by a U.S. trade policy that increases the flow of goods between the U.S. and Mexico. After touring a Des Moines halfway house,
Buchanan said support for NAFTA is "a defining
issue in the race for the White House."
Buchanan added that both Bush and Al Gore back the trade pact, and that Bush is "a Xerox copy of Clinton-Gore" on trade. But a spokesman for the WH drug policy office said there is "no empirical evidence" to back Buchanan's charge, maintaining "it's all speculation" (Claflin, Des Moines Register, 6/22).
CORONATION STREET
Buchanan
"pledged an intense grass-roots campaign" in IA this summer, saying a strong showing at the Ames straw poll will "derail the 'coronation' planned by" GOPers.
Buchanan: "Now the
establishment is telling us who we must nominate again, and they
had a coronation set up with George Bush. We're going to tell
the people of Iowa, 'take back your caucus from the Republican
establishment.'" Buchanan added that Bush
"was making 'a mistake' by looking past the GOP primary season. As a result, he said, GOP activists are more likely to be swayed by the hard-line conservatism of candidates like himself." More
Buchanan: "I couldn't find a better foil. I really think it's time we nominate someone from the heart and soul of the party" (Glover, AP, 6/22).
THIRD PARTY TALK
Rev. Jerry Falwell, on speculation that Buchanan may run for the Reform Party nomination: "Ross Perot was the one responsible in '92 for taking 19 percentage points away from George Bush, making it impossible for the Republican to win, and we owe it to Mr. Perot that -- Bill Clinton for the last six years. And I believe that if Pat Buchanan decides to go that route, and Pat's my good friend ... if he goes with the Reform Party, will assure Al Gore or another Clinton-like president" ("Hannity & Colmes," FNC, 6/21).
Manchester Union-Leader editorial:
"Those who believe that Gov. George W. 'Juggernaut' Bush would march triumphantly into the (GOP) nomination and then take on Al Gore, mano a mano, in the general election might be a bit premature in that
assessment." The presidential Election 2000 "could be a three-way slugfest." This speculation is "being fueled by the (GOP) establishment's effort to turn the nomination into
a coronation.
It is obvious to all that the GOP establishment wants to keep the
conservative riffraff and populist rabble-rousers well clear of
the very proper garden party honoring his royal highness, George
II. ... The success of Jesse Ventura's Reform Party gubernatorial
run in (MN) has been interpreted by some as the first tremors in
a coming political earthquake." Conservatives are
"frustrated
with what they see as their party's unwillingness to fight for
the issues dear to them. Their anger is not directed so much at
(Dems) ... as it is at wobbly (GOPers) who are too willing to go
along rather than fight. With narrow majorities, especially in
the House, the defection of a handful of jellyfish (GOPers) is
enough to kill the conservative agenda." GOP
"graybeards, ... must not underestimate or dismiss the intensity of the anger on the party's right wing. It is real, runs deep and may
run to a third party" (Lessner, 6/22).
