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AT DAIRY FARM, CANDIDATE TOUTS TRADE By Mary Rae Bragg Telegraph Herald - http://www.thonline.com/ June 24, 1999

Dubuque stop: At a dairy farm, candidate touts trade and asks for straw poll support The barn at Dick and Jenny Oberbroeckling's farm holds plenty of hay bales, but it was straw polls that held Pat Buchanan's interest Wednesday. The conservative commentator stopped by the Oberbroecklings' to get firsthand dairy farm experience while in Dubuque recruiting support for his Republican presidential campaign. Speaking to an informal gathering of farm families sheltered in the barn, Buchanan made points by decrying the North American Free Trade Agreement's negative impact on America's farmers. Buchanan assured his audience that he is the only candidate, Republican or Democrat, to have steadfastly opposed NAFTA. "NAFTA is in the process of leveling the American dairy farmer, period," he said. It has allowed New Zealand to ship cheaper milk products into the United States through Mexico, creating unfair competition for American farmers, he said. If they believe in his message, they need to cast a vote for him at the Aug. 14 Iowa Republican Party's straw poll in Ames, Buchanan said. Doing well in the straw poll is critical if he is to surge ahead in the crowded field of primary candidates. Located among verdant hills a few miles west of Key West, the Oberbroeckling 240-acre dairy farm was a picture-perfect location for a photo-opportunity. Buchanan, accompanied by his wife, Shelley, made the most of the opportunity. Changing from a dress shirt and tie into a sport shirt, the candidate gamely set about feeding a hungry 3-week-old Holstein calf. "Help me out in case that thing comes after me," Buchanan kidded the swarm of youngsters escorting him to the calf. In between chats with the adults and sound bites for the media, Buchanan answered questions posed by Ethan Watters, 9, whose family operates a farm on North Cascade Road. "I'm running for president and the president ought to know something about what folks do," Buchanan said, explaining his visit to the farm. No, he told Ethan, he didn't grow up on a farm, but there were ones nearby when he was growing up in Washington, D.C. Leading the entourage into his dairy barn, Dick Oberbroeckling explained the operation, answering Buchanan's questions. Oberbroeckling said he was most troubled by regulations that require his milk to meet higher sanitary standards than milk produced in New Zealand. As a longtime NAFTA foe, Buchanan did not have to work hard to make friends among the farmers, whose products' worth has fallen steadily since the agreement's inception. Earlier in the morning, his anti-NAFTA message also drew support from about 40 Buchanan supporters he met at the Holiday Inn Dubuque Five Flags. He urged each person there to recruit five more people to join in voting for him at the August straw poll. "If we can make a really dramatic showing in Iowa, we can shake the establishment up," he said, referring to the GOP leadership. Talking to a reporter earlier, Buchanan called his opposition to NAFTA and the United States' military involvement in Kosovo the defining differences between him and the other GOP candidates. Before his volunteers, Buchanan spoke of his unwavering support for the Right-to-Life movement. He drew loud cheers as he called for American troops to be withdrawn from around the world and used, instead, to stop illegal aliens from crossing the United States' borders. He also called for term limits for state and federal judges, abolishment of the inheritance tax, a lower capital gains tax and death sentences for drug kingpins.