At each stop during his weeklong campaign travels through Iowa, Pat Buchanan said he had to fight off suggestions that he bolt the GOP for the Reform Party.
"At least one person brings it up at every meeting," the conservative commentator said Saturday. "Some say 'go.' And some say 'stay.' "
For now, Buchanan pledges fidelity to his vows to the Republican Party, a relationship he compares to a 35-year marriage. But his commitment will last only as long as the party stays faithful to its anti-abortion platform, he said.
>"I tell them, 'I'm a Republican. I'm running as a Republican. I'm going to be in primaries, and I expect to win the Republican nomination.' "
Buchanan's blend of cultural conservatism, America-first foreign policy and trade protectionism has never been a comfortable fit for business-oriented Republicans.
Some of his supporters have argued that Jesse Ventura's election as governor of Minnesota last year under the Reform Party banner shows that a breakaway candidacy has a better chance now than in the past, Buchanan said.
Buchanan left no doubt as he ate pancakes at Duncan's Cafe in downtown Council Bluffs that moving to the Reform Party would be a real option if the GOP ends its 20-year commitment to fighting abortion.
"If our party ceases to be pro-life, I think it will cease to be my party," Buchanan said. "It's one of the reasons why I'm a Republican and a conservative and a Reaganite."
The attempt by the apparent front-runner among Republican candidates for president, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, to downplay abortion is one reason conservatives need to fight his nomination, Buchanan said.
"I see Mr. Bush drifting away from pro-life clearly when he says he will not appoint pro-life justices and when he says he doesn't care whether his vice presidential choice is pro-life," Buchanan said. "There is no doubt that many establishment Republicans consider the Republican Party position on life an albatross around the neck of the party. I consider it central to the character and core of the party."
Buchanan's stop in the Bluffs was part of an active weekend by Republican presidential hopefuls in western Iowa. Both former Vice President Dan Quayle and magazine publisher Steve Forbes were in northwest Iowa seeking support.
The activity is aimed at winning and motivating supporters before the Aug. 14 GOP straw poll in Ames, Buchanan said. Many of the candidates who fail to show well in the straw poll are likely to drop out before Iowa's precinct caucuses provide the first real test early next year.
