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Staff photo/Jon Leu
Republican presidential hopeful Pat Buchanan talks Saturday with with one of his local supporters, Pottawattamie County Supervisor Betty Moats.
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Those who believe Texas Gov. George Bush Jr. will win the Republican presidential nomination without a fight haven't talked with Pat Buchanan yet.
"Yes, Mr. Bush is the favorite, but I do believe the race will be close," the GOP presidential challenger said during a campaign stop in Council Bluffs Saturday. "I am closer to the mainstream of the Republican Party, while he is outside the mainstream.
"Can we do it? Yes. We're stronger here in Iowa now than we were in 1995."
Buchanan says he is staunchly pro-life, which he considers an important principle representing what the party stands for.
Bush, on the other hand, would not necessarily appoint pro-life judges to the U.S. Supreme Court or choose a pro-life vice president, Buchanan said.
"There are many Republicans who believe the position of pro-life is an albatross around the neck of the party, but I consider it the core of the party," Buchanan said Saturday while eating breakfast at Duncan's Cafe, 501 S. Main St. "If our party ceases to be pro-life, it will cease to be my party, and I see Mr. Bush drifting away from the pro-life position."
But hasn't Bush been elected to a high political office, unlike himself, Buchanan was asked.
"I spent eight years working in the White House and was writing foreign policy issues when these guys (Bush and others) were still in high school," he said. "What has Mr. Bush done to qualify himself to be a leader? What's his background that testifies he's the best choice for the Republican Party?"
Concerning foreign policy, Buchanan believes the United States has no business getting involved in other countries' wars, like the situation in Kosovo.
"I don't think this country is better off because of this war," he said. "Who has benefited from it? No one. We're now stuck with 20 years of (peacekeeping) occupation. If I'm president, I would get our troops out of there immediately and put them on the border with Mexico."
Buchanan believes we need to get tough on China for stealing our nuclear weapons secrets, prosecution of Christians and other acts he finds deplorable. He recommends suspension of China's Most Favored Nation status on trade policies, at least for one year.
Perhaps the biggest concern he and other candidates must face is getting people interested again in the political system, especially in the Republican Party, Buchanan said.
"There's a measure of apathy with the Republican-controlled Congress that's broad and deep," he said.
The Council Bluffs stop was the last in Buchanan's weeklong campaign swing through Iowa.
"Things are going well for us," he said.
