AVONDALE, La. - Pat Buchanan, the conservative TV pundit making his third try for president, said Monday that he sympathizes with New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith's disillusionment with the Republican Party and would not rule out a third-party bid of his own. But for now, Mr. Buchanan said, kicking off a three-day campaign swing through Louisiana, he'll keep pushing for the GOP nomination.
Mr. Smith "apparently has made the decision to seek the nomination of the [U.S.] Taxpayers Party because he does not believe that the Republican Party, at the national level, any longer represents true conservatism as he understands it," said Mr. Buchanan, an aide to Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and longtime co-host of CNN's Crossfire program.
Mr. Smith was expected to announce his decision Tuesday.
"I share his view," Mr. Buchanan said Monday. "I think the Republican establishment has lost touch with the Republican grass roots. Its globalism, its interventionism, its open-borders immigration policies are simply Clintonism - Clintonism lite."
Blasting President Clinton and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the GOP front-runner, for their support of free trade, Mr. Buchanan said his defense of the American worker gives him appeal among voters of all parties.
That, he said, is why "people push me for the Reform Party." Like the winner of the Republican and Democratic Party primaries, whoever wins the Reform Party nomination would be eligible for millions of dollars in federal matching funds.
He didn't rule out the possibility but emphasized his Republican loyalties.
"I'm down here in Louisiana because y'all have a Republican caucus," he said, "and I'm going to Alaska because there's a Republican caucus up there, and I was in Iowa last week because I'm running in the Republican straw poll and the Republican caucus. . . .
"I'm not answering any hypothetical questions about what do I do if Christy Todd Whitman becomes the nominee and she picks [George] Pataki as her running mate," he said, referring to the governors of New Jersey and New York, whose pro-choice views on abortion he staunchly opposes.
Mr. Buchanan made his remarks outside the gates of the Avondale Shipyard, a few miles up the Mississippi River from New Orleans, where U.S. military vessels are built and repaired. He picked the site to highlight his support for a stronger, larger Navy.
Navy booster
Although the United States has overextended itself internationally, with commitments from Korea to the Balkans to the Persian Gulf, he said, the Navy should be "able to validate and vindicate the commitments America has made."
Yet under Mr. Clinton, he said, the force has shrunk from nearly 600 vessels to closer to 300.
"We should begin pulling down those commitments," he said, "but as long as you have them, you've got to have the forces to carry them out. Otherwise you run a terrible risk."
A half-dozen union organizers showed up at Mr. Buchanan's news conference, held in the gravel parking lot of a restaurant across the street from the shipyard. He sidestepped their efforts to get his commitment for support of efforts to win union recognition for the yard's 6,000 workers, a matter entangled in court and regulatory battles. But he sympathized with retired machinist Joseph Johnson, 67, who complained that he gets only $67.50 a week in retirement pay after 27 years on the job.
"You helped build the ships that saved the free world," Mr. Buchanan said. "That sounds like a pretty small pittance for somebody that's done so much for his country."
Mr. Johnson said he's a Democrat but could support Mr. Buchanan.
"He doesn't need all the money," Mr. Johnson said, asssessing Mr. Buchanan's chances in the GOP field. "He just needs the votes."
Union issues
Mr. Buchanan told the workers that he is a strong supporter of unions, noting that he belongs to the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, even though he doesn't need to because CNN is a nonunion shop.
Mr. Buchanan told the workers that he is a strong supporter of unions, noting that he belongs to the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, even though he doesn't need to because CNN is a non-union shop.
"I can support Mr. Buchanan," one man, Lee Jones of the New Orleans Metal Trades Council, said after chatting with him. "I support anyone who supports workers."
Mr. Buchanan's surprise victory in the 1996 Louisiana caucuses forced Texas Sen. Phil Gramm from the GOP field and propelled Mr. Buchanan to an upset victory over Sen. Bob Dole, the eventual nominee, in New Hampshire. Mr. Buchanan worked his way across Cajun country on Monday, campaigning in Houma, Morgan City, Franklin and Alexandria.
Schedules for the state caucuses and primaries next year are still in flux, but Louisiana Republican leaders are eyeing a date nine days before the key Iowa caucus for their own caucus.
"I'm here to help build the organization and to make our presence felt," Mr. Buchanan said.
