A 'Reagan Republican' hints he is ready to run

By Adam Pertman, Globe Staff, January 21, 1999

WASHINGTON -- He says he wants to reshape people's stereotypes of what it means to be a conservative Republican.

So Gary Bauer, a Reagan administration veteran who all but announced his candidacy for the 2000 GOP nomination for president yesterday, asserted that "the marketplace has to be tempered by virtue." He cited Malden Mills owner Aaron M. Feuerstein's decision to keep paying 3,100 employees after a fire there in 1995 as behavior that other business owners should emulate.

And Bauer, 52, contended that the federal government should not tamper with constitutional guarantees of free expression, even though he condemned some song lyrics and Hollywood movies for "exploiting the worst instincts in our culture and among our children."

Even as he described his views as representative of and appealing to middle-class Americans, however, Bauer made it unmistakably clear that he believes most voters do not reside in the ideological center.

He said repeatedly at a breakfast meeting with reporters yesterday that if he runs, he would be the "Reagan Republican" in the field. While saying he would provide more specifics if he formally declares his candidacy, a decision he plans to make by the end of January, Bauer called for:

- Making "the sanctity of life" a core component of government policy, including promoting heterosexual marriage and appointing only judges who oppose abortion. He said one of his first acts as president would be to draft legislation outlawing all abortions in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy.

- Almost abolishing Social Security, leaving only a few safety-net components. He said Americans should be allowed maximum freedom in using their money. For example, he said people should be able to hire tutors for their children.

- A flat income tax to replace the current graduated system, along with other changes to help less affluent taxpayers, promoting "liberty" rather than trade as the bottom-line element in US foreign policy, and returning to the Reagan emphasis on building the military.

Bauer, a religious activist who led a fast-growing advocacy group called the Family Research Council, could be in competition for the presidential nomination with better-known conservatives like former Vice President Dan Quayle, columnist Patrick J. Buchanan, and entrepreneur Steve Forbes. Still, Bauer expressed confidence that he could break from the pack because he has fresh ideas and a "vision" that GOP presidential contenders since Ronald Reagan have lacked.

Bauer worked in the Reagan administration, both as a White House aide and as a senior official in the Education Department. He has never held elective office, but he noted that some of his prospective rivals haven't either.

Furthermore, Bauer said too many Republicans have narrowed their focus to particular voting blocs rather than a broad swath of Americans, "Sometimes it seems to me that the elites of my own party are suffering from Alzheimer's," he said, noting that President Reagan was able to appeal to Democrats as well as Republicans.

Bauer has been sending out signals that he will seek the nomination. He recently resigned as head of the Family Research Council but currently runs the Campaign for Working Families, a conservative political action committee. Last week a Bauer spokesman said Michael Reagan, son of the former president, will take over as head of the PAC, saying Bauer cannot run it once he establishes a presidential exploratory committee next month.

Moreover, Bauer's schedule has trips to New Hampshire, including the March for Life in Concord on Saturday, meetings with reporters, and activities in which Oval Office aspirants tend to participate.