Buchanan Links Rivals To Clinton

By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff, June 2, 1999

WASHINGTON -- The Republican presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan, throwing down a sharp ideological challenge that he hopes will reverberate throughout the campaign, yesterday declared the four leading GOP presidential contenders virtual clones of President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore because they support the president's policy in Yugoslavia.

Buchanan, brushing aside the Republican Party's "11th Commandment" never to speak ill of fellow GOP candidates, said Texas Governor George W. Bush, Elizabeth Dole, Senator John McCain of Arizona, and Steve Forbes are "virtual Xerox copies of Clinton-Gore."

He cast himself as the antiwar candidate, saying the others have backed various aspects of the NATO air raids against Yugoslavia, while he sees no national interests in Kosovo that warrant the risk to US pilots and soldiers.

Buchanan threw his most pointed barbs at Bush, who held his own news conference yesterday in Texas to speak of accomplishments of the just-finished legislative session.

"Now that the long parliament known as the Texas Legislature has adjourned and Governor Bush has emerged from his tutorials, perhaps a great debate over America's destiny and role in the world can now get underway," Buchanan said at the National Press Club luncheon, drawing laughter from the audience.

The day seemed to mark a new phase in the presidential race. Several candidates staked out the political turf they hope to occupy throughout the summer, fall, and winter.

Bush, who says he is still "exploring" a White House bid, plans to visit the first-caucus state of Iowa and first-primary state of New Hampshire starting next week. "I understand polls and expectations are out of sight," Bush said yesterday. "As my daughter said, 'Hey, Dad, you're not nearly as cool as they think you are.' "

Forbes is preparing to spend millions of dollars of his own money on a new round of radio and television commercials that will mark the first major advertising effort of the 2000 race.

Former Vice President Dan Quayle, meanwhile, said recently that establishment Republicans are making a mistake with a "rush to judgment" in support of Bush. Dole, meanwhile, is continuing to cast herself as a moderate candidate, appearing on the Rosie O'Donnell television show yesterday afternoon in an effort to build on the publicity she has received for supporting several gun control measures.

While Buchanan trails badly in the polls, as he did in 1992 and 1996, he has a track record of changing the race at crucial stages. In his speech yesterday, Buchanan described himself as the "defending champion of the New Hampshire primary" and predicted this is the campaign he will break through for the nomination.

The speech was striking for its emphasis on Kosovo, with far less discussion of the US economy. Unlike in 1996, when Buchanan and his "brigades" made an issue of the languid economy in New Hampshire, the country is continuing to prosper. The Granite State, for example, had a 2.4 percent unemployment rate in April. With such a hot economy, it is harder for Buchanan to argue that the free-trade agreements he criticized in 1996 have wreaked the havoc he predicted.

While Buchanan still is critical of the trade deals with Mexico and the World Trade Organization, the commentator is putting more attention on Kosovo. Buchanan's strategy is to tie four of his top competitors to the Clinton-Gore administration, while portraying himself as the conservative alternative in the race.

"All are good and able individuals, but all four endorsed the president's decision to launch this war on Serbia," Buchanan said about Bush, Dole, McCain, and Forbes. "Mr. Bush, Mrs. Dole, and Senator McCain endorse sending a United States Army to fight its way into the Balkans to occupy Kosovo," while Forbes has called for the arming of the Kosovo Liberation Army, he said.

Buchanan said there is "not now and there has never been any vital American interest in whose flag flies over Pristina to justify the loss of a single platoon of United States Marines." Buchanan instead suggested that Clinton seek an armistice with Serbia to end the war.

As for McCain's call for ground troops, Buchanan said, "You do not send 200,000 soldiers to rectify the blunders of those who launched it." McCain two weeks ago said Buchanan was "an eloquent and a forceful advocate for an utterly wrongheaded view of the world."

In another attack on the four Republican rivals, Buchanan said, "If one of these wins the nomination, we risk a replay of 1992 and 1996, where both major parties will agree on most issues and a pillow fight will ensue over some dinky tax cut."

Buchanan did not criticize candidates who he said agree with him about Kosovo and other key issues, including Quayle and Senator Bob Smith of New Hampshire.

Forbes adviser Greg Mueller, who worked for Buchanan in 1996, said Buchanan and most other candidates are trying to be the alternative to Bush. Mueller, not surprisingly, offers an analysis favorable to Forbes, suggesting Buchanan's time is past.

"I think what is forming is a Bush-Forbes race," he said.

To that end, Forbes began his unusually early advertising blitz yesterday. Unlike his 1996 ads attacking GOP rivals, this round emphasizes family values. A television spot called "Time" shows how Forbes has changed his economic-focused message from the last campaign.

In the ad, the publisher says he wants Americans to "have time with their families. To once again truly enjoy life."