Three More Hats In The Ring

By Carol Long Tobias, NRL PAC Director

Three more candidates aspire to be the Republican nominee for President of the United States as Texas Governor George W. Bush, former Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander, and news commentator Pat Buchanan have announced their candidacies or exploratory committees.

George W. Bush

George W. Bush became governor of the nation's second largest state by defeating pro-abortion Democratic Governor Ann Richards in 1994 by a vote of 53%-46%. He was re-elected in 1998 with an overwhelming 69% of the vote.

Bush was raised in Midland, Texas, and is the son of pro-life former President George Bush. After attending college at Yale and Harvard, he returned to Texas, became a fighter pilot for the National Guard, and got involved with the oil industry.

Bush served as an advisor to his father during the senior Bush's presidency and, prior to being elected governor, was managing director of the Texas Rangers baseball team.

Governor Bush has taken a pro-life stand.

In 1997, the Texas legislature passed a measure which allowed physicians and hospitals to deny patients lifesaving treatment against the patient's expressed will. Governor Bush vetoed the measure, saying that it "contained several provisions that would permit a physician to deny life-sustaining procedures to a patient who desires them."

Bush supports a constitutional amendment to ban abortion during all three trimesters of pregnancy except in cases of rape, incest, or where the mother's life is in danger.

Just last month, Bush filed a friend of the court brief with a state appeals court stating his strong opposition to an attempt by pro-abortionists to compel the state to pay for elective abortions.

Bush and his wife, Laura, have two daughters.

Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander is making his second bid for the White House. He ran for president in 1996 but dropped out after some of the early primaries.

Alexander was governor of Tennessee from 1979-1987. He served as president of the University of Tennessee from 1988-1991, and in 1991, President George Bush appointed him to be U.S. Secretary of Education, a position he held until 1993.

Prior to being elected governor, Alexander worked for then-Tennessee Senator Howard Baker. He managed some political campaigns and worked in the Congressional Liaison Office in the Nixon White House. Alexander and his wife, Honey, have four children.

Alexander's position on abortion appears to be the same as during his 1996 campaign. He says that he is opposed to abortion, but that he opposes a constitutional amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Pat Buchanan

Pat Buchanan has thrown his hat into the ring for the third straight presidential election. Buchanan challenged incumbent pro-life President George Bush in 1992 and ran again in 1996. Buchanan is an author, syndicated columnist, and has hosted various TV shows, most notably CNN's "Crossfire."

Buchanan received a degree from Georgetown University and received his master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. He was an editorial writer for a St. Louis paper before moving to a position in the White House in 1966.

Buchanan served as an executive assistant, then senior advisor to President Richard Nixon from 1966 to 1974. He worked as a syndicated columnist before becoming President Ronald Reagan's Communication Director in 1985.

Buchanan is a native of Washington, D.C. His wife, Shelley, is also a former member of the White House staff.

Buchanan has taken a pro-life stand, writing about the "Culture of Death in which 35 million unborn babies have been butchered, the intrinsic value of all human life degraded and the dignity of every American corrupted."