"PLEASE, DON'T DO IT, PAT"

By Carol Tobias, NRL PAC Director

As NRL News goes to press, there are strong indications that commentator Pat Buchanan may leave the Republican Party in the next few weeks to run as the presidential candidate of the Reform Party, founded by pro-abortion millionaire Ross Perot.

On Meet the Press September 12, Buchanan outlined his reasons for possibly seeking the Reform Party nomination. Speaking of the Republican Party, Buchanan stated, "It is pro-NAFTA, pro-GATT, pro-WTO, pro-MFN for China, in favor of intervention in Kosovo and Bosnia, in favor of NATO expansion, in favor of open-borders immigration."

When asked about the effect his race could have on helping to defeat the Republican candidate, Buchanan replied, "In truth, there are some issues on which the Republicans are better than Democrats. The Supreme Court is one."

On NBC's Meet the Press earlier this year, he said, "I belong to the Republican Party, I love it. I've been a member of it and fought in its campaign since 1966, the off-year elections. It has been a pro-life party thoroughly since Ronald Reagan inserted that platform there. In '92 and '96, we've fought and kept this party pro-life. We will do so in the year 2000."

However, Buchanan has recently expressed the opinion that the Republican Party is weakening its position against abortion.

But, the Reform Party has taken no position on abortion. Its founder, Texas businessman Ross Perot, is solidly pro-abortion and ran as a pro-abortion candidate for president in 1992 and 1996. It's highest elected official and most famous member, Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, is also solidly pro-abortion, opposing even a ban on partial-birth abortions.

As David N. O'Steen, Ph.D., NRLC's executive director, said, "It would be ironic if Pat Buchanan left the pro-life Republican Party, claiming that it is not pro-life enough, to run for president representing a party that is not pro-life at all."

According to recent polls of 1,000 voters nationwide, pro-life Republican Texas Gov. George W. Bush leads pro-abortion Democrat Vice President Al Gore by 55%-35% (WWOR/Hotline) and 50%-36% (Zogby International).

However, if Buchanan is the candidate of the Reform Party, polls show Bush and Gore in a statistical dead heat, with Bush receiving 39%, 35% for Gore, and 16% for Buchanan (Schroth and Associates).

Current polls show that all a Buchanan candidacy on the Reform Party ticket would do is to take votes from pro-life Gov. Bush and make much more possible the election of pro-abortion Vice President Gore.

Gore has said that "America's women have the right to choose, and no one will ever steal that right away. The right to choose is fundamental," and he vowed that he "will never ever let anyone take that right away."

Gore has also declared, "I will always, always defend a woman's right to choose. Every time Congress has tried to play politics with that fundamental, personal right, imposing gag rules and attaching anti-choice language to any bill they can think of, we have stood up to them and stopped them. If they try it again, we'll stop them again. And if they try it after the year 2000, with your help, I'll stop them. That hard-won right will be safe with me as your President."

In addition to indicating that he may decide by October 15 whether to run for the Reform Party's presidential nomination, on Meet the Press Buchanan would not say that he would support Gov. Bush, if Bush is the GOP's presidential nominee. In 1992 Mr. Buchanan challenged pro-life President George Bush in the Republican Party primaries and is credited with seriously weakening President Bush's re-election effort.

Later that same year, Mr. Perot's Reform Party received 19% the vote, which helped pro-abortion Bill Clinton defeat incumbent pro-life president. Unborn children have paid a deadly price for Bill Clinton's election ever since.

One thing is clear. It is virtually impossible for a third party candidate to win a nationwide election. The next president of the United States will be a Republican or a Democrat.

For the sake of unborn children, pro-lifers need to beg Pat Buchanan not to bolt from the Republican Party. A third-party candidate who cannot win. He will only take away votes from a pro-life candidate who can win. Voting for a third-party candidate is the same, in practice, as voting for the pro-abortion candidate.

Buchanan has said he wants to hear from people before he makes his final decision. Pro-lifers are encouraged to call his campaign at 1-800-GO PAT GO (1-800-467-2846) and ask him not to run on a third-party ticket. Don't do it, Pat.