Buchanan Sees No Sunshine in California

If there was one county in California where Republican presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan could have expected to do well, Orange County would be it.

Republican by voter registration, extremely conservative by reputation, the birthplace of the anti-illegal-immigration Proposition 187: This is a place where Buchanan often finds himself among kindred spirits.

But these days, Buchanan is badly trailing Sen. Bob Dole everywhere. And not even he was giving himself much hope of success when he arrived here Thursday.

Instead, Buchanan refused to close the door on a third-party candidacy, acknowledging during a news conference that he will meet next week with supporters from across the country to discuss his options.

“We want to get to the Republican convention and bring all our folks into the Republican Party, reshape and remake that party,” he said.

The stop was one of two public events scheduled for a day largely devoted to getting his message out through television and radio interviews.

More than 1,000 impassioned supporters cheered their approval Thursday night as he vowed to take his candidacy all the way to the convention in San Diego.

“We’re going on to San Diego for a reason, friend,” Buchanan told a large crowd that squeezed into a ballroom at the Castaways Restaurant in Burbank. “This is a cause that is larger than Pat Buchanan . . . it will one day triumph, I guarantee you.”

At his press conference, Buchanan continued to flirt with a third-party run--part of his effort to increase his leverage to extract concessions from Dole at this summer’s GOP convention. With Ross Perot getting ready for a possible candidacy and the small U.S. Taxpayers Party also looking for a candidate--perhaps Buchanan himself--the former commentator said that “anything can happen.”

Asked what it would take for him to “enthusiastically” support Dole, Buchanan replied: “Why don’t we drop the ‘enthusiastic’ stuff here?”

Buchanan conceded the odds are heavily against his winning Tuesday’s California primary.

A Times Orange County Poll earlier this month showed Buchanan carrying 18% of likely GOP voters in the county, compared to 27% for Dole and 21% for magazine publisher Steve Forbes, who dropped out of the race. Statewide, a Times Poll earlier this week showed Buchanan receiving 18% of the vote to Dole’s 52%.

With no money for an expensive California media campaign--he is airing no television ads in the state--Buchanan is counting on interviews and campaign stops to address his issues.

On Thursday, the issue for his stop here was the evils of bilingual education--a subject he highlighted with a visit to Greenville Fundamental School, where students are taught only in English.

Even among the second-graders in Judy Burns’ class, Buchanan looked for votes.

“How can I be president?” Buchanan said, repeating a student’s question. “I better start winning some delegates. What I have to do is I have to beat Sen. Dole here in California, OK? So tell your mom and pop. . . .”