Campaign Trail

It’s Pat!

Pat Buchanan, the self-proclaimed “defending champion” of the New Hampshire primary, returned Friday as a claimant for the Reform Party presidential nomination and found a skeptical reception.

During a question-and-answer session at a business-sponsored “politics and eggs” breakfast in Bedford, N.H., Buchanan was asked how he could expect to win support from Hispanic voters and whether his third-party candidacy might help elect an abortion rights supporter as president.

The conservative champion, who threw a scare into President Bush by his strong second-place showing in the 1992 GOP primary and won the 1996 primary over Bob Dole, came back Friday to attend the memorial service for Nackey S. Loeb, the former publisher of the Union Leader, who died last Saturday.

When one questioner asked about problems he might have winning Hispanic votes, given his advocacy of restricting immigration and arming the border with Mexico, Buchanan gave no ground. “I believe in English-first,” he said. “And I’m not going to come out for affirmative action or quotas just because somebody came here later than somebody else.”

Buchanan conceded to another questioner that he had some qualms about whether his candidacy might help an abortion rights Democrat win.

Latest polls

Vice President Al Gore gained some ground with Democratic voters in a Time-CNN poll released Friday in a head-to-head matchup with GOP front-runner George W. Bush.

The national poll showed Bush and Gore comfortably ahead in the Republican and Democratic races for the presidential nomination.

In a head-to-head matchup, Bush had a slight edge over Gore, 50 percent to 45 percent among registered voters. That’s compared with 56 percent for Bush and 39 percent for Gore in an early January Time-CNN poll.

Bush led Democratic challenger Bill Bradley 51-42, slightly closer than in previous polls.

Getting hot in Iowa

In Iowa, Bradley jabbed at front-runner Gore on Friday Bradley poked at Gore for being slack on several issues while speaking to 600 students and supporters at Johnston High School in suburban Des Moines:

“Registration and licensing of handguns - `too hard to do,’ (Gore) says. Universal access to affordable quality health insurance and helping middle class Americans … `Yeah, but not now.’ Child poverty - no specific goal, no measurement against which you can be held accountable. Education - no emphasis on qualified teachers.”

At a New Hampshire news conference, Gore rejected Bradley’s attacks, and renewed his challenge to Bradley that they hold biweekly debates and cancel all 30- and 60-second television and radio ads.

That challenge didn’t stop Gore from unveiling four new ads in the last two days.

Candidate strips

The presidential candidates’ favorite comic strips:

Democrats

Bill Bradley: Dilbert

Al Gore: Doonesbury

Reform

Pat Buchanan: Doonesbury

Donald Trump: Doonesbury

Republicans

Gary Bauer: Peanuts

George W. Bush: Peanuts

Steve Forbes: Beetle Bailey

Orrin Hatch: Doonesbury

Alan Keyes: No answer

John McCain: Doonesbury