Negativity in race for GOP presidential nomination leads party leaders to worry whether anyone will be left standing to take on Bill Clinton. . . . Lamar Alexander and Pat Buchanan come on strong in New Hampshire, get heavy media coverage. New York Times runs three liberal columnists attacking Buchanan in one day. . . . Buchanan comes under fire for national co-chairman Larry Pratt’s association with fringe groups. Pratt attended 1992 rally at invitation of Christian Identity Movement leader Pete Peters and appeared subsequently several times on Peters’s TV show. Pratt takes leave of absence, and Buchanan stands by him: “Larry Pratt is a devout Christian. He’s being attacked because he supports me.” . . . Buchanan amplifies economic message, calling Bob Dole “Mr. NAFTA, Mr. GATT, and Mr. Mexican bailout.” On Valentine’s Day Buchanan visits greenhouse, says rose growers “are the casualties of these trade policies that my friend, excuse me, Senator Dole, has supported again and again and again.” . . . Alexander tries to deflect stories about slick financial dealings with the line “I plead guilty to being a capitalist.” . . . Alexander, stumped by a reporter’s question, turns to an aide: “I need to know the price of a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs. I need to know right now.”. . . Pro-life activist Randall Terry, a Buchanan supporter, on Bill Bennett endorsement of Alexander: “Bennett has shown us once again that he is not the man of virtues. . . . He’s not one of us. Don’t trust him.” . . . After dismal Iowa showing, Phil Gramm drops out of presidential race and in parting remarks calls Buchanan’s protectionism “a dagger aimed at the heart of everything we stand for.” Days later, Gramm endorses Bob Dole as the candidate “who can unite the economic conservatives and social conservatives.” . . . Also endorsing Dole: conservative stalwart Pete du Pont. . . . Los Angeles Times reports on previously undisclosed GOPAC tapes from 1989-90, in which Newt Gingrich said that Dole “frankly doesn’t give a damn” about fighting for conservative values. . . . Strong showing by antiestablishment candidates Buchanan, Forbes, and Alan Keyes in Alaska could mean trouble for Sen. Ted Stevens, who faces insurgent millionaire Dave Cuddy in GOP primary.
Former Clinton communications director Mark Gearan’s notes of 1994 meetings reveal Hillary Clinton’s large role in Whitewater damage control. According to Gearan notes, deputy chief of staff Harold Ickes said it was “impossible” to get Mrs. Clinton to agree to call for an independent counsel to investigate the scandal and that even the “POTUS [President of the United States] can’t” get her to agree. . . . The Nation excoriates White House over Whitewater. The left-wing weekly editorializes that “the White House has engaged in abuses of power that are, at best, shameful” and reminds Clinton defenders who talk of a “cover-up without a crime” that “a cover-up is a crime when it involves lying to federal investigators and Congress.” The Nation concludes “Whitewater and Travelgate are a litmus test for liberals of their commitment to honesty in government. Do they have one standard, or two?” . . . George Stephanopoulos tells Larry King why he thinks President Clinton will be re-elected: “He kept the promises he meant to keep.”
Comments