Pat Buchanan offers a simple answer for those expecting his quick exit from the Republican presidential race: "We're going up into the hills and we're not coming down until deep, late in the summer. We're going to meet in San Diego."
At the same time, Buchanan aides complain that attacks from Sen. Bob Dole's allies are harming the cause of eventual party unity, and Buchanan himself says he may ask backers for advice on whether to part ways with the Republican Party.Friday morning, the commentator staked out bipartisan ground, saying the nomination fight has less to do with traditional political disagreements and more to do with a growing economic gulf between the rich and poor.
"There's a new type of division," Buchanan said during a round of radio interviews. "Both parties have to address what's really going on."
Buchanan headed to Flint, Mich., to meet with members of the striking United Auto Workers, hoping to woo the heavily Democratic union embroiled in a labor dispute with General Motors. Flint, hit hard in the 1980s by massive GM layoffs, was dubbed the U.S. unemployment capital when joblessness hit 23.5 percent in March 1982 and has never fully recovered.
"We're going to try to reach through," said Buchanan, courting crossover Democrats who are allowed to vote in Michigan's GOP primary on Tuesday. "We represent those folks, and neither Clinton nor Dole does."
With the GOP presidential race all but settled and Buchanan the only remaining candidate running against Dole, most of the suspense in the race focused on the role Buchanan would play in a post-primary season.
Stumping across the industrial Midwest, there were conflicting signals and no sign of a quick resolution.
"The word quit is not in our lexicon," said Buchanan, who asserted that attacks on him by Dole's political supporters were increasing the chances he would launch a third-party bid.
"I'm going to the Republican convention. If my party takes a sharp turn to the left, I'm going straight ahead," Buchanan said Thursday night on CNN's "Larry King Live."
Asked if that meant he would start a third-party movement, Buchanan said: "Well, I'm not saying I would do that. But somebody's going to have to represent the folks who have voted for me. If the door is slammed in their face then I'm going to have to consider what I'm going to do."