
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 12, 1992                   TAG: 9203120169
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

CONSERVATIVES GET IMPATIENT WITH BUCHANAN

Many conservatives at first relished Patrick Buchanan's barbed attacks on President Bush but now more and more are getting nervous about his vow to persist.

Many are joining mainstream Republicans in suggesting he step aside.

Conservatives, always mistrustful of Bush, are beginning to openly question the right-wing TV commentator's motives in vowing to keep running through June's California primary in the face of repeated defeats.

"I think he's made his point," said conservative strategist Roger Stone, who supported Jack Kemp for president in 1988 but who says conservatives have little choice now but to support Bush.

And while Buchanan continually likens his upstart candidacy to Ronald Reagan's challenge to incumbent President Ford in 1976, "Reagan was winning some primaries quite big. Pat underperformed yesterday," Stone said.

Bush swept all eight Super Tuesday states, racking up his biggest margins yet against Buchanan. So far, Bush has won 15 primaries; Buchanan has not come closer than the 37 percent he scored in the leadoff New Hampshire primary.

Buchanan pledged to fight on despite the long odds, telling a news conference in suburban Detroit that he would carry the campaign to the California primary.

He said he will campaign vigorously in Tuesday's Michigan primary, saying he has "a fighting chance to do very well" there. Still, he added: "If the time comes to exit we will do it gracefully, but that time has not come."

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB