ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 30, 1996 TAG: 9607010084
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: The New York Times
NOTE: Above
Fearful of a replay of the tumult that Pat Buchanan created at the Republican National Convention four years ago, several convention organizers say he will not be offered a prominent role at the party's gathering in August and may not be asked to speak at all.
While final decisions have not been made, there is wide agreement that a featured role for Buchanan would damage the image of the party and the almost certain nominee, Bob Dole, according to people familiar with the deliberations that involve officials from the Dole campaign and the Republican Party. They said Dole made it clear he did not want Buchanan as a high-profile speaker and noted that Buchanan's outspoken statements against abortion and on other issues and his attacks on Dole throughout the primaries would be at odds with the party's effort to present a harmonious front.
``Buchanan is still a candidate for president,'' said Paul Manafort, the Dole campaign's convention manager. ``He hasn't indicated any particular desire for a role at the convention.''
Asked if Buchanan would have as significant a role as he had in Houston in 1992, Haley Barbour, the Republican national chairman, said only that the four-night show would be much faster-paced this year. ``There will be hardly any long speeches,'' he said, adding that ``there will be more control over the program.''
Several people involved in the deliberations said that Buchanan might not be offered a speaking position at all, even though he defeated Dole in the New Hampshire primary and amassed the second-largest number of convention delegates.
At best, they said, he would be given a brief, early evening speaking slot. ``The likelihood that Pat Buchanan is going to have anything that resembles a prominent position is remote at best,'' said one person close to the convention deliberations, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
But Colin Powell is at the top of the list of possible speakers at the convention in prime time. Dole himself told Powell at a meeting three weeks ago that he would like to see him attend the convention, which opens Aug. 12 in San Diego. While Dole did not specifically ask Powell to speak, the candidate's aides said they hoped Dole would follow through with such a request. ``He certainly would be a positive addition to the Republican convention,'' Manafort said.
People close to Powell said that, if asked, he would probably accept an invitation to attend the convention as long as Dole has picked his running mate before the meeting opens.
The moves to play down Buchanan, who has never formally abandoned his drive for the presidential nomination, while increasing Powell's profile are bound to inflame the party's social and religious conservatives, who will be a dominant presence at the convention but who are less representative of the party at large.
The guiding principle among convention planners is to avoid the mistakes of 1992 in Houston, when officials with the campaign to re-elect president George Bush allowed Buchanan to dominate an important night of the convention with his speech declaring a ``religious war'' and a ``cultural war.'' As a senior Dole aide put it, ``Every meeting on planning this convention begins with what went wrong in 1992.''
Many Republicans complained that the speeches of Buchanan and a handful of others presented an unduly harsh portrait of the Republican Party that repelled some moderate voters.
As recently as last week, Buchanan drew laughter at a rally in San Antonio when he joked that he might be relegated to a speaking slot at 3 a.m. West Coast time. In a more serious vein, he has made clear that since he did far better in the primaries this year than in 1992, he expects to be treated with respect. If not, he has suggested, he will stage a rival event in San Diego.
Buchanan is traveling in Europe and his aides said he had no comment about his possible role at the convention. But earlier this month in a clear reference to Powell, Buchanan said he ``seems closer to Mr. Clinton on the social issues than he does to Republicanism or conservatism.''
Dole's advisers are incensed that Buchanan is still running campaign commercials advancing his candidacy, and that his backers are still dropping hints that he might run as a third-party candidate. And they said Dole could gain even if Buchanan makes a scene and bolts the convention; that way Dole could demonstrate that he is not beholden to Buchanan.
While the party would risk provoking a further outcry from conservatives by giving Powell a prominent role since he supports abortion rights, the officials said that he is so popular among independent voters that criticism from conservatives would be outweighed by Powell's ability to win over swing voters. William Greener, the convention manager for the Republican National Committee, declined to discuss the deliberations, but he made clear that Dole, not his vanquished opponents, will call the shots. ``He who has the delegates is the winner of the prize,'' Greener said, adding that the point of the gathering is to explain ``why it makes sense for the American people to give its nominee the keys to the car.''
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENTby CNB