THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 24, 1995 TAG: 9505240529
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
Michael P. Farris, an influential evangelical leader in the state Republican Party, on Tuesday strongly endorsed the presidential campaign of conservative commentator Pat Buchanan.
Farris, who unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor in 1993, has agreed to be a national co-chairman of Buchanan's campaign. In a letter released by the presidential candidate, Farris praised Buchanan for his tough stands against taxes and abortion rights.
``Pat Buchanan is alone in saying, `Sure we can do a better job with the economy, but it's also the family, it's also the unborn and it's also the sovereignty of the United States,' '' Farris said.
Buchanan has endorsed a constitutional amendment that would outlaw most abortions.
In the letter, Farris dismissed Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, the GOP presidential frontrunner, as not ``a serious option for the vast majority of conservative Republicans.''
Doug Domenech, an adviser to Farris, explained: ``We don't feel that Dole has ever been a true conservative. He's talking like one now, but we feel he's following a Nixonian strategy of running as a conservative in the primaries and then repositioning himself in the general election.''
Farris complained that another GOP presidential candidate - Sen. Phil Gramm - has not been staunch in his opposition to abortion and ``has no chance of beating Bob Dole.''
Farris is perhaps the nation's foremost defender of the home-schooling movement. In recent years, he has helped attract thousands of mostly evangelical followers to state coventions to nominate conservative GOP candidates.
Domenech said Farris will take an active role in helping Buchanan win delegates to the Republican national convention next year. ILLUSTRATION: Michael P. Farris, an evangelical leader in the state GOP, is a
national co-chairman for Pat Buchanan.
KEYWORDS: ENDORSEMENT CANDIDATE by CNB