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August 13, 2000
LONG BEACH, California (AP) - Reform Party presidential candidate Pat Buchanan introduced Ezola Foster, a black Los Angeles teacher and conservative political activist, as his running mate. Buchanan made his announcement Friday outside the Reform Party convention hall, site of an intraparty battle between him and supporters of Ross Perot, the billionaire Texas businessman and party founder who has stayed out of the election campaign this year. Buchanan opponents are holding their own parallel convention, supporting nuclear physicist John Hagelin for the presidential nomination. "I think this lady will be a tremendous benefit to our cause, to our campaign and our movement," Buchanan told reporters as he introduced his running mate Friday. Foster, a teacher and administrator for 33 years, was a supporter of California proposition 187, the 1984 ballot measure that sought to deny most forms of state aid to illegal immigrants. That measure passed but was later invalidated by the courts. Buchanan, who quit the Republican Party last year, has declared himself the true Reform Party nominee and plans an acceptance speech Saturday. On Friday, the Buchanan group announced that he had won the party's mail-in primary ballot nomination by 63 percent, with Hagelin winning 36 percent. Jim Mangia, one of the leading anti-Buchanan party activists, attributed Buchanan's victory to "the fraudulent submission" of ballots. Only about 10 percent of the 887,925 ballots mailed out were returned with votes for the candidates Reconciliation talks between the Reform Party factions have broken down, all but ensuring that federal election officials - and perhaps eventually a court - will decide the outcome of the twin nominations, and which one will receive dlrs 12.5 million in campaign funds from the federal government. Also Friday, Republican vice presidential nominee, Dick Cheney, said that Vice President Al Gore shouldn't be held accountable for President Bill Clinton's personal failings, but Americans should reject him because his administration would be just like Clinton's. Cheney said Clinton is "still trying to deal with" the fallout from his affair with a White House intern and subsequent impeachment, and it shouldn't rub off on Gore. "Responsible for Clinton's personal mistakes? No, I don't think so," Cheney said in an interview with The Associated Press as he wrapped up his first solo campaign trip as George W. Bush's running mate. Democratic presidential rival Gore is trying to "avoid the negative aspects" of the Clinton White House, Cheney said, suggesting Americans don't want another four years of similar policies. Cheney's comments didn't square with Bush's harsher view. As to Clinton's suggestion voters should not hold Gore responsible for his mistakes, the Texas governor said: "Are they going to hold Al Gore responsible for missed opportunities? I mean, either you're part of an administration or you're not part of an administration is how I view it." On Thursday, Clinton's told a gathering of ministers that he had made a "terrible mistake" in having an affair with Monica Lewinsky. And he said of Gore: "Surely no fair-minded person would blame him for any mistake that I made." Cheney spoke over a cup of coffee before a campaign stop at a Meijers Superstore in Holland, Michigan. Meanwhile, Gore has edged closer to Bush in polls, but he still has substantial ground to make up. Gore is now trailing by 10 points in a CBS News poll of registered voters, 52 percent to 42 percent, compared with 15 points at the end of the Republican convention. He trails by 14 points in a Time-CNN poll of likely voters, 53 percent to 39 percent, about the same margin as a CNN-Time poll taken just before the Republican convention. A tracking poll of likely voters taken at the end of the Republican convention gave Bush an 18-point lead. A Fox News-Opinion Dynamics poll showed the race as very close, after giving Bush a slight lead before the Republican convention. Gore, who picked Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman as his running mate this week, got generally positive reactions to the choice. The selection of Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew, was viewed favorably by 45 percent in the CBS poll. Two weeks ago, 39 percent said they were glad that Bush had picked Cheney. |