Buchanan Stumps for Massachusetts Primary

LEXINGTON, Mass. (AP)--Posing before a bronze Revolutionary Minuteman, Patrick J. Buchanan fired shots Saturday at his establishment critics, saying they're part of "the revolt of the over-privileged."

Proving himself a master of the campaign photo op, Buchanan trudged through the snow to the Lexington Green battlefield to proclaim he is winning the war of ideas in the GOP presidential race, even if he faces an "uphill battle" in this week's blizzard of primary balloting.

From a makeshift stage before the Minuteman, Buchanan--who has used Mount Rushmore, the OK Corral and the Citadel as backdrops to his populist campaign--invoked the names of George Washington and other colonial heroes in railing against free-trade deals and the deployment of U.S. troops under United Nations' command.

"Every patriot would have risen up in protest to ceding American sovereignty like that," Buchanan said.

He also claimed credit for recent talk of cultural values and immigration reform by his chief rival, Sen. Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.), and President Clinton.

"We're winning this battle and everybody knows it. Bob Dole is starting to sound like Pat Buchanan...even Bill Clinton is starting to sound like Pat Buchanan," he told a divided crowd.

More than 500 enthusiasts huddled in a heavy, wet snowfall on the historic battlefield. But some 200 protesters also came from this liberal Boston bedroom community abutting Harvard University, including several who carried signs with Buchanan's name surrounded by Nazi swastikas.

"I feel your pain.... C'mon children. Stop it or I'll take your Pell grants away," Buchanan yelled in a mocking Southern accent as the protesters interrupted his speech, shouting "Go away! Racist, bigot, anti-gay!"

Buchanan, laughing, was unbowed. "This is symbolic and representative of what's going on in America. The establishment is terrified."

"What we have here is the revolt of the over-privileged," he said, stressing that his candidacy is for "working men and women."

While campaigning in Baltimore earlier, Buchanan dismissed charges of anti-Semitism from Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.) as proof the GOP hierarchy fear him.

"The Republican establishment is really unworthy of leading America," Buchanan said, calling D'Amato's attack another example of the party operating "in its frenzy and in its horror."

D'Amato, one of Dole's national campaign co-chairs, publicly denounced Buchanan at a Jewish Community Center in Queens, N.Y., to an audience that included Holocaust survivors.

"In today's society, there simply is not, nor should there be, a place for your brand of incendiary fear-mongering," D'Amato said in an open letter to Buchanan. "You have left virtually no stone unturned in your rhetoric, which denigrates women, bashes gays, criminalizes immigrants, insults African-Americans and politicizes religion."

Later that day, Dole beat Buchanan by 15 points to claim the South Carolina primary.

Over the years as a conservative commentator, Buchanan has said women are not "endowed by nature" with the same ambition and will to succeed as men. He has found admirable qualities in Hitler, questioned aspects of the Holocaust and called AIDS nature's retribution against homosexuals.

"Pat, countless Americans have been degraded, insulted, offended and wronged by your statements," D'Amato said. "You owe them an apology."

Buchanan said many of his comments have been taken out of the context and he has no anti-Semitic, racist or sexist feelings.

Buchanan charged that it is really D'Amato who is exclusionist because of his maneuvering to block Dole rivals from New York's March 7 primary ballot; only Dole and Steve Forbes are on ballots statewide, while Buchanan has qualified in two-thirds of the state's 31 congressional districts.

"The senator speaks of the politics of inclusion, but this year we've had one traditional Catholic running for president for the Republican party for the first time, one African-American, and one Jewish American," said Buchanan, a Catholic. "And Senator D'Amato and his legal folks have tried to keep all three of us off the ballot in New York."

Former radio talk show host Alan Keyes is the only black GOP candidate; Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the only Jewish candidate, dropped out.

Buchanan was looking forward to tomorrow's string of primaries, mostly in New England, that he said would knock Lamar Alexander from the race.

"It's an uphill battle, we know it is," said Buchanan, who won New Hampshire's primary but has been struggling since to regain momentum. But he called himself the "last conservative in this race who can win."

"After Tuesday you're going to find, with all due respect to Lamar, it's a two-man race between Buchanan and Dole, with Steve Forbes taking his shots," Buchanan said

Buchanan, laughing, was unbowed. "This is symbolic and representative of what's going on in America. The establishment is terrified."

"What we have here is the revolt of the over-privileged," he said, stressing that his candidacy is for "working men and women."

While campaigning in Baltimore earlier, Buchanan dismissed charges of anti-Semitism from Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.) as proof the GOP hierarchy fear him.

"The Republican establishment is really unworthy of leading America," Buchanan said, calling D'Amato's attack another example of the party operating "in its frenzy and in its horror."

D'Amato, one of Dole's national campaign co-chairs, publicly denounced Buchanan at a Jewish Community Center in Queens, N.Y., to an audience that included Holocaust survivors.

"In today's society, there simply is not, nor should there be, a place for your brand of incendiary fear-mongering," D'Amato said in an open letter to Buchanan. "You have left virtually no stone unturned in your rhetoric, which denigrates women, bashes gays, criminalizes immigrants, insults African-Americans and politicizes religion."

Later that day, Dole beat Buchanan by 15 points to claim the South Carolina primary.

Over the years as a conservative commentator, Buchanan has said women are not "endowed by nature" with the same ambition and will to succeed as men. He has found admirable qualities in Hitler, questioned aspects of the Holocaust and called AIDS nature's retribution against homosexuals.

"Pat, countless Americans have been degraded, insulted, offended and wronged by your statements," D'Amato said. "You owe them an apology."

Buchanan said many of his comments have been taken out of the context and he has no anti-Semitic, racist or sexist feelings.

Buchanan charged that it is really D'Amato who is exclusionist because of his maneuvering to block Dole rivals from New York's March 7 primary ballot; only Dole and Steve Forbes are on ballots statewide, while Buchanan has qualified in two-thirds of the state's 31 congressional districts.

"The senator speaks of the politics of inclusion, but this year we've had one traditional Catholic running for president for the Republican party for the first time, one African-American, and one Jewish American," said Buchanan, a Catholic. "And Senator D'Amato and his legal folks have tried to keep all three of us off the ballot in New York."

Former radio talk show host Alan Keyes is the only black GOP candidate; Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the only Jewish candidate, dropped out.

Buchanan was looking forward to tomorrow's string of primaries, mostly in New England, that he said would knock Lamar Alexander from the race.

"It's an uphill battle, we know it is," said Buchanan, who won New Hampshire's primary but has been struggling since to regain momentum. But he called himself the "last conservative in this race who can win."

"After Tuesday you're going to find, with all due respect to Lamar, it's a two-man race between Buchanan and Dole, with Steve Forbes taking his shots," Buchanan said