Sunday, Jul 20, 2008
Pat Choate, the man behind the strategy to craft a left-right-center coalition with Pat Buchanan out front, reveals the plan to seize the White House next year.
Nov 11, 1999 | Pat Buchanan's announcement Thursday that his Reform Party presidential campaign will be co-chaired by Bay Buchanan, Pat Choate and Lenora Fulani shows the party founded by Ross Perot is striving to build a "left-right-center" coalition, Pat Choate told Salon News.
The unlikely threesome came together in the belief that party members' agreement on economic nationalism can outweigh their disagreements over social issues like abortion and gay rights, Choate says.
In a wide-ranging interview, Choate also made it clear that they will not seek the assistance of Jesse Ventura, whom he criticizes for his controversial Playboy interview and also for seeking a "placeholder" candidate in 2000 so that Ventura himself can run in 2004.
By switching her faction's support from Ventura to the Choate/Buchanan alliance, the left-wing Fulani has helped build what now appears to be the dominant group within the Reform Party, Choate says.
The party clearly has work to do. A poll reported by the New York Times Wednesday found that 53 percent of the public have an unfavorable view of the Reform Party, with only 26 percent favorable, and 21 percent expressing no opinion. The party faces an uphill battle to achieve its goal of getting 15-20 percent of the vote in the 2000 elections.
To do so, it will need to counter the sea of ridicule that has greeted Buchanan's recent book arguing that the U.S. should not have declared war on Hitler, and the widespread belief that he is anti-Semitic, homophobic, racist and sexist. It must also get him on the ballot in all 50 states, raise its stated goal of $20 million in individual contributions (which are limited to $1,000 each) and get its candidate into the presidential debates.
And it has to do all this with Jesse Ventura and Ross Perot lurking in the background, possibly even opposing its efforts.
It is too soon to count the party out, however, for one simple reason: The Clinton scandals have demonstrated how much politics and entertainment have merged in our time. And as Al Gore competes with George W. Bush for the boring center, the Reform Party has become the best show in town.
It is, after all, the only political party in the universe featuring a paranoid billionaire ("the Republicans were going to sabotage my daughter's wedding"); a former pro wrestler turned governor ("religion is for the weak-minded"); and gay-bashing commentator ("the poor homosexuals have declared war on nature and now nature is exacting its retribution") who is called a "Hitler-lover" by his pompadoured casino owner rival ("the only men who say they want intelligent women can't get models") -- a man who Wednesday's New York Times poll found has the highest negative ratings ever measured for anyone in the history of polling.
It's conceivable that the combination of entertainment value and $12.6 million in federal matching funds could make the Reform Party a significant factor in the 2000 election. If Buchanan wins the party's nomination and takes enough votes away from presumed nominee George W. Bush, it could tip the election to his Democratic opponent, whether Al Gore or Bill Bradley. The party's populist economics could also potentially attract significant support from those losing in today's economy. And, if he succeeds in fighting his way in, the Reform Party candidate could be a major influence on the presidential debates. This is especially true of Buchanan, a natural debater in the format created by TV.
Then there is the sheer unpredictability factor. It seemed inconceivable just two years ago that a professional wrestler could beat a sitting attorney general who bore Minnesota's most revered political name to become governor; or for that matter, that the president's poll ratings could rise after revelations of adultery with a woman young enough to be his daughter. Although it seems most likely right now that the Reform Party will be consigned to a major role only on the late-night joke circuit, there is always the possibility that its candidate will end up getting more support than anyone now believes.
If the party does succeed, it will in no small part be due to Choate's efforts. Choate, who ran as Ross Perot's vice presidential candidate in 1996, is generally credited with bringing Buchanan into the party and is today perhaps its major power broker.
Choate's odyssey has been an unusual one. An economist who identifies himself as an "insider's insider," he originally came to prominence in the 1970s by calling for repairing America's crumbling infrastructure, a cause mainly championed by liberal Democrats and labor. He then became a prominent neo-liberal guru to a wide variety of politicians, notably Gary Hart, who in his 1984 presidential race championed Choate's proposal for individual training accounts to allow workers to change jobs more easily.
In the late 1980s, while working for TRW in Washington, Choate took the fateful step that led him to break with the political establishment. He published a book, "Agents of Influence," an international bestseller that accused a wide variety of Washington's most prominent law firms, lobbyists and ex-politicians of betraying their country to foreign interests, especially Japan. He then joined forces with Perot, supporting his 1992 presidential run, before joining the ticket himself four years later.
Choate, who in May will publish "Stealing Ideas," a book on intellectual property, seems today to be enjoying life far more than when he was a mere policy wonk. He co-hosts a daily radio show with outgoing Reform Party chair Russ Verney, lives in a lovely rural area outside Washington with his wife Kay and clearly revels in his role as party kingmaker.
For many who knew Pat Choate in the 1970s and 1980s, however, the alliance with Pat Buchanan seems a strange one. As a person of enormous charm and knowledge about Washington's ways, Choate clearly admires Buchanan and defends him with gusto. But the mystery is why the highly respected Choate, who once stood at the pinnacle of Washington's policy establishment and still regards himself as a centrist, would so totally align himself with a right-wing social conservative.
Salon asked Choate to explain himself. If his answers represent a trend, then Buchanan may well end up having more influence over American politics than many would like to believe. In fact, if Buchanan succeeds in winning over more centrists like Choate in the year to come, the race for president will be a three-way affair.
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