Editing Pat Buchanan (section)

===1996 presidential primaries===
{{Main|1996 Republican Party presidential primaries|Pat Buchanan 1996 presidential campaign}}
Buchanan ran for the Republican nomination again in 1996. He was endorsed by conservative [[Phyllis Schlafly]], and others.

In February, the liberal [[Center for Public Integrity]] issued a report claiming Buchanan's presidential campaign co-chairman, [[Larry Pratt]], appeared at two meetings organized by [[White supremacy|white supremacist]] and [[American militia movement|militia]] leaders. Pratt denied any tie to racism, calling the report an orchestrated smear before the New Hampshire primary. Buchanan told the conservative [[Manchester, New Hampshire|Manchester]] ''[[New Hampshire Union Leader|Union Leader]]'' he believed Pratt. Pratt took a leave of absence "to answer these charges," "so as not to have distraction in the campaign."<ref>{{Citation|title=Buchanan Aide Leaves Campaign Amid Charges|newspaper=[[The Union Leader]]|date=February 16, 1996}}</ref>

In the February [[New Hampshire primary]], Buchanan defeated front-runner [[Bob Dole]] by about 3,000 votes. Buchanan won three other states ([[Alaska]], [[Missouri]], and [[Louisiana]]), and finished only slightly behind Dole in the [[Iowa caucus]]. His insurgent campaign used his soaring rhetoric to mobilize grass-roots right-wing opinion against what he saw as the bland [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] establishment (personified by Dole) which he believed had controlled the party for years. At a rally later in [[Nashua, New Hampshire|Nashua]], he said:
{{blockquote|text=We shocked them in Alaska. Stunned them in Louisiana. Stunned them in Iowa. They are in a terminal panic. They hear the shouts of the peasants from over the hill. All the knights and barons will be riding into the castle pulling up the drawbridge in a minute. All the peasants are coming with pitchforks. We're going to take this over the top.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/20/news/20iht-camp.t_11.html?scp=5&sq=pat%20buchanan%20donnybrook&st=cse|title=Republicans Wind Up Bare-Fisted Donnybrook in New Hampshire|first=Brian|last=Knowlton|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 20, 1996}}</ref>}}

{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?103023-1/the-great-betrayal ''Booknotes'' interview with Buchanan on ''The Great Betrayal'', May 17, 1998], [[C-SPAN]]}} 
In the [[Super Tuesday]] primaries Dole defeated Buchanan by large margins. Having collected only 21%, or 3.1 million, of the total votes in Republican primaries, Buchanan suspended his campaign in March. He declared that, if Dole were to choose a [[pro-choice]] running mate, he would run as the US Taxpayers Party (now [[Constitution Party (United States)|Constitution Party]]) candidate.<ref>{{Citation|last=Porteous|first=Skipp|url=http://www.publiceye.org/ifas/fw/9604/phillips.html|date=April 1996|title=Howard Phillips on Pat Buchanan|journal=Freedom Writer|publisher=Public Eye}}</ref> Dole chose [[Jack Kemp]], and he received Buchanan's endorsement. After the 1996 campaign, Buchanan returned to his column and ''Crossfire''. He also began a series of books with 1998's ''The Great Betrayal''.