But on Election Day, too many conservative voters stayed home in disgust. They were convinced by certain 'Pundits on the Right' that the Republican Congressional leadership would never bring Clinton to trial. The 'Purist Right' always has an excuse for desertion. Ideological Purity means never having to say you've won. Winning an election is a tricky thing.
Candidates stretch out from an ideological base into the amorphous electoral middle.
As the message to the base dilutes, third party spoilers threaten to steal the base. Buchanan is hurting Bush, and it's time for the counter-attack. And let it be waged by coming around Buchanan's own right flank. It's only fair to question Buchanan's own ideological purity. But at that time, Buchanan's paycheck came from Nixon, so he kept quiet.