Buchanan says opponents ignoring moral issues

LAS VEGAS - Reform Party presidential candidate Pat Buchanan accused his two major party opponents of ignoring moral issues and said Friday that he's standing up for traditional values.

During a campaign stop in Las Vegas to draw attention to two new television ads, Buchanan also said he had doubts whether gambling was healthy for society.

Ironically, Buchanan chose the Tropicana hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip to meet with reporters.

The two ads, which began airing last week in 24 states and 209 markets, including Nevada, are part of Buchanan's $10 million ad campaign.

They address issues Buchanan thinks GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush and Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore ignore - gay Boy Scout leaders, prayer in schools and immigration.

''Culture, moral and social issues have been completely ignored by both parties,'' Buchanan said during the news conference.

One commercial says: ''They've taken God and the Bible out of our schools. They've pulled the Ten Commandments off the classroom walls. Now they're after the Boy Scouts, calling them a hate group because they won't let homosexual men be Scout leaders.''

The ad says Bush and Gore ''will do nothing'' and Buchanan will put families first.

Buchanan said the Boy Scouts have the right to exclude gays from becoming Scout leaders.

He said he is the candidate standing up for ''traditional values.''

''I think there is a cultural war going on for the soul of this country,'' he said.

Buchanan supports keeping marriage restricted to between men and women and urged Nevadans to vote the same way. The issue - Question 2 - is one of the state's ballot measures for the Nov. 7 general election.

''This would be to protect Nevada from these illicit unions,'' he said.

Buchanan's second ad refers to the candidate's support of border control and says Bush and Gore will do nothing about the number of illegal immigrants from Mexico.

''As we take in Mexico's poorest, crime rises and wages fall,'' the ad says.

''Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gore have been utterly cowardly in reference to defending the border of the United State of America,'' Buchanan said.

Buchanan reiterated his disappointment in not being included in the presidential debates.

''I believe the American people were cheated and were robbed when I was kept out of the presidential debate. I think I would have done very well.''

On Nevada issues, Buchanan said he doesn't blame Nevadans for not wanting nuclear waste stored in the state. Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site being studied by the federal government to permanently entomb 77,000 tons of the nation's high-level nuclear waste.

''My view is I would like to find some way to basically burn waste and use it as fuel, if that's possible,'' he said.

And on the proposed legislation to ban college sports betting, Buchanan said he thinks it is a state issue.

But, he said: ''I'm not sure gambling is healthy for society.''

Polls show Buchanan at the bottom of the presidential field, behind Republican Bush, Democrat Gore and the Green Party's Ralph Nader. Buchanan hopes to garner the minimum 5 percent of the vote needed to qualify for federal campaign funds in 2004. Polls now put him at about 1 percent of likely voters.