THE former Republican party presidential contender, Mr Pat Buchanan, has warned that the emergence of Mr Ross Perot as an independent candidate could lose the election for Mr Bob Dole.
Mr Buchanan, who defeated Mr Dole in the New Hampshire primary, is at loggerheads with the party leadership over his role in the Republican convention in San Diego next month.
He is also critical of attempts 19 water down the party's antiabortion plank by introducing a "tolerance" clause.
Mr Buchanan has angered the Republican hierarchy by refusing so far to campaign for Mr Dole or offer him public support. But Mr Buchanan says that the party is making little effort to attract the conservative voters who supported him in the primaries and they may now defect to Mr Perot.
This could lead to a "permanent split in the populist conservative coalition", Mr Buchanan has warned in a series of interviews which broke his months long silence.
He has also warned Mr Dole not to choose a "pro-choice" Republican as his vice-Presidential running mate. He would be unable to advise his own supporters to vote for Mr Dole in the election in November in such a case.
There is increasing dismay in Republican circles at what is seen as a series of Dole blunders in the past weeks, when he offended the powerful anti smoking lobby and then antagonised his party colleagues by reversing his stance on the ban on assault rifles.
But these have been overshadowed by his refusal to speak to the main civil rights group, the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, claiming it had "set me up" by the invitation.
The man he badly wants to be his running mate, Gen Colin Powell, has publicly regretted Mr Dole's action as a lost opportunity.
Other Republicans are getting restless at Mr Dole's delay in publishing his tax cutting policy and the lacklustre nature of his campaign.
Meanwhile, President Clinton would take 54 per cent of the vote, against 37 per cent for Mr Dole, if the election were held today, a poll released yesterday in New York by the new MSNBC television network said.