THE multi millionaire publisher, Mr Steve Forbes, scored what is being called "a stunning upset" in Tuesday's winner takes all Arizona Republican primary. It cost $4 million of his own money or $40 per voter, as Mr Patrick Buchanan, who had hoped to win, calculated.
The prize was 39 delegates to the Republican national convention in August.
Mr Buchanan came third after Senator Robert Dole, the consensus candidate of the Republican Party leadership. Mr Buchanan said he will now go after Mr Forbes and unmask him as a liberal and a pro abortionist.
Senator Dole celebrated two lesser victories, which may have turned his lack lustre campaign around, in North Dakota and South Dakota, winning 18 delegates in each state.
The Republican leader in the Senate won 42 per cent of the vote in North Dakota to Mr Forbes's 20 per cent and Mr Buchanan's 18 per cent. In South Dakota he got 45 per cent of the vote to Mr Buchanan's 29 per cent and Mr Forbes's 13 per cent.
Former Tennessee Governor Mr Lamar Alexander came fifth after Senator Phil Gramm, who pulled out of the contest a few weeks ago. Mr Alexander drew 9 per cent of the South Dakota vote. His limping campaign may do better on Saturday in South Carolina's primary or he'll be forced to quit the race for lack of funds.
Mr Dole said Saturday's primary will be "the big one" and that state would change his fortunes "We've got a big firewall - South Carolina. We're going to win there."
But falling funds are also a problem for the 72 year old Senator Dole, whose troubled campaign until now has lacked a central theme. "Once it becomes Dole versus Buchanan there is no doubt who will win," said Senator John McCain (Republican, Arizona), a supporter of Mr Dole. Mr Forbes however, says he has no intention of quitting and nobody doubts that he has the money to carry on.
Mr Forbes had a victory in Delaware last Saturday, which gave him 12 delegates. But Messrs Dole and Buchanan did not campaign in the state, and the latter dismissed it with the comment "Steve finally bought himself a victory in an uncontested primary," according to the New York Times.
To date Mr Forbes has spent $25 million in his drive for the Republican presidential nomination, all but $2 million of it his own money, according to the Federal Election Commission reports.
There is no limit on the amount of money a candidate may spend electioneering with his own funds, and Mr Forbes's capacity in that respect appears to be almost limitless.
For Mr Forbes, who came in fourth in the Iowa caucases and the New Hampshire primary, Arizona was a big victory. Mr Buchanan may have lost his momentum in Arizona, one filth of whose population is of Hispanic descent, and probably resented his taunts about illegal Mexican immigration.
Shouts of "Go Pat, go" usually drown out Mr Buchanan's disrupters, but not in Arizona. Analysts say he has the support of perhaps 30 per cent to 35 per cent of conservative Republicans. But he admits "Forbes's millions and millions of dollars (are) very difficult to overcome." He told the Washington Post "Clearly if I had won Arizona, I don't see how they would have stopped me from the nomination, with the delegates and the momentum."
Attacks on Mr Buchanan, which have drawn attention to his Catholic upbringing, drew some Catholic defenders to a press conference at the National Press Club yesterday, who pointed out that the religion of other candidates has not been mentioned.