Reform Party presidential candidate Pat Buchanan on Thursday unveiled a new television ad that encourages voters to "take our country back from those who are tearing it down."
Buchanan, who hovers between 1 percent and 2 percent in most presidential polls, debuted the TV spot during a news conference at a downtown resort hotel.
Unlike Republican presidential nominee George Bush and Democratic nominee Al Gore who "will do nothing" about the issues, Buchanan says in his ad that he "isn't afraid to fight back."
The ad was scheduled to debut Thursday and run through Election Day in 209 markets throughout the United States, including several Florida cities, a campaign spokesman said.
The ad starts with a teacher forcing apart the hands of a schoolgirl who is praying. "They've taken God and the Bible out of our schools," a narrator says.
The ad cuts to a Ten Commandments tablet being torn from the wall and the narrator says, "They've pulled the Ten Commandments off the classroom walls."
Pictures of Boy Scouts then flash on the screen. "Now they're after the Boy Scouts, calling them a hate group because they won't let homosexual men be scout leaders.
"It's time to take our country back from those who are tearing it down," the narrator says. "George W. Bush and Al Gore will do nothing. One candidate isn't afraid to fight back: Pat Buchanan."
The ad is the second in a $10 million media effort by Buchanan's campaign. He recently received $12.6 million from the Federal Election Commission as the Reform Party candidate
In comments after the ad was shown, Buchanan derided the major candidates for ignoring an "assault on American culture."
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Boy Scouts of America's right to exclude homosexuals as troop leaders. Buchanan, however, did not mention that ruling as he singled out the Supreme Court for rulings upholding separation of church and state and railed against a "judicial dictatorship" that he said is overstepping its bounds.
"The present institution of the Supreme Court needs to be overthrown," he said.
Buchanan called for making English "America's language" and said "immigration should be stopped cold." Later he said that immigration should be cut by a fourth, from 1 million a year to 250,000 annually. "Let no one illegally cross our southern borders," he said.
With virtually no chance to win the presidency, Buchanan said his major focus in the campaign now was to draw attention to issues ignored by the major candidates.
He said that his greatest regret in the campaign was being denied the opportunity and right to participate in the presidential debates "so we can lay out a different agenda and a different vision for the country than (the major parties) offer America."
Bush campaign spokesman Tucker Eskew declined comment. The Gore campaign could not be reached for comment.
Buchanan's name will appear on Nov. 7 election ballots in Florida, under an agreement reached earlier this month between two feuding Reform Party factions.