Although the New Hampshire primary is only three months away, tonight's visit by conservative commentator Patrick Buchanan is the only the second stop in Hanover by a Republican presidential candidate.
Buchanan, a special assistant to President Richard Nixon and the former communications director for President Ronald Reagan, will speak tonight in Webster Hall.
Lamar Alexander, the former governor of Tennessee and President George Bush's education secretary spoke to a capacity crowd at Collis Common Ground 10 days ago.
Both speeches are part of the Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences's Daniel Webster lecture series.
According to Jim Brennan '96, the Rockefeller Center's political programs intern, all of the Republican candidates have expressed interest in coming to campus, but it has been difficult to get them to commit to a specific time.
"Their schedules are so fluid and change so often," he said. "They give at the most a week-and-a-half or two weeks notice when they commit to a time, and even then they only set aside about two hours to be in Hanover."
The current front-runner in the race, Senator Bob Dole, R-Kan., has not yet planned any visits to Dartmouth because his campaign cannot plan too far in advance due to Dole's Senate commitments, a Dole for President representative said.
"We haven't firmed up any events past November," the representative said.
Terri Kobban, the campaign manager for Congressman Bob Dornan, R-Calif., said the Dornan campaign has received an invitation from the Rockefeller Center, but has also not yet scheduled a visit to the College.
Kobban said it has been "difficult to arrange a date" because Congress is currently in session and it is not known when it will go into recess.
A representative for Texas Senator Phil Gramm's campaign said Gramm will "almost certainly" appear at the College between now and the February primary, but it is "really just a matter of time more than anything else."
An official in the Gramm for President New Hampshire office said the Gramm campaign is "intending to get up to Hanover and as much of the country as we possibly can."
Senator Richard Lugar, R-Ind., has also received an invitation to the College, but has no firm plans to come to Hanover.
"We're planning on scheduling a date in either December or January, but we're not sure when it's going to be," said James McKay, the New Hampshire campaign director for Lugar for President.
Charles Robbins, the communications director for Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter's campaign, said there has been "a fair amount of talk" about Specter coming to Dartmouth, but no such visit is currently planned.
Other Republican candidates have also not made any definitive plans to visit the College.
Publisher Steve Forbes' campaign said Forbes is planning a visit to the College for early December, but since this period coincides with Dartmouth's final period, a visit then might not be possible.
"Idealistically I'd like to have him speak at Dartmouth" said Matt Leland, an official in the New Hampshire office of Forbes for President.
According to Brennan, political commentator and former United Nations ambassador Alan Keyes also wanted to visit the College in early December. Brennan said he is currently working with the Keyes campaign to set a different time.
Officials from Chicago businessman Morry Taylor's campaign were unavailable for comment.
The College is no stranger to visits by prominent politicians in presidential election years looking to do well in the New Hampshire primary.
In 1992, Republican candidates Buchanan and Pat Robertson appeared at the College, as did Senator Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., former Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas and Hillary Clinton, wife of then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton.
In 1988, Democrats including Gary Hart and Michael Dukakis, and Republicans including Jack Kemp and Robertson all appeared at the College. In addition, six Republican candidates, including Vice President George Bush, participated in a nationally-televised debate in Spaulding Auditorium.
The College hosted its first-ever presidential debate in 1984, when eight Democratic candidates, including eventual nominee Walter Mondale, debated in Spaulding.
