The Conservative Party of New York had been founded in 1962, as a counter less to the Liberal Party than to the liberalization of the Republican Party. It was not expected to go far--but in 1970 it sent James Lane Buckley to the United States Senate. Actually, in response to the title question, the Senator says it isn't particularly difficult being a conservative in the Senate: "I think I'm regarded, still, a little bit as a curiosity, but I'm sort of feeling my way around and finding my place--not being put in my place, I might add. And, no, I think I'm just accepted as a member of the team.... The Senate has a very interesting air of total civility, so that, I think, if you aren't more or less apt to be naturally civil, there's something about the atmosphere that causes you to abide by the ground rules." A genial, instructive conversation about the workings of a third party, the demands on a large-state senator, and Mr. Nixon's "full-employment budget."