with the reform party’s convention in full swing, i have been attempting to follow what has been going on there, but in vain.
with the strong showing (for a third party candidate) that ross perot made in the last two elections, i assumed that when pat buchanan moved from the gop to the reform party he would take a significant portion of the gop voters with him. i envisioned the christian right following him, and the anti-nafta group right on their heels. i thought it even possible that mr. buchanan would take a large enough block of voters with him that it would throw the election to the democrats. it seems i was mistaken.
when the reform party elected a wwf wrestler as governor of minnesota, it should have pointed out what was in store for us. little did i know that mr. buchanan was off to become the comic relief of the 2000 election. i guess that, if you are going to have a circus, you must have clowns
Buchanan left the GOP because he was not getting support from anyone in the party except his die hard supporters. Buchanan’s support within the party has always been as an alternative to the ‘establishment’ Republicans, but most of his supporters are Republicans first and Buchanan supporters second.
Buchanan is following the money. His views do not mesh with those of the Reform Party rank and file. Hagelin is the same, though his views are closer to the Reform Party’s than Buchanan’s.
Buchanan and Ventura represent different “wings” of the Reform Party. (I guess it’s big enough to have them.) Ventura and Buchanan don’t have a lot in common and Buchanan basically commandeered the Reform Party, so he could have a platform for his very right wing agenda.
Buchanan has enormous negatives in the polls and will most likely finish fourth in the popular voting behind Bush, Gore, and Nader.
The Reform Party owes its existence to Perot’s personality and his personal wealth. Ventura was able to win in Minnesota because he had personality and the Democrats and Republicans both fielded very inept candidates.
The Reform Party is also supposed to represent “Outside the Beltway” thinking. However, Buchanan is a longtime “Inside the Beltway” political operative for the Republicans, hardly the kind of person Perot envisioned for his party.
If Ventura were running for president, he could probably win Minnesota and possibly some neighboring states.
Buchanan is heading for Father Charles Coughlin status.
> Buchanan has enormous negatives in the polls and will most likely finish fourth in the popular voting behind Bush, Gore, and Nader.
Or fifth behind Browne.
I guess we’ll have to wait for the courts to tell us which faction of the Reform Party is the real thing. As Eminem would say, “Please stand up. Please stand up.”
I suppose that my confusion with the reform party is that they present, at least in my mind, no clear indication of what their views or positions actually are. It seems that anyone that is dissatisfied with the two major parties can join the Reform Party and become a candidate? The candidates I’ve seen seem to me to be very diverse in political outlook and policies.
Their Party Platform emphasizes mostly campaign reform, but I don’t see a lot of other salient points (for example in Foreign Policy, which I consider to be an important issue.)