Pat Treads On Reform Toes
For months now, many of us have been assuming that Pat Buchanan was a lock for the Reform Party's presidential nomination. Absent the party's two best-known figures - Jesse Ventura and Ross Perot - Buchanan seemed the obvious choice.
Problem is, Pat's passion is alienating some Reform voters. Signs of dissatisfaction and unease are growing within a party that has taken in stride a fair number of eccentrics. Buchanan's conservative social views are anathema to many Reform Party members, who think the government should stay out of private matters like abortion and sexual orientation.
Ventura quit the Reform Party because, for one thing, he couldn't stomach a party with Buchanan as its presidential candidate. Last weekend, Colorado's Reform Party, disgusted by Buchanan's anti-gay rights stance and "his intolerant remarks concerning various groups of Americans," issued a resolution calling for "the immediate resignation of the party's presidential front-runner, Patrick J. Buchanan."
New Jersey's Reform Party cancelled a June 14 event where Buchanan was supposed to be the keynote speaker. Other states may follow suit. One report suggests Connecticut's Reform Party may pass a resolution condemning Buchanan.
It's not that anyone in the party has been taken aback by Buchanan's views. What's causing a stir is his eagerness to impose his positions on social issues like abortion into the Reform platform via a preamble or other document.
"The party doesn't take a position, whether in a preamble or otherwise," said Russ Verney, the former Reform Party chair. "The candidate can, but the party
can't...Trying to make the party take a position is wrong."
If Reform members can get past Buchanan's conservative social views, they may stumble over the way he's running his campaign. Last week, Buchanan handed in twice as many signatures as necessary to qualify as a presidential candidate in Texas. But he skunked the Lone Star State's Reform Party by filing as an independent. Now Texas Reformistas have to start their own petition drive - with a distinct risk they won't collect enough signatures to get any of their own candidates on the state ballot.
Other Reform groups have been repelled by a certain grabby quality among the Buchananites, a haste to take over state organizations and delegate slots.
"They've cost themselves a lot of good will where they didn't need to," said Verney. "They have been arrogant in the sense that, 'We are here now, we have got the energy, and we'll take over the party.'"
Verney believes the Buchanan crowd needs to refocus. "Their need is to win the campaign, not run the party," he said.
And Perot, the party's founder and previous standard bearer, has hinted his disapproval of Buchanan through silence and immobility. Although it appeared Buchanan joined the party last fall with Perot's tacit encouragement, the two have never had a formal meetig. And last week, Perot let drop that he might not find room in his schedule for this summer's national Reform Party convention.
The Buchanan crowd put a bright face on that, saying they understood Perot was a busy man, but, of course, he'd always be welcome. Most gracious. But Verney warned that Perot's absence might not be a simple matter of a scheduling snafu. "It's a pretty big statement if he's not there. What it means depends on what Ross says."
Ira Goodman, who runs the same New Jersey Reform Party that cancelled its Buchanan event, started a "Draft Perot" movement a few months back. And Verney concedes "pressure is building" for Perot to hop into the race, but adds that with so many state ballot deadlines past, it would be virtually impossible for any new candidate to mount a serious run.
But, Verney suggests, Reform Party members "could choose to endorse somebody who is a placeholder. Somebody who is not going to compete for the presidency, who will only appear on a limited number of ballots, but will take the $12.5 million [in federal matching funds] and run advertisements on issues important to the Reform Party." Could that somebody be Perot? Verney was unwilling to say.
The fact remains, though, that Buchanan's political skills and technicolor ranting - while they can lead to awkward moments - are the party's best shot at gaining national attention. His firm right-to-life and anti-WTO views could appeal to lots of voters, particularly in Catholic, labor-heavy states like Michigan. If the Reform Party wants to run a serious presidential candidate, it doesn't have much choice - Buchanan is the only game in town.