When Pat Buchanan defected from the Republican Party last fall, many in the Reform Party opened their arms to embrace the high-profile candidate. There, votes will be announced from a nationwide referendum of Reform Party members conducted by mail and the Internet, National Chairman Gerry Moan told Capital Eye . Buchanan has been feverishly gathering delegates leading up to the convention in case the popular vote goes against him. Buchanan s only real competition for the presidential nominee spot is John Hagelin, perennial nominee for the Natural Law Party. Backlash against the flood of Buchanan s socially conservative supporters into the party conventions has unleashed a wave of resignations by state party leaders and increased hostility between the party s Perot and Buchanan factions.
Tensions are so high that security for the national convention is being amplified.
Buchanan countered that Fulani was angry that he and sister Bay Buchanan would not agree to make Fulani the party s national chairwoman. According to old-guard Reform Party members, the tension began when socially conservative Buchananites staged coups at state conventions, denied seats to some black and Hispanic delegates and began to escalate talk of a social agenda in the party platform. Fulani has been careful to say that she does not believe that Buchanan is a racist. Buchanan has explained away complaints of racism, pro-life militancy and hostile takeovers as so much sour grapes by the people who are losing control of the party. A comparison of Buchanan contributors to those of former Ku Klux Klan leader and Louisiana Senate candidate, David Duke, does show slight similarities.