Eight years ago, Ross Perot's Reform Party managed to wrest almost 20% of the popular vote away from this country's twin rival political juggernauts, the Republicans and Democrats. Many Washington insiders felt that Perot stole more votes from Bush the Elder than from Clinton - exit polls showing otherwise notwithstanding - and that his candidacy was a huge, if not deciding, factor in getting Clinton elected. Flash forward eight years. Former Nixon warhorse Pat Buchanan renounces his longstanding ties with the Republican Party and declares his intentions to run for President under the banner of Reform. Under questionable circumstances and with no small amount of intimidation, Buchanan and his cronies manage to take advantage of Reform's laissez-faire convention rules and basically steal the candidacy from John Hagelin.

Buchanan's actions have a three-fold effect. First, they manage to disgust and alienate Reform's biggest star and best chance to get in the White House, Jesse Ventura, who quits the party over the internal strife caused by Buchanan, a man whose politics Ventura cannot abide. Second, they manage to disenfranchise the people who built the Reform Party up from nothing not so long ago, causing them to leave the party in droves. Finally, they manage to confuse the electorate by placing an extreme social conservative and economic isolationist at the head of a party that had been selling itself as socially liberal and fiscally conservative. The net result of Buchanan's run? So far this year, Reform has yet to score more than a single percentage point in any national poll.

My innocent question is this: Could it be that Pat Buchanan took control of the Reform Party with every intention of flying it into the side of the mountain, on purpose? Is it possible that Pat's Reform candidacy is nothing more than the ultimate Republican Party dirty trick - an artform Pat perfected while working for Nixon - ensuring the downfall of the GOP's greatest potential rival for the fiscally conservative votes? Considering the fact that was disclosed this week that Republican Party backers are paying for Nader ads in key swing states, the above sinister scenario doesn't seem all that far fetched to yer old pal Jerky.

I for one found it extremely shocking that he left the party when he did because he has faced worse times in his party and staid in the fold.