REFORM PARTY –

REFORM PARTY – Once a rapidly growing and populist third party, the Reform Party first shifted far to the right during 1999-2002, before imploding into insignificance due to factional in-fighting. After the shift, it quickly experienced massive waves of conservative defections away into the Constitution Party and the America First Party in 2002, before withering into an insignificant shadow of its former glory years. First, some history: after running as an Independent in 1992, billionaire Texas businessman Ross Perot founded the Reform Party in 1995 as his vehicle for converting his independent movement into a permanent political party. In 1996, Perot ran as the Reform Party’s presidential nominee (8,085,000 votes – 8%). The party originally reflected Perot’s center-conservative fiscal policies and anti-GATT/NAFTA views — while avoiding taking any official positions on social issues. The RP was plagued by a lengthy period of nasty ideological battles in 1998-2000 involving three main rival groups: the “Old Guard” Perot faction, the more libertarian Jesse Ventura faction, and the social conservative Pat Buchanan faction. After several nasty and public battles, the Ventura faction quit the RP in 2000 and the old Perot faction lost control of the party in court to the Buchanan faction later in 2000. That gave the Buchanan faction control of the party’s $12.6 million in federal matching funds. Along with Buchanan’s rise to power in the party, the party made a hard ideological shift to the right — an ideological realignment that continues to dominate the tiny RP today. In the aftermath of the 2000 elections, it was clear that Buchanan failed in his efforts to establish a viable, conservative third party organization. Buchanan was on the ballot in 49 states, captured 449,000 votes (4th place – 0.4%), and later told reporters his foray into third party politics was likely a mistake. In 2002, the party splintered further, losing most of its conservative activists to other right-wing third parties. The RP was just about bankrupt by late 2004, having less than $50 remaining in its bank account. The party ran technology consultant Andre Barnett for President in 2012, but he only secured ballot status in one state (962 votes – 26th place). A few isolated state party affiliates remain active, fielding candidates from time to time.