Goodman, who had been part of the party since 1992, is now heading a movement to draft party founder H. Ross Perot to "save the party." Goodman is the latest party activist in the growing ranks of those who went to bed with Buchanan as a candidate last fall and are now finding themselves waking up with the hangover and pangs of regret that often come with political compromise.

Due to the late hour, no one from the Buchanan campaign could be reached for comment.

In an interview with Salon, Goodman said there were two reasons for his resignation. First, Buchanan has "escalated" his anti-abortion, anti-gay rhetoric to the point that he is now planning to write a preamble to the Reform Party platform that will address all the social issues that the Reform Party as a matter of policy avoids addressing on a party basis.

"The Reform Party does not believe in making social issues the agenda of our political organization," Goodman says. "We always knew that those were his issues as a candidate, and any candidate is permitted to say what he thinks about them." But Buchanan is bringing them front and center, which changes what the Reform Party is supposed to stand for, claims Goodman.

Second, Goodman alleges that Buchanan has brought an ugly element into the party. "Extremists, white supremacists, people who are anti-black" are joining the party -- and wresting control of it from the old guard. It's not just that they yell "lock-and-load" or that "they're very aggressive, very belligerent, very intimidating and tend to be of the extreme right," Goodman insists.

"Take a look at what happened [at the Reform Party convention] in Texas this past week," he says. The Buchananites "got control of the credentialing process and they ... excluded minorities. They excluded blacks, Hispanics and Jews," misinterpreting Texas Reform Party law and refusing to recognize such individuals as members of the party even though "all you have to do is attend a meeting" to be a member.

In Goodman's own organization, he found a new member, a Buchanan-backer, who was a member of the racist Council of Conservative Citizens. "I went to Bay" Buchanan, Pat Buchanan's sister and adviser, "and I went to Tim" Haley, Buchanan's political director, "and I told them about this guy in my group who I'd checked out, and who was with the CCC, and they just sort of laughed it off. They said, 'Jeez, I didn't think they [the CCC] went all the way up to New Jersey.'"

Buchanan, Goodman says, "is creating a right-wing Republican party, which will be a cash cow."

Goodman's thoughts were stated in an interview Monday with former Reform Party national chairman Russ Verney. He says that Buchanan and his allies "have concluded that they don't have a chance in the 2000 election. Everything they're doing is counterproductive to the 2000 election, and these are not stupid people ... When someone extends a warm, welcoming hand to you with $20 million and a ticket to the big leagues, you don't start tearing off the fingers. Elections aren't about division."

Thus, Verney says, "What they're about is purging the Reform Party of all those who created it so that they can prepare themselves to present themselves to the right wing of America as an ideologically pure right-wing party. The Christian Coalition sold out its principles when it endorsed George W. Bush over Steve Forbes and Alan Keyes. So they try to offer a replacement for the Christian Coalition in the form of a political party -- one that can take soft money. That's what this is about."

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