Take My Party, Please

Who might prevail in the Reform Party's superbout is anyone's guess. Conventional wisdom says that while Buchanan's hawkishness on trade helps get him in the door, he may have trouble explaining to libertarian-minded reformers why he opposes abortion. But conventional wisdom may not apply in Reformland. After all, Ventura has managed to become the party's leading officeholder while being a free trader--something that puts him at odds with a central tenet of the party's platform. Although the winner remains uncertain, so do the candidates. Beatty is said to favor running for the Democratic nomination; Weicker will decide in the next few weeks, but he told TIME, "There's so much on my agenda"; Perot has stepped back for now, yet no one can predict the moves of the mercurial Texan. Teamsters boss James P. Hoffa is thinking about the Veep spot on the Reform ticket, but will not run for President. That leaves Buchanan and Trump.

What would Trump get from a race? He burnishes his brand name and, like Buchanan, he's peddling a book--The America We Deserve--due out in January. What does Ventura get out of a Trump bid? The former wrestler objects to Buchanan's social-policy views and may run on the Reform ticket in 2004. Trump is a perfect placeholder. And Ventura genuinely admires Trump. As one Ventura pal puts it, "They're both entrepreneurs who've had wild lives and believe in living their life as an open book. Their views are simpatico." Indeed, Ventura recently snickered that the liberal Beatty should run for President of the "United Socialist States of America." And he touted Trump. "I like what he has to say," Ventura has told friends.

Of course, Trump's odds of being President are akin to hitting the jackpot on two of his slots simultaneously. His finances make the Clintons' look simple; his women outnumber the President's. But third parties aren't really about winning. They're about changing the electoral debate--and influencing who wins in the end. That's why even Bush backers who joke privately about Trump ("He doesn't want to live in the White House; he wants to develop it") are relishing his possible appearance in politics. "We love this. We just love it."