Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush has nothing to fear from Reform Party candidate Patrick Buchanan - in Michigan anyway.
Buchanan was denied access to the Michigan ballot this summer because a split in the Reform Party at their national convention caused confusion as to whom the true representatives of the party were."The party is on the ballot, Mr. Buchanan is not on the ballot," said Liz Boyd, spokeswoman for Michigan Secretary of State Candice Miller.
Buchanan is not on the ballot because the state recieved certifications from two separate self-proclaimed party chairs, one nominating Buchanan and the other nominating John Hagelin.
The party split ensued when then-Reform Party Chairwoman Diane McKilvey and members of the Natural Law Party tried to merge the two parties.
The Reform Party's executive committee subsequently voted to remove McKilvey from her position and appoint Mark Forton to chair the party, Buchanan deputy press secretary Wes Anderson said.
Hagelin, who was already a presidential candidate for the Natural Law Party, returned to be their candidate.
Forton is challenging incumbent Sen. Spence Abraham in Michigan, and McKilvey now is working for the Natural Law Party.
"The Reform Party has been taken over by Bush with an extreme right wing political agenda," Natural Law Party spokesman Bob Roth said.
Anderson said the party has had trouble getting Buchanan's name on the ballot in 15 states but no trouble in another 14 states.
"But the other 14 weren't Bush's campaign co-chairs like (Miller) is," he said.
But Boyd said Miller's political affiliation has nothing to do with Buchanan being barred from the ballot.
"This is not a political issue and we reject any accusation that it is," Boyd said. "This is election law."
"There are rules that have to be followed and these rules have worked for years, and had the Reform Party of Michigan complied with the rules this would not have happened," Boyd said.
Boyd said Miller sent several letters to both supposed Reform Party chairs to clear up the confusion but they were never able to resolve the issue.
Buchanan appealed the secretary of state's decision, but the courts - all the way up to the Supreme Court - upheld Miller's decision, Boyd said.
The Reform Party split has left some party members disillusioned, leading Michigan Reform Party Treasurer Ron Woodhouse to resign earlier this week.
Woodhouse described the events surrounding the Reform and Natural Law parties as a "fiasco."
"I feel that they both did wrong, both factions," Woodhouse said, adding that the future of the party seems "dim."
But others feel the Reform Party will only get stronger as a result.
"For the media, it didn't help, it makes you look kind of silly," Anderson said.
But the split helps "get rid of the dead weight" of the party, he said.
Buchanan has until Nov. 3 to submit a declaration of intent in order to allow Michigan voters to cast a ballot for him, Boyd said.
In addition to Forton, the only Reform Party members on the statewide ballot are Board of Education candidates Helen Ditzhazy and Mary Ann Lessner and University of Michigan Board of Regents candidate Nick Waun, a student at the University's Flint campus.
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