Dear reformers,

As you are all aware, Pat Buchanan has succeeded at stealing the Reform Party and making off with $12 million in taxpayer money to finance his hateful and divisive campaign. In some ways, as hard as the loss was -- for me, it strengthens my resolve to continue building the reform movement. When Buchanan is through with the Reform Party name, no one will want it. Buchanan, who is the most hated politician in America (with negative ratings higher than Col. Khadaffi of Libya and the Uni-bomber) will have forever stained the reputation of the party we all worked so hard to build.

But that is politics, and the fact that Buchanan was able to get the money even while committing widespread fraud is a testimony to the utter corruption of our political system and the dire need for a political party of reform. And as well, we cannot underestimate the damage that has been done to Buchanan. He came in last Fall expecting to be annointed as the Reform Party candidate. When he began his jihad and started trampling our Constitution and disprespecting longtime members and founders of this party -- the opposition began to mount. With less than 6 weeks left to the campaign, millions in campaign debt, and a barage of bad publicity -- Buchanan has been relegated to the fringe of American politics. It's hard to believe he will come close to 5% and the Reform Party will be politically dead. They will be without matching funds for 2004 and without ballot status in an overwhelming majority of states.

But the reform movement is alive and well and will continue to grow! The American people's thirst for political reform is increasing and we have a unique opportunity to build a new third party (in coalition with Natural Law and other possible third party forces). We must focus on building our state party organizations at the grassroots, bringing in new members from all walks of life and activating our supporters. Let's take this time to reflect and think about what we want to build, how we want to build it and what we want to call it. Please email me your thoughts and plans. I will take the
responsibility to compile these and began to stimulate a dialogue on where to go next.

Most importantly, we must stick together and continue this fight to save America. It has been a hard road. The odds have been stacked against us. But as Ross Perot likes to remind us, soldiers in the Revolutionary War had a lot harder odds than we do. While my chairmanship of the Reform Party was probably one of the shortest party chairmanships in the history of politics
-- it was a great privelege to get to know all of you and work as closely as we did. We saved the principles of Reform and for that we should be forever proud. We are the American "romantics" who are building the second American revolution. The romance for us is American democracy and the belief that we have a chance to save this country.

Thank you for your diligence in the face of adversity. Thank you for your bravery. And thank you for upholding the deepest and most beautiful principles of America. Let's continue building together!

Always in reform,
Jim Mangia

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