A two-time GOP presidential candidate now seeking the Reform Party nomination, Buchanan said his candidacy may syphon votes away from Republican George W. Bush, possibly hurting the party's chances of reclaiming the presidency. But he said his causes would be ignored if he did not run.

"I came to the conclusion that (Bush) was going to win the nomination, that he was an establishment candidate, and that Al Gore was going to beat him, and we're going to go down to defeat for the third time," Buchanan told an audience at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

"The people that believe in me and believe in all the causes I believe in, they are going to go unrepresented in the general election once again," he said.

Buchanan added, "I know there is a possible danger that my campaign might damage and set back the causes I've worked for my whole life. ... But I made a decision at that time and in my best judgment as to whether I could do good for the causes I believe in."

Addressing a mostly liberal audience, Buchanan outlined his message under the Reform banner.

He accused the Republican and Democratic parties of being so dependent on corporate money to finance their campaigns that there are no longer any true differences between them.

"The party of Ronald Reagan which I loved and served in the White House is in my judgment dead," he said. The former Nixon speechwriter added, "More and more, both Beltway parties sing from the same song sheet," he said. "There is no fresh thinking down there in Washington."

Buchanan said he would overhaul campaign finance laws by banning unlimited, unregulated donations from corporations or unions, and requiring congressmen to raise half of their donations from their home states or districts. He also called for establishing congressional term limits.

Buchanan said the United States must revisit the need for "Cold War" institutions such as NATO, and should pull U.S. troops from Bosnia and Kosovo.

Buchanan said the country is ripe for a third-party movement, pointing to Jesse Ventura's successful gubernatorial bid in Minnesota in 1998.

Harvard College freshman Joshua Weiner questioned Buchanan's motives for switching to the Reform Party. "You've gone and joined the Reform Party, which is a party that really doesn't have much to do with your hard line, right views except that they're willing to give you the nomination where the Republican Party never was. ... How do you justify that?" Weiner demanded.

Buchanan defended the move, saying he was in sync with many of the Reform Party's economic and political platforms, and that he has not changed a single one of his views.

Buchanan also was pressed about some of his past statements, including that Adolf Hitler was "courageous" and that women are not as able as men to succeed in the fast-paced world of finance. Buchanan defended both statements, and said they were taken out of context.