Even as he spoke, Vice Chairman Gerry Moan of Tucson, Ariz., said he would oversee a third vote within a couple of weeks. He will conduct a mail poll of national committee members on the convention site and said he would sue to enforce it if necessary.

"It's really nasty and it's probably going to destroy the Reform Party, but if you can't stand up for the rule of law and the principles of reform there's no sense having a party anyway," Moan said.

Not even Gargan believed his word would be the last in the dispute over whether to hold the event here or in Long Beach, Calif. And neither he nor former Chairman Russell Verney of Dallas has a clue about how it will finally be resolved.

A September vote of the executive committee put the convention in California. Minnesota Chairman Rick McCluhan and California Chairman Paul Hale conducted a second mail-in vote of national committee members in December. That one went to Minnesota.

Of the bickering, Verney, a top aide to party founder Ross Perot, said, "We thought Barnum and Bailey was getting too mundane so we decided to provide a little more lively entertainment for America."

Gargan had planned to conduct a third and decisive vote on the site Saturday. He changed his mind over the weekend when leaders with ties to Dallas and Perot refused the offer.

"They figured it was their way or no way and they figured they're going to push me around," said Gargan. He had wanted to start from scratch, with cities submitting bids for the event planned for Aug. 10-13.

Instead, after being assured by the Reform Party's rules monitor that the Minnesota site vote was valid, Gargan said he ruled in favor of Minnesota.

"This was not done to appease the Minnesota delegation or Jesse Ventura. I made that ruling because it was the right thing to do," Gargan said.

He accused the Perot faction, which leans to Reform Party presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, of making mischief. Verney accused Gargan of being a puppet of Ventura, who dislikes Buchanan's conservative politics and prefers New York developer Donald Trump. Trump is publicly pondering a candidacy.