ASHINGTON - The Reform Party is having an identity crisis.
The nation's trailing third party, created by Texas billionaire Ross Perot, is split so badly between the Perotists and supporters of Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, the party's top elected official, that political specialists and even party members are questioning whether it can survive.
''To call it a party is charitable. It's more like the Hatfields and McCoys,'' said Steven Schier, chairman of the political science department at Carleton College in Minnesota. ''The two poles of gravity - Texas and Minnesota - are implacably hostile to each other.''
The trouble began last summer, when Ventura threatened to leave the party at the party's Dearborn, Mich., national convention unless his candidate, Jack Gargan, was elected chairman. Gargan, a retired financial consultant, took office Jan. 1 and, in a symbolic split, the party headquarters moved from Perot's Dallas office to Gargan's home in Cedar Key, Fla.
In the presidential race, Perot forces lined up conservative Pat Buchanan, formerly of the GOP, to seek the Reform Party nomination, only to have the socially liberal Ventura woo New York billionaire Donald Trump as a potential alternative candidate.
The latest skirmish, over selection of a convention site, could well define the party's future. Friday, Reform Party leaders were forced to call a special meeting Feb. 5 of the party's national committee to decide between Long Beach, Calif., and St. Paul as the August convention site.
The party's national committee, which has about 150 members, will gather in a yet-to-be-named city to vote on where to hold the convention. The party chose Long Beach last year, when it was controlled by Perot forces, but Ventura-led followers committed themselves to St. Paul at a press conference Friday in the Minnesota capital.
Gargan ruled out holding the convention in Long Beach in a contentious teleconference with the executive committee Jan. 9, enraging many with what vice chairman Gerry Moan calls Gargan's ''dictatorial'' style.
Gargan said the issue is settled. ''We don't have time for all this bickering.''
The deep divisions are affecting the party's prospects as the presidential campaign heats up. The Reform Party has $2.5 million in federal funds to hold the convention and $12.6 million for the presidential nominee's campaign, thanks to Perot's 8 percent showing in the 1996 election.
