The Natural Law Party was conceived in 1992, the same year Ross Perot burst onto the political scene. While Perot was waxing colloquial from underneath his 10-gallon hat, a group of followers of the Maharishi in Fairfield got together to form a political party. Their first presidential nominee was quantum physicist John Hagelin. Until then, Hagelin says, he was "a regular Republican voter, though I was smart enough not to vote the straight party line every time." But in 1992, Hagelin leapt into third-party politics and was quickly tagged as the meditating presidential candidate.

"Fairfield, Iowa, is a meditation town, so a lot of the initial focus of the party was on its origins," Hagelin says. "But even then, the party was never meant to be a single-issue party. It was meant to be a broad-based centrist alternative to the Republicans and Democrats."

Hagelin does still believe that meditation is part of the ultimate solution to solving the world's problems. But he encourages skeptics to look to scientific studies that he says support his theory that meditation is a useful stress-reducing technique, both on an individual and societal level. Recently, he advocated sending meditation experts to Kosovo to help resolve the Balkan conflict.

There is a sort of charm in the naiveti of the Hagelin campaign. His campaign brochures literally show Hagelin's head in the clouds. A photo of a sunrise over a wheat field illustrates Hagelin's pitch for sustainable agriculture. The 12-page pamphlet is peppered with inspirational slogans such as "There are no limits to what we can achieve," as well as the adoption of Perot's slogan, "United We Stand."

He is balanced within the Reform Party by Buchanan, who is serious about building a right-wing political party within the Reform Party, and plays bare-knuckle politics to do so. The ongoing internal maneuvering within the party is nonstop, and is now ready to spill over into the courts. To be sure, Hagelin has plenty of people on "his side" fighting every bit as hard and dirty as Buchanan. Whether Hagelin is clued in to all the details and machinations remains unclear.

"It's unfortunate, but I think it's unavoidable. The nature of any [Buchanan's sister and campaign manager] Bay Buchanan campaign is it's going to be bitter and it's going to be divisive," he says. "I try to stay above the fray as much as possible. I'm not issuing any volleys. I'm just deflecting them and defending the process."

That's good, because a more rabid offense would certainly conflict with his essential political message: Chill out. Everything in the Natural Law Party platform -- from "family values" to abortion or crime prevention -- includes language about stress reduction and harmony. All the more ironic considering he is in the middle of the nastiest internal political fight going.

For leftover Perot loyalists who do not share Buchanan's social agenda, Hagelin is their Obi Wan Kenobi, their final hope. The years since 1992 have shown a slow deterioration for the Perotistas who wanted a party that was mum on social issues and now they find themselves on the verge of what some are calling a hostile takeover by someone who puts social issues on the front burner. In 1992, Perot emerged with a real chance at capturing the White House. Today, the party is struggling for survival.

After trying in vain to draft Perot to run against Buchanan, Reform Party secretary Jim Mangia, a Perot supporter since 1992, is one of those leaders who has turned to Hagelin. Mangia, who is gay, was the focus of a verbal attack he thought was homophobic from one of Buchanan's supporters. He's made it clear that he will go to any length to stop Buchanan.

But sitting at the St. Francis, watching the Natural Law Party crew huddled around the table on a horseshoe-shaped banquet, there is a sense that all of this infighting goes on in an orbit around Hagelin. Perhaps that is only because he is the polar opposite of Buchanan's fire-breathing persona. Or perhaps it's just a prejudice that a quantum physicist from Maharishi U. is not really capable of playing hardball politics. Or maybe it's just the old adage about politics and strange bedfellows that forces people like Mangia, who views Buchanan as a borderline fascist, to turn to strange places to play defense.

When asked what the one major issue for his campaign is, Hagelin quickly picks a no-brainer for an outsider: campaign finance reform. "That really is the linchpin for all these other issues," he said. "Until I achieve that, I cannot expect to have a Congress that would be accountable to the people."

But when asked whether he will come to be known primarily as a campaign finance crusader, Hagelin is apprehensive. Being known as a one-trick pony seems antithetical to who Hagelin is. "I hope they get to know me as the scientist who supports foundational solutions, core solutions to the nation's problems," he says.

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