By Donald J. Trump

Don King, the boxing promoter, has stated that my recent presidential exploratory campaign was one of the greatest promotions of all time. Sadly, many have agreed with him and have thought that my foray into presidential politics was done for the purpose of further heightening the Trump name, helping to sell my new book and building even greater awareness of my various real estate developments.

That, however, is not the case. I seriously thought that America might be ready for a businessman president, someone with an eye for the bottom line, someone who has created thousands of jobs and isn't part of the ''inside the Beltway'' buddy system. I also thought that Americans might be ready for straight talk and that they would find an unscripted candidate appealing.

Jesse Ventura's victory in Minnesota served as my model. A nonpolitician celebrity who spoke uncommonly straight to the voters, Mr. Ventura came out of nowhere to beat two experienced, big-name politicians at a time of economic prosperity, and he did so as the nominee of a fledgling third party.

The Reform Party was my chosen vehicle because its nomination process does not involve a long string of early primaries, but instead culminates in one national primary conducted by mail and e-mail in August. Refreshingly democratic, the Reform Party process would lend itself to a candidate with national name recognition and the financial resources to flood the process with new people.

A presidential exploratory campaign is the greatest civics lesson that a private citizen can have. In the course of my exploration, I met dozens of talented, dedicated Reform Party members who were involved, with little reward or recognition, solely because of their commitment to cleaning up the American political system. I marveled at the long and thankless hours put in by people like the New York Independence Party chairman, Jack Essenberg; the former national chairman, Russ Verney; and the Minnesota Reform Party chairman, Rick McCluhan.

I also saw the underside of the Reform Party. The fringe element that wanted to repeal the federal income tax, believed that the country was being run by the Trilateral Commission and suspected that my potential candidacy was a stalking horse for (take your pick) Gov. George W. Bush, Senator John McCain or Vice President Al Gore.

When I held a reception for Reform Party leaders in California, the room was crowded with Elvis look-alikes, resplendent in various campaign buttons and anxious to give me a pamphlet explaining the Swiss-Zionist conspiracy to control America.

Three things happened to destroy any viable chance that I may have had to run an insurgent candidacy in the fall. The Commission on Presidential Debates, made up solely of Republicans and Democrats, produced debate criteria specifically designed to keep the Reform Party's candidate out of the fall debates. I felt confident that I could sell the American people if I could get into the debate, but my lawyers told me that was unlikely.

I preferred a race against Mr. Bush and Mr. Gore, two establishment politicians whose nominations looked certain and whose issue positions seemed virtually indistinguishable; both support America's current trade policies, including Nafta and the World Trade Organization.

I felt confident that my argument that America was being ripped off by our major trade partners and that it was time for tougher trade negotiations would have resonance in a race against the two Ivy League contenders. The rise of John McCain, running on a reform message, made the opportunity for this contrast difficult, and depending on the outcome of the South Carolina primary, perhaps impossible.

Finally, the fratricide in the national Reform Party drove the party's most prominent star, Jesse Ventura, out of the party and culminated in a nationally televised meltdown at the national meeting last week, in which the proceedings grew so unruly that someone called 911 to ask the police to restore order.

Although I am totally comfortable with the people in the New York Independence Party, I leave the Reform Party to David Duke, Pat Buchanan and Lenora Fulani. That is not company I wish to keep.

In the days before I decided to end my presidential exploratory effort, I was watching CNN and saw Vice President Gore trudging through the snow in subzero temperatures, knocking on doors in New Hampshire -- an obvious look of drudgery on his face. My experience was quite different. I had enormous fun thinking about a presidential candidacy and count it as one of my great life experiences. Although I must admit that it still doesn't compare with completing one of the great skyscrapers of Manhattan, I cannot rule out another bid for the presidency in 2004.

Donald J. Trump is the president of the Trump Organization.

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