Third Party Watch

Janine Hansen has lobbied the Nevada legislature on constitutional issues for years, including the right to keep and bear arms.

As the head of Nevada’s Eagle Forum, Hansen has lobbied on a wide range of issues before the Nevada legislature.

Hansen lobbied for passage of the current law in Nevada which makes it illegal to confiscate the [...]

by Jonathan Cymberknopf
(Libertarian)

What started out as the most promising Third Party campaign in years is turning out to be the most disappointing one in years.

Looking back at the Libertarian convention, the purists of the Libertarian Party did try to warn us, but we did not listen as promises of gold blinded our eyes.

We forgave Bob [...]

Reason Magazine, a libertarian journal, decided to be democratic about it and asked everyone in its part of the universe who they are voting for:

As Campaign 2008 entered its home stretch, we asked a variety of policy wonks, journalists, thinkers, and other public figures in the reason universe to reveal for whom they are voting [...]

Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin gets the endorsement of Richard Spencer in Taki’s Magazine. Says Spencer:

Chuck Baldwin will most certainly not win next Tuesday, he’s not even on the ballot in all states. He’s the only candidate, however, who’s starting point is the Constitution, and who’s seriously talking about individual and economic liberty, [...]

Raffi Khatchadourian provides a lengthy profile of Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr in the October 27 issue of The New Yorker. Entitled “The Third Man: Bob Barr’s Libertarian run for the White House,” the article includes reportage on Barr’s relationship with former GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul.

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr, and Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin will debate tonight, October 30, in Cleveland, Ohio.

When: Thursday, October 30, at 4:30 p.m. EDT.
Where: The City Club of Cleveland; 850 Euclid Ave, 2nd Floor, Cleveland, OH
Topic: The Economy: “Where do we go from here?”

According to the [...]

Agency France Presse (AFP) takes a look at the campaigns of third-party candidates:

...the libertarian candidate Bob Barr, independent Ralph Nader and, to a lesser extent, Chuck Baldwin’s Constitution Party and Green candidate Cynthia McKinney, could have a significant impact on the hopes of McCain or Obama, who remain locked in tight races in key battleground [...]

Here is the entire 90-minute debate video via YouTube of last week’s debate between independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader and Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin. This was aired on C-SPAN.

Covering the debate, The Nation said of Nader:

Nader didn’t spend any time actually scrapping with Baldwin, a Baptist minister and radio host who defeated [...]

The lead story in today’s Style section of the Washington Post spotlights Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney. Entitled “Stealth Candidacy,” the feature starts with McKinney addressing a crowd of “graying Black Panthers gathered for a reunion” in Atlanta.

“Cynthia’s candidacy has brought some real vibrancy and energy to the party,” says Thano Paris, a [...]

The Nevada Appeal

John Wagner said he was so fed up with the Republican Party he switched to Independent American. And he’s running against Republican Cheryl Lau and Incumbent Democrat Bonnie Parnell in Assembly District 40 saying it’s time for a serious change.

“What I would like to do is change the way the state does business,” [...]

Ralph Nader, the Independent presidential candidate, and Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution Party candidate, went back and forth talking about the issues never letting the discussion devolve into one [...]

Ballot Access News

On October 23, U.S. District Court Judge Janet Hall said that Connecticut need not reprint its ballots to include Bob Barr. The key factor in the decision was the state’s testimony that it would be almost impossible to reprint the ballots. There will be no appeal of the denial of injunctive relief. However, [...]

Forget Bob Barr and Ralph Nader. Ron Paul is the “third-party” candidate who has the potential of being the spoiler in Montana.

Paul officially is not a presidential candidate, of course, but his supporters nevertheless got him on the ballot in Montana and Louisiana. Reason magazine political blogger David Weigel reports on a Montana [...]

The following is a media release from Free and Equal Elections:

Free and Equal Elections
230 E. Ohio Street, Ste. 212 Chicago, IL 60611
phone 1.312.320.4101 fax 1.866.309.7803

Contact: Christina M. Tobin
Phone: (312) 320-4101
Email: christina@freeandequal.org
http://www.freeandequal.org

Third Party Presidential Debate to Take Place on Thursday, October 23rd

This morning, Christina Tobin, Director of Free and Equal, announced an Independent/Third Party Presidential Debate, [...]

The following is a media release from the Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party) presidential campaign:

THIRD PARTY CANDIDATES’ DEBATE ON OCTOBER 23 IN WASHINGTON, DC

Contact: Mary Starrett
Communications Director
Chuck Baldwin for President
Phone: (602) 315-6193
E-Mail: Mary@Baldwin2008.com

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC- Rep. Ron Paul’s (R-TX) choice for President is among those invited to a debate for all presidential candidates on [...]

Nolan Chart columnist Lojito writes: “You and I both love Ron Paul very much…. However, when you vote this election season, though I prefer to phrase things in the affirmative, I must implore to NOT WRITE-IN RON PAUL!”

First, says Lojito, your vote will not be counted—and he explains why. Second, Ron Paul does not [...]

According to Stephen Dinan and Ralph Z. Hallow in the Washington Times, “Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr says Republicans are so afraid that he will spoil things for Sen. John McCain that the Republican presidential nominee is shadowing him, scheduling appearances in battleground states to match Mr. Barr’s own campaign events.”

“I suppose it’s a compliment,” [...]

Liberty Maven notes that “on Monday, October 20th, Bob Barr is going to be a very busy and visible candidate on your television and radio. His campaign events page shows him on FOX Business News channel at 8:05am (EST), CSPAN’s Washington Journal from 8:30am to 9am (EST), Air America Radio from 12pm to 12:20pm (EST), [...]

Jeff Mapes writes in The Oregonian:

U.S. Senate candidate David Brownlow doesn’t have any TV advertising, didn’t participate in the debates and isn’t accepting campaign donations.

But polls show the Constitution Party candidate picking up as much as 8 percent of the vote, and he could end up playing a crucial role in determining whether Sen. Gordon [...]

Incumbent Republican Norm Coleman, Democratic challenger Al Franken, and Independence Party candidate Dean Barkley are vying for the U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota. According to Larry Oakes of the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

In a 90-minute face-off before 1,800 people at the University of Minnesota Duluth, Independence Party candidate Barkley, in particular, went bare-knuckled at his [...]

Maria Recio of McCletchey Newspapers writes that “the troubled presidential debate for third-party candidates scheduled for Sunday at Columbia University in New York was canceled Friday after none of the four candidates had committed to the event.”

Barr claimed a conflict while McKinney opted for an online debate originally scheduled for that evening. Baldwin was reluctant [...]

Floyd Norris, writing in The New York Times, notes that “the most important legislation passed by the current Congress almost certainly was the bank bailout bill,” yet “neither man [Obama or McCain] chose to mention it in this week’s final presidential debate.”

Norris notes that the public was strongly against the bailout, and “there is virtually [...]

The New York Times’ Julie Bosman writes:

In the $700 billion bailout plan for the financial system, Mr. Nader, now on his fourth presidential run, has finally found a real-life event to illustrate what he has made a cause of his career.

“Oh yeah, it’s got everything,” Mr. Nader said in an interview after the rally. “Taxation [...]

Steve Duin, writing in The Oregonian, remarks that “at 74, Nader’s stamina, like his anger, shows no sign of fading. He has no intention of abandoning the stage to presidential candidates who don’t share his standards of fairness, his advocacy for single-payer national health insurance, or his disdain for compromise.”

And he quotes Ralph Nader on [...]

The Caucus, the political blog of the New York Times, devotes this posting to Sunday night’s third-party debate (see article below, too). Noting that Ralph Nader (Independent), Cynthia McKinney (Green Party), and Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party) are expected to show up, the Times goes on to elaborate on the one person who apparently will [...]