Third Party Watch

Kevin Gosztola is a student activist and wannabe documentary filmmaker who covered the Green Party convention in Chicago this past weekend. Though he is supporting Ralph Nader, he also sees an important role for the Greens:

Run, Cynthia, run and go, Greens, go. Make this election a referendum on the Democratic Party that failed horribly [...]

Reason’s David Wiegel covers the Ron Paul march in Washington, D.C. this past Saturday. Of the Constitution Party’s presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin he writes:

The final speech before Paul’s came from Chuck Baldwin, the Pensacola, Florida pastor and Constitution Party candidate, who used the little time he had (graciously having given some of his minutes [...]

The following is a media release from Wayne Allyn Root, the Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee:

The Answer to the Energy & Economy Crisis: More Entrepreneurship, Less Government!

By Wayne Allyn Root, Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee

Ask any American voter. The two biggest issues in this 2008 election are the economic crisis and the energy crisis. Seldom [...]

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports on Bob Barr’s attendance at a fundraising event, at the “ostentatious mansion” of his running mate Wayne Allyn Root. Regarding the local scene, the newspaper says:

Barr will be on the Nevada ballot because the Libertarian Party has scored enough votes in previous elections to give its nominee ballot access.

In [...]

On Nolan Chart, frequent contributor George Dance writes:

Charles Jay, presidential candidate of the Boston Tea Party (BTP), posted an interesting essay, “Declaring Your ‘Independence,’” on his candidate’s page on July 5. In it, Jay gave a first glimpse of what looks to be the fringe party’s election strategy this year: Smear Libertarian Party (LP) candidate [...]

The following is a media release from the Nader presidential campaign:

July 11, 2008
www.votenader.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chris Driscoll, 202-360-3273, chris@votenader.org

NADER HAILS PICKENS ENERGY PLAN IN LETTER TO MCCAIN AND OBAMA

WASHINGTON, July 11——Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader today released the following letter to Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama proposing a dialogue on T. Boone Pickens’ innovative [...]

Who is Rosa Clemente? We know she is Cynthia McKinney’s vice presidential running mate on the Green Party ticket, but who was she before that? This Chicago Sun-Times blog says “this is a ground-breaking pick” and provides links to her biography and website.

The U.S. Green Party, at its convention in Chicago this past weekend, picked former Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney as its 2008 presidential candidate. Rosa Clemente, a hip-hop artist and activist, is her running mate seeking the vice presidential post.

McKinney won the nomination with 313 out of 532 votes cast.

McKinney was the first black woman [...]

Ralph Nader, the independent candidate for President, was online with the Washington Post on July 10 to answer questions from the audience. Here is the transcript of that conversation, in which he says “I believe we are on the course for the Nader/Gonzalez ticket to be on the ballot of 45 states.”

Nader also says [...]

“Thirsty McWormwood” is the nom de cyber of a writer in Washington, DC who admires Bob Barr’s ability to change sides so successfully, from conservative culture warrior to libertarian—and the Libertarian Party candidate for President, no less. In The American Spectator, “McWormwood” dissects the five successful methods of the Barr transformation, and says, with [...]

This may be the most amazing article to cover the 2008 presidential campaign so far, at least to libertarians and Bob Barr supporters. Time magazine is at the epicenter of the liberal mainstream media, and we’re not accustomed to such respectful coverage from the Establishment. “What are they up to?” was the first [...]

Kevin Tracy asks this question on his blog. And he tells why this is an important factor:

We had this fight with Real Clear Politics about this time last year when they were refusing to show polling data for Governor Huckabee. They caved when we got his national support up to around 4% in Iowa. [...]

Josh Putnam’s Frontloading HQ is a blog that will appeal to numbers-crunchers interested in the presidential race. Putnam thinks the support shown for Bob Barr in the recent Zogby poll is exaggerated, but even so he thinks Barr is a real threat to McCain.

The reason why? The Zogby poll shows that Barr’s [...]

Gary Dale Cearley, in a letter to the editor of the Tulsa Beacon, takes issue with the comparison of Bob Barr in 2008 to Ralph Nader in 2000. The critical difference in their campaigns, he says, is this:

Al Gore was “Naderized” due to the fact that Ralph Nader ran on very similar issues to [...]

Dante Scala teaches American politics at the University of New Hampshire, and he’s frankly bewildered by the recent Zogby poll results that show these results:

Obama: 40
McCain: 37
(national Libertarian Party candidate) Bob Barr: 10
Nader: 2

The reason for his puzzlement? In January Ron Paul got some 18,000 votes in the New Hampshire GOP primary. [...]

Mark Blumenthal, on NationalJournal.com, warns that if history is any indication, support for Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr and independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is being overstated in current polling.

Blumenthal rests his case on the record of previous campaigns, such as those of Nader (2000 and 2004), Pat Buchanan, George Wallace, Ross Perot, and [...]

On the LewRockwell.com blog, Nick Bradley posts state-by-state polling numbers for Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party’s candidate for President.

The following is a media release from the Ralph Nader presidential campaign:

July 10, 2008
www.votenader.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chris Driscoll, 202-360-3273, chris@votenader.org

NADER TO LIMBAUGH, GET OFF WELFARE

WASHINGTON, July 10——Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader today released the following letter to radio talk show host, Rush Limbaugh.

Rush Limbaugh
The Rush Limbaugh Show
2 Penn Plaza
New York, NY 10121

Dear Mr. Limbaugh,

The Associated [...]

The following is a media release from the Ralph Nader presidential campaign:

July 10, 2008
www.votenader.org

News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chris Driscoll – 202-360-3273, chris@votenader.org

THE NADER/GONZALEZ CAMPAIGN ASKS, WHERE WAS MCCAIN? AWOL FOR THE SENATE DOMESTIC SPYING VOTE

WASHINGTON, July 10——Where was Sen. John McCain? In one of the most important Senate votes of the year, he was not [...]

Here is a list of appearances in Missouri scheduled by Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution Party candidate for President.

“If Republicans are worried about the third-party presidential candidacy of former GOP Rep. Bob Barr and the possibility that he could win enough votes to affect the outcome in several states, they aren’t showing it,” reports Politico.

The GOP seems more inclined to ignore the Barr candidacy than to fight it. Politico notes:

At present there [...]

The Hill, a newspaper for Capitol Hill employees, takes a look at the new Zogby poll and writes:

Many of the states that put Obama over the 270 electoral vote mark were previously in the unlikely pick-up category for the Illinois senator but have now switched to his side, thanks in large part to Barr.

And in [...]

The Yuma Sun reports:

Arizona’s early June deadline for independent presidential candidates to get on the general election ballot is illegal, a federal appellate court ruled Wednesday.

The Green Party will select its presidential and vice presidential nominees at its convention this Saturday in Chicago. Cynthia McKinney, one of the candidates for the presidential nomination, has selected Rosa Clemente as her vice presidential running mate.

Clemente’s website is http://www.rosaclemente.com/id7.html. On it she says:

I hope that my Vice Presidential run will inspire [...]

In an interview on July 7th, Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin made his case to Libertarians unhappy with Bob Barr as their nominee.

“I understand that some libertarians do not share my conviction that life begins at conception and that we need to protect it,” said Baldwin. “I understand that some don’t share our concerns [...]