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Why they call him Darth Nader
Posted at: Wednesday, February 25, 2004, 02:35 PM
Does anybody remember Silas Swallow, John Hospers, or William Wirt?
They are all losers, forgotten third-party candidates for president, or “spoilers” as political pundits call them, because they siphoned off vital votes from the nominees of the Republican and Democratic parties.
Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate, got the “spoiler” tag in the 2000 presidential election. Now, having announced last weekend — against the pleadings of Democratic leaders — that he’s running again, another nickname for him, “Darth Nader,” figures to get a lot of play.
Democrats say the 97,488 votes Nader got in Florida in 2000 — where the election was decided — swung the outcome because Gore only lost by 543 votes to Bush. Surely, they argue, at least 544 of those 97,488 Nader votes would have gone to Gore.
Nader defenders counter that if just 1 percent of Democrats had stuck with their party’s nominee, Gore would have won Florida handily.
They also argue that only half of registered Democrats in Florida voted in the election, and, besides, maybe it was the other loser parties that stole Gore’s Democratic votes.
The Natural Law, Reform, Libertarian, Workers World, Constitution, Socialist and Socialist Workers parties each polled more than 543 votes. Only write-ins, who tallied 40, did not get enough votes to make the difference.
Even Nader concedes his chances of winning this year are extraordinarily slim. Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press” he said making all 50 states’ ballots by election day will be “like climbing a cliff with a slippery rope.”
Still, Nader is continuing a rich tradition of third-party presidential candidates who run despite having a snowball’s chance in Palm Beach County of winning.
No less than 71 men have run for president as third-party candidates in the history of this country, beginning with Wirt in 1832, when he ran on the Anti-Masonic ticket. Swallow ran in 1904 on the Prohibition ticket. Hospers ran as a Libertarian in 1972. And not a one of them won.
Two ex-presidents have run as third-party candidates, but both had been in office before, and both lost when they ran outside the Democrat and Republican machines.
Martin Van Buren ran as the Free-Soil Party candidate in 1848. He lost to Zachary Taylor. Theodore Roosevelt ran on the Progressive “Bull Moose” Party ticket in 1912, losing to Woodrow Wilson.
Roosevelt’s loss in 1912 cemented the idea of third-party candidate as spoiler. He ran as a Bull Moose after being rejected at the Republican Convention, which re-nominated President Howard Taft. In the general election, Roosevelt beat Taft in the popular and the electoral vote, dividing the Republican party and giving the election to Wilson.
Wilson took the White House with just 41.9 percent of the vote, the smallest percentage since Abe Lincoln won, as a Republican, with 39.9 percent of the vote in 1860, defeating John C. Breckinridge, John Bell and Stephen Douglas.
Permalink | Categories: Voices from small towns
Rock ‘n’ roll campaign buses
Posted at: Wednesday, February 25, 2004, 03:13 AM
John Kerry’s presidential campaign took top Bush administration officials to task Monday for touring the country last week “in a luxury cruiser designed for rock stars, touting the president’s economic agenda.”
The fund-raising letter from Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill referred to the bus used by Treasury Secretary John Snow, Commerce Secretary Don Evans and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to tour the Pacific Northwest. Their ride was on a cruiser with leather benches, bunk beds and mirrors on the ceiling, once used by the rock bands Styx and Bon Jovi.
But Kerry’s transportation has its own rock ‘n’ roll past. The Massachusetts senator and his entourage have spent the last week flying on an airplane previously used by the Rolling Stones, complete with a stocked bar in the middle that’s routinely enjoyed by reporters and campaign staff.
— Wire services
You can vote now, Georgia
Posted at: Wednesday, February 25, 2004, 03:12 AM
Early voting has started. If you’d like to cast a ballot now instead of waiting until Tuesday’s primary, you can do so at your county voter registration office today through Friday during regular business hours.
If you miss the early voting deadline, you can vote absentee through Monday, provided you meet the requirements that you will be absent from your precinct all day on Election Day, you are 75 or older or disabled, or you meet other requirements.
(You can find the address and phone number of your county registration office on the Web at www.sos.state.ga.us/elections/info/2000_voter_info.asp.)
You can select whichever ballot you prefer — Democratic, Republican or independent — regardless of your party affiliation. The Democratic ballot allows you to vote on that party’s presidential candidates. On the Republican ballot, you can vote for President Bush, who has no opponent. All voters, including those selecting an independent ballot, will be able to make a nonbinding advisory vote on a state flag design — either the current one or the “blue” flag adopted during former Gov. Roy Barnes’ administration.
For those voting Tuesday, polling hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
— Staff reports
Permalink | Categories: Georgia primary
Those other candidates
Posted at: Wednesday, February 25, 2004, 03:09 AM
John Edwards may think he’s in a two-man race with John Kerry. But at least 180 others have declared presidential ambitions.
An unofficial list of candidates compiled by Project Vote Smart, a voter education group, includes Michael W. “Mike” Bay of the National Barking Spider Resurgence Party. An Aquarius from Lakewood, Colo., his hobbies include ear wiggling and his political resume consists of being a candidate four years ago.
There’s also Larry J. Schuetter of the Turtle Political Party. Nicknamed ScooterBall, he says he supports renaming the IRS the National Income Center for Better Incomes.
These long-shot candidates get the same treatment as better-known candidates from Project Vote Smart, which surveys politicians on issues and is dedicated to dealing them an equal hand.
In addition to looking for who has filed with the Federal Election Commission or petitioned to get on state primary ballots, Project Vote Smart also solicits answers from those who simply have Web sites stating their intentions to challenge President Bush.
The organization has gotten responses from more than 60 percent of candidates, including Edwards, Dennis Kucinich and Al Sharpton. Kerry and Bush have not written back.
Responses are available at http://www.vote-smart.org
—-The Associated Press
Permalink | Categories: Other candidates
