With all the attention paid to the historic presidential race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, Mainers might be surprised to see two other names on the ballot.
Independent candidate Ralph Nader and Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney are there alongside their much-publicized traditional party counterparts, although most political experts agree that neither will affect the race.
“For a third party candidate to be successful, there would have to be a reason to reject a two-party system, and that’s not the case this year,” said Sandy Maisel, a government professor at Colby College.
McKinney, a former six-term Democratic U.S. representative from Georgia and the first African-American to represent the state in the House, announced her candidacy in December 2007. Her running mate, Rosa Clemente, is a journalist and community activist from New York.
While McKinney is making her foray into presidential politics, Nader, a longtime consumer advocate from Connecticut, is a veteran. He ran unsuccessfully as a Green Party candidate for president in 1996 and 2000 and as an independent in 2004. His running mate this year is Matt Gonzalez, a lawyer from San Francisco.
While Nader never got more than 3 percent of votes nationally in any of the previous three elections, some political observers believe Nader to be partially responsible for allowing George Bush to overtake Al Gore in the 2000 race. Bush won Florida by a little more than 500 votes, and more than 90,000 in the Sunshine State voted for Nader.
Don’t expect that to happen this year, Maisel said.
“If [one-time Republican presidential candidate] Ron Paul had accepted the Libertarian nomination, he might have gotten more support to affect the race, but there’s too much excitement among the top candidates,” he said.
Instead, Bob Barr accepted the nomination of the Libertarian Party, although his name does not appear on the ballot in Maine. In fact, there are nearly a dozen third party candidates running in the 2008 election. Because each state has different criteria for how candidates get on the ballot, though, not all are in the race in every state.
Maisel said the reasons third party candidates run vary widely.
“Some represent parties that have a legitimate agenda that they want to get across,” he said. “Some just want to talk about one specific issue. Some just have big egos.”
In recent years, the only third party candidate to generate significant interest was Ross Perot, who won 19 percent of the national popular vote in 1992. He did not win any electoral votes.
For more information on the campaigns of Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney, visit their respective Web sites at: www.votenader.org and www.votetruth08.com.
On 11/1/08 at 7:07 AM,
MDIROB wrote:
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Nader on the ballot could be a good thing for the protest vote but I lived in McKinney's district for a couple year and that woman is just plain loony. She's one more out burst away from a trip to the funny farm.
R
On 11/1/08 at 9:34 AM,
averagejoe wrote:
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http://objllc.com/USSA.htm
On 11/1/08 at 11:23 AM,
RevGerald wrote:
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I am against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am for a single payer health program. France has the best health program in the world and it costs $3500 per citizen a year. The US ranks about 25 and we pay $6500 a year. I am against bailing out Wall Street millionaires again and again.. I am in favor of large schale public investment in the economy. I am in favor of real aid to the citizens of Maine who are cold in their houses. I shall vote for McKinney.
On 11/1/08 at 11:39 AM,
sdemetri wrote:
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Nader never gets beyond the single digits because the elites in the Corporation Party, of which the Dems are one wing, and the GOP the other, like it that way. The same donors that grace the parties with their endorsements and cash have a firm grasp of what they need to do to influence the tides of public opinion and keep the two-party system deeply entrenched in American politics, to the exclusion of anyone else. Popular movements when they get too big, as Perot's in the early 90's, or Paul's this past year, get marginalized by any number of methods. Exclusion from debates, marginalization by the corporate media, rumor mills. Nader in particular because he has always challenged the power of corporations over the public has been pushed aside, even though his message speaks directly to what the working classes and majority of Americans at heart want...the ability to make a decent wage without being exploited for the benefit of big business.
Health care is denied to so many, or is insufficient for so many because the system is tilted to benefit the health care industry.
We are at war currently, and occupying bases in hundreds of places overseas because of our business interests in those places, not for "national security." Big business interests have become the overriding national interest making these business interests synonamous with national security interests. And the good men and women who die fighting for these business interests are none the wiser. Under a guise of the good of the country they will go and fight. Many of those able to make it back find difficulty with health care, and support, and broken promises.
So long as the Corporation Party dominiates the political scene, and this election is no exception, the military industrial congressional complex will churn out what is good for corporate America at the expense of the fodder the corporation needs to do its bidding. We all need a job, so I don't see anything changing much anytime soon. And Nader will continue to be a sidelined voice calling in the wilderness for change.
On 11/1/08 at 11:46 AM,
GeraldWeinand wrote:
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Yet another reason why Instant Runoff Voting needs to be used nationwide.
This might make a great ballot question next cycle. And you know who will fight it hte most? Both the Dems and the GOP.
On 11/1/08 at 1:14 PM,
MDIROB wrote:
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'I am against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am for a single payer health program. France has the best health program in the world and it costs $3500 per citizen a year. The US ranks about 25 and we pay $6500 a year. I am against bailing out Wall Street millionaires again and again.. I am in favor of large schale public investment in the economy. I am in favor of real aid to the citizens of Maine who are cold in their houses. I shall vote for McKinney. "
I'm against welfare of any type. Rewarding those who make bad life choices only encourages more of the same. I lived in Europe for 4 years and have first hand experience about how poor the service is when the government is in charge of healthcare. They can't run the DMV so I sure don't want them deciding what's best of my family. Just look a little deeper and see what the french pay in taxes and what they have for an unemployment rate. Call me what you will but Darwinism good thing IMO.
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