The 'other' presidential debate: Third-party candidates make their cases

Excluded from the mainstream presidential debates, four candidates representing third parties face off Oct. 23 in a debate, moderated by former CNN talk-show host Larry King. The forum, described by sponsors as the Free and Equal Debate, will be broadcast live by C-SPAN and livestreamed over the Internet, starting at 9 p.m. EDT.

Those taking part ? Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Constitution Party candidate Virgil Goode, and Justice Party candidate Rocky Anderson ? typically are left out of mainstream media analysis. None is polling in sizable numbers ? as the Reform Party's Ross Perot did in 1992, when he won almost 19 percent of the vote.

But as Al Gore can attest, it doesn't take all that much to count in a close race. Ralph Nader siphoned off 1.6 percent of Florida's vote in 2000, a good chunk of which would likely have otherwise gone to Mr. Gore, and the rest, as they say, is history. Here are the four third-party candidates ? and their issues ? that you can expect to see vetted in their lone debate in Campaign 2012.

1. Rocky Anderson (Justice Party)

Ross ?Rocky? Anderson wants get the US back on its ?constitutional moorings? ? no more engaging in what he sees as illegal wars or violating due-process rights.

The best way to accomplish this is by removing corporate influence in politics, Mr. Anderson told The Nation. He would seek a constitutional amendment to limit such campaign contributions, in effect overriding the US Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling in 2010. His campaign accepts donations only up to $100.

"The Constitution has been eviscerated while Democrats have stood by with nary a whimper. It is gutless, unprincipled party, bought and paid for by the same interests that buy and pay for the Republican Party," wrote Anderson to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, denouncing his affiliation with the party.

He co-founded the Justice Party ? with its ?economic, environmental, and social justice for all? motto ? in December and announced his presidential candidacy in January.

If elected president, Anderson would focus on issues he advocated as a two-term mayor of Salt Lake City: climate protection, immigration reform, ending the war on drugs, and repairing infrastructure. He also supports gay marriage and a single-payer national health-care system.

Anderson was a lawyer in Salt Lake City for 21 years, representing clients in civil litigation on issues ranging from product liability to civil rights violations. He ran as the Democratic candidate for Utah?s Second Congressional District in 1996, but lost because of his support of same-sex marriage.

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader endorsed Anderson in April, touting his progressive mayoral record, his work as a constitutional and civil rights lawyer, and for being a ?candidate of conscience.? (Mr. Nader's decision to run for president in 2000 as the Green Party candidate is still viewed by many Democrats as contributing to the defeat of Vice President Al Gore in an election ultimately settled by the US Supreme Court.)

Anderson will face challenges at the polls on Election Day: He is on the ballot in only 15 states, and write-in votes will be counted in 20 states. In 11 states, no votes for Anderson will be counted, and he is still trying to register for write-in votes in four remaining states.

? Allison Terry, contributor

2. Virgil Goode (Constitution Party)

As long as Virgil Goode has been in politics, he's played the role of a spoiler.

In 2012, he just might do it again. The Constitution Party candidate for the presidency is on the ballot in some two dozen states, including his home of Virginia.

With spotty polling showing Mr. Goode garnering as much as the high single digits in support in Virginia (but without substantial polling in other states), some analysts wonder if Goode could play the role of a conservative Ralph Nader, siphoning just enough would-be GOP voters away from Mitt Romney to cost the Republican presidential nominee a key battleground state. Goode, for his part, told the Washington Post he believes he'll do "quite well" and is running because he simply isn't impressed with Mr. Romney as a true alternative to President Obama. If that does come to pass, it would be just the last in a long line of contrarian moves by the former six-term US congressman from the Charlottesville, Va., area.

When he was a Democratic state senator from Rocky Mount, Va., in the early 1990s, he broke with his party to give Republicans shared power of the state Senate. That move that helped pave the way for some of then-Gov. George Allen's most ambitious reforms. As a Democratic congressman, Goode ? already isolated from his Democratic colleagues for his staunch opposition to abortion and his advocacy of the tobacco industry ? voted for three of four articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton in 1998. He formally became a Republican soon thereafter. Despite having been a member of both parties, Goode has donated to only one presidential candidate ? libertarian superstar Rep. Ron Paul (R) of Texas, to whom he gave $500 in 2007.

Goode sent out a 10-minute video addressing issues that Mr. Obama and Romney discussed in their first presidential debate. Goode's defining issue is his hard line against immigration.

"Unlike President Obama and Governor Romney, I recognize that the US citizen should be first in line for jobs in America," Goode said in the video, arguing for a "near-complete moratorium" on allowing foreign green card holders into the US. And how would Goode, a perpetual defector, solve gridlock in Washington?

"Term limits," Goode says in his debate video. "If we had term limits, the focus of the members of Congress would be on what's best for the country, instead of worrying about going to the next fundraiser and winning the next election."

? David Grant, staff writer

3. Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party)

Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, running as the Libertarian Party candidate, has qualified to be on the Nov. 6 ballot in 48 states.

He also competed in the Republican presidential primary, entering the race in April 2011 and bowing out in late December after getting no traction in the early-voting states.

Mr. Johnson?s views are classically libertarian: a noninterventionist in foreign affairs, a fiscal conservative, and a believer that government should refrain from dictating to people about their personal behavior.

Johnson has said he would aim to cut the federal budget by some 43 percent in his first year in office. That includes shrinking the size of the military. He has also compared America?s current financial situation with Russia?s economic crisis in 1998, saying it can be resolved only by a balanced budget. He pledges to submit a balanced budget to Congress during his first year as president and to veto any expenditures that are not matched by revenues.

On social issues, he supports legalizing prostitution and gay marriage, and he favors a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who want to work. He would legalize online gambling.

Many analysts do not expect Johnson?s candidacy to be much of a factor in the presidential election, though he might ?steal a couple of votes from [Mitt] Romney,? says political scientist Matthew Hale, an associate professor at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J.

?Other than proving that America is still the land where any young boy or girl can grow up to run for president,? Johnson has ?little relevance? in this election, he says.

The Washingon Post?s The Fix blog gives the Johnson factor a bit more credence. ?If the race between Obama and Romney is very close in some key swing states that have independent and libertarian streaks, Johnson?s presence on the ballot could affect the Obama-Romney matchup,? writes The Fix?s Chris Cillizza. ?In particular, Colorado, New Hampshire and Nevada are the battlegrounds where Johnson could prove a nuisance to his major party competition.?

Still, the GOP?s Mr. Romney has taken care to protect his right flank. ?Romney picked a far right-wing darling for a running mate and then walked the far right wing walk all the way up to the first debate,? says Mr. Hale.

Romney has now pivoted to the center, but it is too late in the game for a third-party candidate with strong conservative credentials, such as Johnson, to catch fire, Hale adds.

Such a possibility is made even more difficult by today?s campaign-finance rules. When Ross Perot ran for president in 1992 with the Reform Party, he could essentially self-finance his campaign and still compete. But that?s harder to do now, because a host of other billionaires are out there pouring money into efforts to elect the mainstream candidates ? courtesy of the US Supreme Court ruling in the 2010 Citizens United case, says Hale.

? Gloria Goodale, staff writer

4. Jill Stein (Green Party)

Jill Stein, presidential standard-bearer for the Green Party, has qualified to be on the ballot in 38 states.

Hailing from deep-blue Massachusetts, Dr. Stein, a physician, stands on the far left of the political spectrum among the presidential candidates. This is her first national campaign, but she represented the Green-Rainbow Party in three Bay State races: governor in 2002, state representative in 2004, and secretary of state in 2006. The only office to which she has been elected is as a town meeting member in Lexington, Mass.

In an April 6 profile in online Grist magazine, Stein said, ?If I can quote Alice Walker, 'The biggest way people give up power is by not knowing they have it to start with.' And that?s true, for the environmental movement, the student movement, the antiwar movement, health-care-as-a-human-right movement ? you put us all together, we have the potential for a Tahrir Square type event, and [to] turn the White House into a Green House in November.?

Adapting a page from Franklin Roosevelt, Stein advocates a ?green New Deal.? New renewable energy jobs would address environmental issues and help to employ "every American willing and able to work.? She proposes to fund the plan through a 30 percent cut in the military budget, bringing home all US troops, and raising taxes on capital gains, offshore tax shelters, and multimillion-dollar real estate.

Other proposals: make the National Guard the national defense, close overseas military bases, legalize gay marriage, provide free public education from kindergarten through college, provide federal funding for embryonic-stem-cell research, maintain abortion rights and provide free birth control, and apply a 90 percent tax on bonuses paid to bailed-out bankers.

Stein became an environmental-health advocate in 1998, focusing on toxic threats to children and coal plant regulations. In 2003, she founded the Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities, a nonprofit organization that focuses on health care, local green economies, and grass-roots democracy. Stein worked on a 2008 ballot initiative, ?Secure Green Future,? which called for Massachusetts to make green jobs and renewable energy a priority.

Stein graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1979, where she also taught internal medicine for more than 20 years.

Her Green Party, though, still sports a black eye from the contentious 2000 presidential race, when its nominee, Ralph Nader, won enough of the left-leaning vote to hand the crucial battleground state of Florida to Republican George W. Bush, instead of going to Democrat Al Gore. (That, at least, is how many Democrats see it.)

Moreover, the climate for third-party candidates is particularly inhospitable in the close Obama-Romney contest of 2012, says Prof. Christina Greer, a political scientist at Fordham University in New York. Voters ?are particularly unwilling to do what most see as throwing away a vote on a candidate that cannot win.?

However, Stein?s presence on the ballot in 38 states ? and qualification to be a write-in candidate in nine others ? may affect candidates or issues down the ballot, suggests Professor Greer. ?There are many other issues and names on ballots beyond the presidential candidates,? she says. ?Stein could have the effect of driving votes for state and local candidates who may have an even greater impact on the issues she favors, whether it is the environment or education.?

? Gloria Goodale and Allison Terry

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