Voting 'no' on Hillary, Obama and McCain: Is this the year for 3rd party candidate?

WorldNetDaily ^ | March 24, 2008 | Staff

[EternalVigilance]

Many conservatives are feeling left out of the 2008 presidential race, with the likes of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama battling for the Democratic nomination and the GOP endorsement likely going to U.S. Sen. John McCain, who has worked with Democrats on campaign limits as well as amnesty for illegal aliens, and in 2004 actually was thought of as a possible running mate for Democratic candidate John Kerry.

Some prominent leaders, including Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, even have said they will not vote rather than vote for the liberal leanings of McCain.

So is 2008 the year when a third-party candidate would find some traction among those disaffected by the abortion, marriage and national security stances found in the records of the three front-runners left in the race?

Charles Lewis, national outreach director for Christian Exodus, is one of those behind the launch of the new Save America Summit website, and believes it's not only time, it's overdue.

"Even the national conservative pundits who have drunk the Koolaid have to say 'hold your nose and vote for McCain,'" Lewis told WND. "Not one of them recommended voting for McCain in a primary."

Among those joining in the effort are presidential candidate Alan Keyes, American Minute founder Bill Federer, Council for National Policy member Bob Fischer, Minuteman national executive Director Al Garza, Constitution Party founder Howard Phillips, Gun Owners of American executive director Larry Pratt, Minuteman Civil Defense Corps founder Chris Simcox, Operation Save America founder Flip Benham and dozens of others.

[roamer_1]

BTTT

[MountainFlower]

I went to the site and tried to post a comment...went thru their whole business of registering, etc and then it wouldn’t accept and post my comment! ARGH!

[MountainFlower]

won’t vote REPUBLICAN...the party no longer stands for my values, and no longer stands on the planks of the platform. I will not be pressured to vote R for the sake of keeping a Dem out of office either...I will NOT compromise my values any more! Left the R Party. would welcome a good third party candidate!

[rob777]

I might be interested in a serious third party movement that started with a focus on local races and worked their way up to the Presidential race. I will never take any group serious whose focus is on the top race to start out. In my mind this shows a lack of strategic thinking.

[rob777]

"It can be done, but it requires some planning and less emotion."


Unfortunately, most third party movements are long on the latter and short on the former.

[EternalVigilance]

I have to admit I’ve thought that myself in the past. But I’ve reached the conclusion that it just isn’t going to happen that way.

[CounterCounterCulture]

I asked a question on this thread...

Q: How many of your civil rights and liberties are you willing to sacrifice per election just to get an (R) elected?

...nobody took me up on the question. Hmmm... I wonder why? :-)

[EternalVigilance]

Yeah. Crickets are multiplying...

[rob777]

"But I’ve reached the conclusion that it just isn’t going to happen that way."



That is to bad, because I have a hard time seeing it work with the top down approach.

Here in Vermont we have two left wing third parties. One is called the Progressive Coalition and the other is the Liberty Union Party. The PC started with Bernie Sanders, who bolted the LUP to create the PC.

The LUP focuses on national and international issues and fields candidates for U.S. House and Senate, with very few local candidates. The PC started out with a focus on the city of Burlington. Bernie became Mayor and they slowly gained a majority on the City Council. They focused on local issues.

Today the PC is a major party who has elected officials to the State Legislature. Bernie's successor for Mayor of Burlington, a Progressive, was the Democratic Party's candidate for Governor in one of the last elections. There is a sizable "progressive" faction in the Vermont Democratic Party that was not there before the PC started to gain influence. The LUP, on the other hand is virtually invisible in Vermont politics and no one takes them seriously.

Over the years I have dabbled in both the Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party and, from a strategic point of view, they both remind me more of Vermont's LUP than its PC. For years I have been looking for the conservative version of the Progressive Coalition and have yet to see any group that even comes close.

[EternalVigilance]

The CP is on the verge of a tremendous leap forward. One that is driven by grassroots conservative activists.

[rob777]

"The CP is on the verge of a tremendous leap forward. One that is driven by grassroots conservative activists."


I would be interested in hearing more. They started out as The U.S. Taxpayers Party with an almost exclusive focus on the Presidential Race. They have added a little more of a local focus since then, but I would like to see them move further in that direction.

If you have information about a significant grassroots groundswell for them, that would be of great interest to me.

I have finally come to the conclusion that conservatives should take a page out of the early Progressive movement in Vermont. The early Progressive Coalition was not an actual political party. (They later became a third party and are now a major party) They were a loose coalition of left-wing groups dedicated to pushing a left-wing agenda. Sometimes they ran an Independent candidate for office and sometimes they backed the Democratic candidate if the candidate was far enough to the left. This is my preferred model.

For this year, I would focus more on local races than the race for President. It is simply too late for a third party run to get much traction. In the meantime, such an effort would redirect much needed energy, attention and recourses from local races where we might really have a chance to make an impact.

[EternalVigilance]

All I can say is stay tuned.

[EternalVigilance]

Great tagline, by the way.