Tom, the Constitution Party was registered in only 30 states or so in the last presidential election.
How many states is your party registered in?
We’re not generally trying to be recognized by the states.
Our strategy is to try, as much as is humanly possible, not to get sucked into the rigged game.
Kinder has a legitimate question. My guess is most Freepers can't vote for you even if they wanted to because you won't be on their ballot. Why are you not campaigning under the Constitution Party umbrella, which has obtained ballot access in a majority of states and has elected a few people — not many but at least a few — to local office?
I understand the third-party argument. If we lived in a country with either multimember districts or proportional representation, as is the case in many parliamentary democracies, I would agree with it.
At present in most states, West Virginia apparently being the only exception, we have a winner-take all system in America.
That means we need to get the highest number of votes to even get a seat at the table. That usually means 50 percent, but a weaker candidate can win with less than 50 percent if a small percentage of the stronger candidate's votes get siphoned off to a “true believer” candidate who is more militant. Maybe that means conservatives need to encourage the Green Party, but I think we need to be aware that liberal backers of Barack Obama have just as much interest in encouraging support for conservative third parties as we have in encouraging the Green Party.
Barring a realistic plan to follow the precedent of the Republican Party of the 1850s of replacing one of the two existing parties, I see no purpose in a third-party campaign.
That still leaves what individual voters should do. Third party campaigns are out there. What should those of us who morally object to both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama do?
If I lived in a solid red or solid blue state, I could see the point of a protest vote, and if I lived in a district where there was a realistic chance of a third-party candidate being elected to local office, I'd give that candidate a very hard look. In our area, one county over, an independent candidate for sheriff four years ago came very close to winning a three-way race against an Republican incumbent, and actually outpolled the Democrat by a large margin. In our own county, ten years ago an independent Christian conservative candidate for prosecuting attorney came very close to winning as well against a Democrat in a race the Republicans didn't contest that year. Third party and independent victories are rare but they are not impossible at the local level.
Here's the problem. I live in Missouri. The 2008 election in my state was decided by only a few thousand votes. Around these parts, my vote very possibly could have made a difference four years ago.
I don't like Romney at all, but no other candidate has a chance in this state's presidential race of defeating Obama. Do I cast a protest vote for the Constitution Party or do I vote for Romney as the only one who has a chance of defeating Obama in my state?
That may depend on how close the polls look as we approach election day.