Will third parties run to victory? Candidates from the Libertarian and the Green parties collected enough votes in 2000 to shift the balance of national politics. This year, their eyes are on bigger prizes

0 Comments | Insight on the News, June 3, 2002 | by Sam MacDonald

America's third parties tend to be regarded by political insiders as something of a joke. No candidate from the Libertarian or Green parties has won a high-profile state or national election--or even come close. That significant failure aside, representatives from these third parties insist that they are poised to make an impact this November. In fact, this time around they might have a few candidates with enough money and support to make things interesting. Establishment politicians who recall the contentious outcome of the 2000 presidential election and the bizarre shift in Senate power last spring regard this possibility as no laughing matter.

Just ask former vice president Al Gore. Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader shaved a critical margin away from Gore--most notably in Florida, where Nader grabbed more than 97,000 votes, most of which probably would have gone to Gore in an election decided by approximately 500 votes. In a less-publicized political fracas, the Libertarian Party (LP) played a critical role in tossing control of the Senate to Democrats and now Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.). The Senate was evenly divided (and ripe for Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont to defect from the GOP) at least in part because in 2000 incumbent senator Slade Gorton (R-Wash.) lost to Democrat Maria Cantwell by fewer than 3,000 votes. In that race, the LP candidate received more than 64,000 votes, most of which probably would have gone to Gorton. A similar fate had befallen Republican challenger John Ensign in his 1998 bid to unseat incumbent Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.). In March 2001, National Review referred to "The GOP's Libertarian Problem" as "what may be the most underreported political phenomenon of the last two election cycles."

The Greens and the Libertarians still itch for the role of spoiler. One of the most interesting races this year will be in Georgia, where redistricting has paired two incumbent Republicans--conservative Reps. John Linder and Bob Barr--in the GOP primary. Ron Crickenberger, political director of the LP, tells INSIGHT that the party plans to spend as much as $100,000 in the race to attack Barr's hard-line position against medical marijuana and give the primary to Linder. An LP position paper entitled "Spoiler Targets for 2002" presents the case in stark terms: "Bob Barr is target No. 1, both in terms of time criticality and in overall importance. To the medical-marijuana movement, Barr is the equivalent of the Antichrist."

Linder does not support medical marijuana, according to his office, but he has a much lower profile on the issue than Barr. A spokesman for Linder tells INSIGHT that the LP has not contacted the congressman about these expenditures, but adds that Linder has a good working relationship with them because of his support for tax reform.

A spokesman for Barr says he, too, is unaware of the LP strategy, but in a written statement to INSIGHT the congressman does not shrink from the challenge: "I'm proud to be the antidrug candidate in this race.... I have been a leader in the war against [illegal] drugs and if the pro-drug folks want to target me with negative ads then that tells me I've been doing a good job in that effort."

In preparing to resist the Libertarian push, Barr might consider consulting with the other vocally antidrug incumbents the LP has targeted. They include Sens. Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.), Max Cleland (D-Ga.), Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-Texas). Crickenberger says Americans are ready to move away from drug prohibition, and his party is focusing resources accordingly. "We believe this is a substantial opportunity to move public policy in a Libertarian direction," he says.

Asked for races in which their candidate has a legitimate chance to win, LP officials point to Wisconsin. The Libertarian candidate for governor there is Ed Thompson, a former meat-cutter, prison guard and boxer who currently owns a bar/restaurant called Mr. Ed's Tee-Pee Supper Club and serves as mayor of tiny Tomah. He is polling between 7 and 11 percent, depending on which Democrat wins the primary.

Thompson reportedly was arrested in 1997 for operating illegal video-poker machines out of his bar and charged in 1998 for refusing to cooperate with police after being stabbed in the stomach by a friend. On the surface, he appears about as likely to win as shock-jock Howard Stern, who once toyed with the idea of running for governor of New York on the Libertarian ticket. But Thompson's brother is Tommy Thompson--probably the most popular politician in the state--who resigned as governor of Wisconsin to become President George W. Bush's secretary of health and human services. In an interview with INSIGHT, Ed Thompson says his family name has given him added exposure and insists he is a serious candidate. "I am going to win," Thompson says. "There's no doubt about it."

Acting Gov. Scott McCallum is a Republican who was appointed when Tommy Thompson left for Washington, and he appears vulnerable. The Democrats will not hold primaries until later this summer and, in the meantime, Ed Thompson has been lapping up media attention and increasing his name recognition. He already has appeared on the Today show and was featured in a lengthy piece in the Style section of the Washington Post. In his interview with INSIGHT, he pointed out that he is doing much better in the polls at this stage than another "hopeless" gubernatorial candidate who eventually went on to victory: Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura.