Will third parties be the charm in 1996?

0 Comments | Insight on the News, May 13, 1996 | by Susan Crabtree

Encouraged by mistrust of establishment politics, alternative candidates are poised for third-party crusades. Their entry into the presidential race could trip one or both of main competitors.

President Clinton and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole bristle at the mere mention of a third-party challenge. In the last two months, the third-party field has attracted a platoon of candidates who are eager to jump into the political fray, attack the front-runners and hack at their voter bases.

Four years ago, armed with bar graphs, pie charts and Southern euphemisms, Texas billionaire Ross Perot wedged himself between then-President George Bush and Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton, capturing 19 percent of the popular ballots, or 20 million votes, in his independent bid for president. Disgruntled Republicans bemoaned Perot's run, saying it cost Bush the election. But for the last four years both parties have courted the voters of the so-called Perot bloc and now are dismayed at the prospect of yet another third-party contention. "We are the majority party. We are the reform party," Dole insisted recently. "I say to Ross Perot that the one barrier's been Bill Clinton. Don't get in the race and make it more difficult for the Republicans."

This year, both Dole and Clinton have cause for concern. By the end of the summer, the political stage could become crowded with an array of candidates who will be elbowing for a spot in the limelight as well as a plurality of the votes. An April 4 Pew Research Center survey found early support for a Perot candidacy and an even broader voter base for an "unnamed independent candidate." The survey found that Perot polls 16 percent in a three-way race, while an unnamed independent attracts the support of 20 percent.

In the last few months the media have berated the folksy political dilettante for his "nutty" style, alleging transparently egocentric motivations behind the formation of his own party. As more political celebrities toy with the idea of third-party or independent bids, the quest for the estimated 20 percent "swing vote" may turn into a personality contest on the grandest scale.

Ralph Nader: The newest contender for the 1996 spotlight is consumer advocate Nader, who has qualified as the Green Party presidential nominee in five states, including pivotal California. The Clinton campaign, which reportedly has been hoping for a 1992 Perot redux, no longer is smirking. Nader is leading an attack from the left, criticizing the Clinton administration as a front for big-business interests and railing against Clinton's support of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the Mexican peso bailout.

But in his attempts to become a national candidate and qualify for ballot access across the country, Nader has exceeded his promise that the campaign will be "unconventional." Even Linda Martin, a former Green Party Senate candidate and national chairwoman of the Draft Nader Clearinghouse, admits that the campaign is a "marriage of convenience" and has made "strange bedfellows."

Although the Green Party is calling Nader's race the "people's campaign for the presidency," Nader is not a member of the Green Party and does not plan to run on its platform. His candidacy has brought together the Rainbow Coalition, AFL-CIO members disenchanted with their leader's endorsement of Clinton and the usual liberal environmental, peace, social-justice and women's groups.

Nader has pledged not to spend more than $5,000 of his own money and has refused to raise additional funds. But the clearinghouse, which the Federal Election Commission categorizes as independent from Nader, is facilitating the campaign with fund-raising, media and ballot-access efforts. Martin plans to reach out to voters through free media and distribution of pamphlets and audio tapes. Although she believes Nader is a candidate who shares many of the Green Party's ideological leanings, she admits, "This is really not just about Nader, its also about catapulting the Green Party forward into the presidential race and raising our profile."

Patrick Buchanan: Despite reports that he has all but closed the door on a third-party bid, the U.S. Taxpayers Party is still knocking and Buchanan has turned to his supporters for advice about whether he should answer. In a populist appeal with all the flavor of a direct-mail fund-raiser, he sent a letter on April 18 to 140,000 of his contributors asking, "Where do we go from here?"

The fiery commentator may have outdone himself when he began to appeal to the angry white worker. Many conservatives believe that initially Buchanan was laying the groundwork for a Republican presidential run in 2000, but that his message strayed too far from the GOP for a future Republican run. Howard Phillips, the organizer of the 4-year-old U.S. Taxpayers Party, is the main voice urging Buchanan onward. "Most of Pat's support is outside the Republican Party, not in it," he maintains. "I don't think voters should be required to choose between arsenic and cyanide." If Buchanan decides to pull out of the race, Phillips says, the U.S. Taxpayers Party may run him anyway.