WASHINGTON, DC -- The Libertarian Party has received an unexpected burst of publicity from major news outlets over the past two weeks, with one article arguing that a third party candidate running as an independent or Libertarian “could sway the electorate enough to change history” in 2004 if he or she received the kind of press attention that Ralph Nader has attracted.
The positive articles from the Christian Science Monitor, CNN.com, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and others show that “the LP is showing up very early on the news media’s collective radar screen as it starts covering the 2004 campaign,” says the LP’s communications director, George Getz. “The news media know that our candidates have a chance to make an impact in 2004 because that’s exactly what happened in 2000 and 2002.”
Lawrence R. Jacobs, director of the 2004 Elections Project for the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota, writes in an April 20 commentary in the Monitor that “the hot topic” for 2004 is whether Nader will again affect the outcome by taking a small but decisive percentage from likely Democratic nominee John Kerry.
But, citing a study that found that 20 percent of voters are disaffected from both major parties, Jacobs concludes that “a significant number of them could be tapped by gifted candidates running as independent or Libertarian -- if these candidates received the kind of press attention that Nader has attracted.”
“While Nader hurts the presumed Democratic nominee John Kerry, voters open to conservative third-party candidates who promote small government and criticize ballooning government budget deficits pose a significant threat to President Bush’s re-election effort,” writes Jacobs in the op-ed, titled “Third-party threat: It’s not just Nader.”
The article cites example after example of swing states in which voters who want smaller government turned to Libertarian candidates rather than Republicans, costing the GOP seats in each case.
In Wisconsin, for example, where Bush narrowly lost in 2000, Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Ed Thompson garnered 10.5 of the vote in 2002, “enough to help Democrat Jim Doyle break the four-term Republican hold on the statehouse,” Jacobs says.
Other key states where Libertarian candidates have done well enough to affect the outcome of Senatorial or gubernatorial races in 2000 or 2002 include Nevada, New Hampshire and Missouri, he reports.
All told, 2 percent or more of voters in 15 Senate and gubernatorial elections cast their votes for Libertarians in 2002, indicating that the LP could be “a decisive factor in a close contest between Messrs. Bush and Kerry,” according to Jacobs’s analysis.
Jacobs also chastises pollsters who ignore third parties, warning that they “run the risk of missing the dynamics of the race and providing an inaccurate picture of the evolving campaign.”
The Christian Science Monitor article isn’t the only one that has praised the LP lately, Getz notes.
An April 19 article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, prompted by the election of St. Louis County LP Chair Tamara Millay to local office, says, “Perhaps it’s time that the Missouri Libertarian Party got a little respect.”
The column by Jo Mannies, one of the Post’s veteran political reporters, describes Millay as “a prominent Missouri Libertarian” who has run for the U.S. House and U.S. Senate several times, and chronicles her campaign for marshal of Greendale, a St. Louis suburb. Millay is also seeking the party’s nomination as vice president at the upcoming national convention in Atlanta over Memorial Day weekend.
The election of Millay is one of two recent “political boosts” for the LP, the article says. The other is the naming of Bob Sullentrup of St. Charles, Mo., as the party’s national secretary.
“About a year ago, political life didn’t look too great for Bob Sullentrup of St. Charles and his cohorts,” Mannies writes. “But now, one of his party’s stalwarts has been elected to a local public office, and Sullentrop is a top national leader.”
The article also acknowledges the LP’s ballot access supremacy over other third parties, and points out that competing candidates, such as Ralph Nader, must still collect thousands of signatures to get on the Missouri ballot.
“The fact is, the Libertarian Party’s candidate for president -- the party will select its nominee next month -- is the only sure bet to be on Missouri’s ballot against Republican incumbent George W. Bush and the likely Democratic nominee, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts,” Mannies writes.
The LP also played a prominent role in CNN.com’s coverage of Tax Day, Getz pointed out.
In a lighthearted look at April 15 headlined, “It’s Tax Day, Let’s Party,” CNN Money writer Gordon T. Anderson reported, “The Libertarian Party will show up at dozens of locations nationwide to promote limited government.”
In Minneapolis, he said, “Libertarians will carry signs emblazoned with Donald Trump’s picture. The tag line: ‘You’re Fired, but I can’t fire the IRS.’ “ Anderson also took note of one of the LP’s favorite tax-day publicity gimmicks: handing out phony $1 million bills to dramatize the fact that the government spends $1 million every five seconds.
http://www.lp.org/press/archive.php?function=view&record=654
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