Libertarians Assert Third-Party Primacy

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, April 2) -- Those Libertarians, always complaining the media ignores them. Well, maybe they have a point.

By July 3rd, when the 20-something year-old Libertarian Party will hold a nominating convention, the Party expects to be on 40 state ballots nationwide. Getting on all 50 ballots by November should be no problem, predicts Libertarian Party communications director Bill Winter.

Meanwhile, Texas billionaire Ross Perot is getting all the attention he could want for his Reform Party. "They're only on the ballot in seven states," notes Jack Dean, senior aide to the leading Libertarian presidential candidate, writer Harry Browne.

Perot did get 19 percent of the vote in 1992, while his bounteous coffers ensures he can mount a media campaign. The Libertarians mostly shrug off the Perot factor.

"Perot won't affect us," Dean predicted, while allowing the colorful Texan "will divert attention from what we're doing." In addition to enlarging the base of the 20-something year old party, Browne hopes to "expose the Democrats and Republicans for what they are -- essentially a professional wrestling match," says Dean. Browne has been campaigning full time, speaking on two to four radio shows per day. The campaign has spent about $700,000 so far and Dean expects total campaign spending to exceed $3 million.

Espousing a mix of economic conservatism, social tolerance and isolationist foreign policy, the Libertarian Party expects to run more than 1,000 candidates nationwide this year, including 218 congressional races. It would be the first time a third party has opposed a majority of House seats since the Socialist Party in the 1920s, notes Winter. "There's a core of 250,000 to 350,000 voters who are going to vote Libertarian," he predicts, adding "Perot does chip into the anti-insider vote."

Rick Tompkins, another of the Libertarian candidates for president, said he has not seen any shift of people to the new Reform Party and has doubts about the Reform Party's staying power. Tompkins, a 55-year-old Air Force retiree who lives in Arizona, said the Libertarian Party has a consistent set of principles, while other third political parties are based on issues or personalities that can come and go.

Tompkins readily acknowledges whoever is nominated will receive only a tiny percentage of the popular vote in the general election. "We're still a small party; we're still under-organized," he said. "The focus of my campaign is to be building on that foundation. What we need is a lot more activists."

Voting records might suggest the Party's best days are behind it. In 1980, then-candidate Ed Clark and his running mate, businessman David Koch, spent millions on a campaign that garnered over one million votes. By contrast, the party's 1992 candidate, Andre Marrou got 291,000 votes. But supporters are quick to point out the 1980 vote was an aberration, due largely to Koch's money. Discounting that election, they assert, the party has steadily broadened its base since 1972.

Related Sites:

AllPolitics home page