http://libertymaven.com/2008/08/02/bob-barr-west-virginia-ballot-access-update/1355/ For Liberty, One Individual At A Time Fri, 18 May 2012 14:27:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://libertymaven.com/2008/08/02/bob-barr-west-virginia-ballot-access-update/1355/comment-page-1/#comment-896 wrdalton Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:05:53 +0000 http://www.libertymaven.com/?p=1355#comment-896 The Democrats and Republicans may not have filed the official paperwork as to their Presidential and Vice Presidential nominees yet, but each state party has submitted the names of their candidates for Presidential electors. These are the men and women who will be elected, or not, when the nation goes to the polls in November, whether their names are on the ballot or not. If the deadline for submitting these names is past, and the major parties have met the mark, the Libertarians won't have ground to complain that they haven't gathered the names needed for their petitions by that deadline as well. The trouble is, most Americans aren't accustomed to think in terms of voting for third parties, and, until they do, third parties can't succeed. But most Americans are looking to vote for a winner, not political crusaders, so Americans won't vote for third parties until they view them as a likely success. It is Catch-22. Teddy Roosevelt came closest, because, as a popular ex-President, sufficient numbers of Americans viewed him as a likely success in 1912. But even he only finished in second place, and his party never achieved the same impact without him. George Wallace and Ross Perot were able to rouse substantial minorities of dissatisfied voters. Russ Verney knows how to do this, but he doesn't have the money now he had with Perot in 1992. The Democrats and Republicans may not have filed the official paperwork as to their Presidential and Vice Presidential nominees yet, but each state party has submitted the names of their candidates for Presidential electors. These are the men and women who will be elected, or not, when the nation goes to the polls in November, whether their names are on the ballot or not. If the deadline for submitting these names is past, and the major parties have met the mark, the Libertarians won’t have ground to complain that they haven’t gathered the names needed for their petitions by that deadline as well. The trouble is, most Americans aren’t accustomed to think in terms of voting for third parties, and, until they do, third parties can’t succeed. But most Americans are looking to vote for a winner, not political crusaders, so Americans won’t vote for third parties until they view them as a likely success. It is Catch-22. Teddy Roosevelt came closest, because, as a popular ex-President, sufficient numbers of Americans viewed him as a likely success in 1912. But even he only finished in second place, and his party never achieved the same impact without him. George Wallace and Ross Perot were able to rouse substantial minorities of dissatisfied voters. Russ Verney knows how to do this, but he doesn’t have the money now he had with Perot in 1992.

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