The Campaign 2000 Story The Media Missed

by Jack VanNoord

Despite the ocean of ink used to cover the election in the weeks leading up to  November 7 vote, the national media missed a major election-season story.  While the dominate media outlets were busy covering the campaigns of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader and Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan, they failed to keep the American public informed of  the nation’s most viable third party: The Libertarian Party. 

Only one third party was on the ballot in all fifty states.  Nope.  Not the Reform Party (48 states).  Not the Green Party (44 states).  You guessed it.  The Libertarians.  But you probably never heard Dan Rather or Peter Jennings share that little factoid on the evening news. 

One third party had more candidates running for local, state and federal office this year than ALL THE OTHER THIRD PARTIES COMBINED: The Libertarians.  One third party has more people in elected office than ALL THE OTHER THIRD PARTIES COMBINED:  Once again, The Libertarians.  But you never saw commentator Tim Russert scrawl any of this on his little whiteboard. 

Pat Buchanan had access to 12 million dollars of taxpayer money to run his campaign.  Ralph Nader acknowledged that one of his primary reasons for running was to qualify for millions of taxpayer’s dollars in order to fund his run for the White House in 2004.  Meanwhile, Libertarian presidential candidate Harry Browne actually turned down the nearly one-million dollars in federal funds for which he qualified.  A would-be politician turning down easy money.  Wow, I would have thought that was a front-page story.  I guess not.

So how did Libertarians fare in Campaign 2000?  Well, it was an unusually brutal year for third parties all the way around.  The close Presidential race meant that people who would have otherwise voted their conscience, decided that they had better vote for the candidate they felt was the lesser of two evils.  In the presidential race, all third party candidates received a smaller portion of the vote than the pre-election polls had indicated they would.   

But how did the Libertarians fare compared to their third-party counterparts?  Quite well, actually.  While Pat Buchanan received just under a half-million votes, Libertarian Harry Browne, without the benefit of a 12 million dollar federal subsidy or extensive media coverage, finished just 60,000 votes behind Buchanan.  Harry Browne actually finished ahead of Buchanan in 17 states! You never would have been able to predict that if you were depending upon the dominate media for your pre-election coverage. 

In Massachusetts, libertarian candidate Carla Howell managed to amass 12% of the vote against the behemoth Ted Kennedy.  She finished only one percentage point behind the GOP candidate.   

Locally, Elizabeth Quaintance garnered 27% of the vote against her Republican opponent in the race for state representative in the 39th district (Glen Ellyn area). 

I understand that the vast majority of media coverage will go to the two dominate parties.  That’s fine.  I understand that.  But, if the print and broadcast media are going to feign a desire to cover the activities of the third parties, then it is time they get it right.   

The Libertarian Party will be around long after the Reform Party has completed its current self-destruction.  The Libertarian Party will be around long after the Green Party has lost its celebrity candidate in the frumpy suit.  For the past three decades the Libertarian Party has systematically built a grassroots movement comprised of Americans who realize that individual liberty and individual responsibility are the keys to the best society that we can hope to build.   

Year by year, people across the country are turning to the Libertarian Party as an alternative to the government-expanding Republicans and Democrats.   It’s time the national media woke up and dedicated a little ink and a little airtime to America’s true third party. 

11-15-2000

Written by Jack VanNoord - West Dundee.