Issues of Democracy, October 2000, Special Issue: Guide to Election 2000

THIRD PARTIES ALSO WOOING VOTERS
IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

If Americans vote in November in the traditional way, either Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic nominee, or Texas Governor George W. Bush, the Republican nominee, will be the next president of the United States. That is because the United States basically has a two-party system. But there also is a long tradition of third party bids for the presidency. The year 2000 is no exception.

The three leading third parties in this year's election are the Green Party, whose nominee is consumer advocate Ralph Nader, the Reform Party, whose nominee is political commentator Pat Buchanan, and the Libertarian Party, whose nominee is Harry Browne, a former investment counselor. Currently, Nader stands at between 2 and 4 percent in the polls, depending on the poll. His supporters include Green Party enthusiasts as well as disaffected Democrats and Republicans who dislike the nominees of their respective parties.

The Greens are a worldwide movement committed to environmental causes, economic empowerment and to various social issues. The movement has had particular success at the ballot box in Western Europe. Green Party USA was organized in the 1980s and now has grass-roots organizations in all 50 states. This is the second time that Nader, who is a household name in America, has been the party's nominee. He was on the ballot in 22 states in 1996 but won none of them. In a recent appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," he said he would be on the ballot in at least 45 states this year.

The Reform Party was founded by multi-millionaire Texas businessman Ross Perot in the early 1990s. It was an outgrowth of his organization, "United We Stand America," formed in 1992. The party stands for term limits for lawmakers, campaign finance reform and protection for American workers against what it regards as unfair free trade policies. It tends to be liberal to moderate on social issues. A conflict of interest between two factions at the Reform Party Convention resulted in a squabble over $12.5 million dollars in federal campaign funds. Pat Buchanan, the Reform nominee, received the money.

The Libertarian Party was established in 1971. Its major principles are commitment to individual rights, freedom of communication, the abolition of the income tax and an end to the prosecution of victimless crimes, including drug offenses. The Libertarians oppose intrusive action by governments of the Left or the Right. The party's statement of principles says individuals "have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they don't forcibly interfere with the equal rights of others."

In addition to the Greens, the Libertarians and the Reform Party, many other political parties will be fielding presidential candidates this year. Based on historical precedent, however, the overwhelming odds are in favor of the Democratic or Republican nominee winning the presidency, although a strong third party showing by one or more of the third parties could affect the outcome of the race between the two leading candidates.

The reason why a third party nominee stands little chance of winning the presidency lies in the nature of the American political system and American history. Stephen Rockwood, author of American Third Parties Since the Civil War cites several, specific reasons:

The U.S. election system, which is based on "winner-takes-all" rather than proportional representation
The tradition of two main parties acting as "large umbrellas" for a variety of interests
Media concentration on the two major parties rather than the myriad of smaller parties

Even so, there have been significant, third party attempts to win the presidency at numerous times in American history. Although not successful, they have significantly affected the public debate and the policies of the two major parties. Since World War II, for example, there have been six noteworthy third party presidential bids.

1948. The Dixiecrats led by Strom Thurmond, currently a senator from South Carolina. The Dixiecrats were a group of dissident Democrats who opposed the racial integration policies of Democrat nominee Harry Truman. Thurmond garnered only 2.4 percent of the popular vote, but because he confined his campaign to the South, won four states there. Thurmond's purpose was not to win the presidency, but to deny victory to Truman by winning traditional Democratic states in the region. The effort failed, however. Truman won without the four Southern states.

1948. The Progressive Party led by Henry Wallace, a former vice president of the U.S. in the Roosevelt administration. Wallace ran to Truman's left favoring a radical continuation of New Deal policies and cooperation with the Soviet Union. But Wallace won only 2 percent of the vote, partly because of perceived Communist influence in his campaign. Truman beat back all three challenges -- from Wallace, Thurmond and his major opponent, Republican Thomas Dewey -- and won, despite all predictions.

1968. The American Independence Party led by George Wallace, the pro-segregation governor of Alabama. Wallace, who won just under 14 percent of the vote, took votes away from both major party nominees, Democrat Hubert Humphrey and Republican Richard Nixon. Nixon narrowly won the election. Wallace ran again in 1972 as a Democrat, but his effort was effectively aborted when he was shot and seriously wounded while campaigning in Maryland.

1980. The National Unity Movement led by former Illinois Congressman John Anderson, a liberal-to-moderate Republican. Anderson won 7 percent of the vote, again taking votes away from both major party nominees, Democrat Jimmy Carter and Republican Ronald Reagan. In the end, however, Anderson did not dampen what turned out to be a Reagan landslide.

1992. United We Stand America led by billionaire businessman Ross Perot. This was the precursor group of the Reform Party. Perot's strong showing -- 19 percent of the vote -- was documented to have most hurt Republican nominee President George Bush. Democrat nominee Bill Clinton won the election.

1996. Reform Party led by Ross Perot. Perot's showing was much weaker than in 1992 -- 8.5 percent of the vote -- but is still considered significant by third party standards. Perot, however, did not significantly affect the presidential race since Bill Clinton won a comfortable victory over Republican nominee Senator Bob Dole.

Third parties, while occasionally significant in presidential races, tend to be short-lived in American politics. "It's very rare that a third party candidate lasts more than one election," says historian Michael Beschloss. Perot is an exception, although it is considered unlikely that he will be the Reform Party's nominee this year. "The general tradition in American history is that these third parties are organized around usually a single person or issue or both, and usually that does not extend to a long period of time," Beschloss adds.

While sometimes having significant impact at the presidential level, third parties historically have had negligible effect in races for Congress. Only the two major parties have the resources to mount campaigns in all the congressional districts across the United States and that is unlikely to change, according to experts. Currently, there are only two independents in the U.S. House of Representatives -- Bernard Sanders of Vermont, and Virgil Goode of Virginia. All the rest are either Democrats or Republicans.