Third parties and the media

[Dave Faneuf <tklaundry@juno.com>]

On Tue, 5 Nov 2002 00:33:55 -0500 "A. Joseph Ross"
<lawyer@attorneyross.com> writes:
> On 4 Nov 2002 at 20:07, Joseph Pappalardo wrote:
> 
> > The 3rd part candidates (for Mass Gov)couldn't have
> > asked for more attention from the media this time
> > around.  Virtually everyone knows who they are....and
> > virtually everyone has rejected their canidacies.
> 
> Well, actually, I would vote for Jill Stein if not for the danger of 
> helping Mitt Romney.  I think 
> she's come across much better than Shannon O'Brien.  The problem is 
> partly our electoral 
> system, which gives the win to the winner of a plurality of votes, 
> not an overall majority.  
> There are a number of alternative methods of voting which would give 
> a different result.
>  
> I've decided to vote for the Green Party candidates for the lesser 
> offices, where they are not 
> likely to affect the outcome, and where I wouldn't be quite so upset 
> if a Republican were to 
> win. 

I changed the subject line since we have left campaign ads with phone
numbers

While I agree that people voting for Stein would likely vote for O'Brien
if Stein weren't running I disagree that someone should vote for O"Brien
if your beliefs are more closely linked to Stein.  That stifles
alternatives to the Republocrats/Democans and ensures that the two major
parties will always be in power.

I don't know that focusing on the lesser races would matter.  An
anecdote;  Here in Lowell we have a pol who has gotten more votes than
anyone in the city every time he runs.  He is a member of the school
committee and gets more votes than anyone on the school board or city
council.....until he ran for state rep.....you see our city elections are
nonpartisan but he ran for state rep with an "R" behind his name and was
trounced.  The next municipal election you guessed it, he got more votes
than anyone else in the city again....I think the strategy that the Green
Party is using is working, they are drawing some attention to their
causes,  this time around the Libertarians didn't do as well getting
anything out there beyond their support for Question 1.
 
But it is a catch 22.  Without the votes the candidates will obviously
lose, won't be able to raise the money needed to launch a real campaign
and buy effective ads and ad time on radio and tv and get their message
out to the masses and eventually become a major party. (see how I brought
it back to broadcasting LOL)   
df