Derailing third parties.

• Author: Lause, Mark
• Position: Election 2004: Green Analyses

The Republicans seemed to have a stranglehold upon power although recent scandals had shaken much of public confidence in the party of Lincoln. Much of the country referred to the previous presidential race as "the Stolen Election," in which the GOP seized power in spite of its loss at the polls. Many blamed both parties for the corruption, the arrogance of corporate monopoly, and the systematic betrayal of the interests of African-Americans, women, and working people.

In response to these concerns, a broad third party formed and nominated a candidate long and loudly praised by leaders of both parties for his incorruptibility, his honesty, and his straightforward dedication to representative government and social change. As a result, the media was rather entertained. A third party candidate added spice to the story they were covering. Although various third parties had done extremely well in local elections, nobody actually expected this to translate into serious support in a presidential year.

Based on this assumption, commentators on the campaign saw every indication of third party strength as a sign that it was not really a third party.

Such assumptions fueled the fears of Democrats, eager to retake the White House. They fretted that the third party movement might deny them just enough votes to keep the Republicans in power. From their perspective, the independent effort objectively aided the Republicans and they began leaking information to the press that it was, in fact, funded directly by the Republicans and run in the interests of the Republicans.

The fact is that for many years both Democrats and Republicans had benefited at times from the presence of a third party and had maneuvered for the best position with no interest in or cooperation from that third party. The leaders of both parties knew this and charges that the other was engaged in duplicitous maneuvers became part of the campaign.

The particulars of the case ranged from irrelevant to implausible to impossible, but the constant parade of factoids seemed to make proof superfluous. They asserted Republican involvement in efforts to assist in the election of the third party presidential electors, and the exchange of implausibly vast amounts of money without anyone having sufficient documentation to demonstrate anything.

The media asked absolutely no questions and repeated such charges, citing each other's publications, if anything. The accusations certainly provided a cheap...