Third party U.S. presidential candidates hold debate

From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

2008 United States Presidential Election

2008 U.S. Presidential Election stories

• 22 July 2009: Former U.S. Presidential candidate Gene Amondson dies following a stroke
• 30 June 2009: After much contention Al Franken wins Minnesota Senate seat
• 20 January 2009: Obama succeeds Bush as 44th president of the United States
• 20 January 2009: Obama's Inaugural Celebration "We are One" attracts 400,000
• 17 January 2009: Man arrested in Mississippi over Internet assassination threats against Barack Obama

This past Thursday, the leading third party U.S. presidential candidates held a debate at the Cleveland City Center in Cleveland, Ohio. In attendance were Independent Ralph Nader, Constitution Party nominee Chuck Baldwin and Libertarian Party nominee former Congressman Bob Barr. This is the first, and presumably last, debate between the three before the election is held on Tuesday.

	Both major parties are very clever. They don't like competition.
—Ralph Nader

Despite their radically different political beliefs, all of the candidates' opinions on one issue were similar: outrage at being shunned from the debates between Republican Party nominee John McCain and Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama over the past months. "Both major parties are very clever," Nader said. "They don't like competition. If they were businesses in the marketplace, they would be indicted for violation of the antitrust laws."

Baldwin voiced his concerns about the growth of the federal government as well as the troubled global economy. He said that the "two major parties will do nothing to thwart or diminish what is currently happening...I believe with all my heart that our sovereignty and our national independence are hanging by a very precarious thread."

	I believe with all my heart that our sovereignty and our national independence are hanging by a very precarious thread.
—Chuck Baldwin

Barr stated his opinion that both McCain and Obama are indistinguishable on policy positions and accused them of "sound-bite politics" as well as showing "no leadership whatsoever." He also found it odd that the Department of Justice was absent during this autumn's financial crisis. "There have been no prosecutions, not even apparently a significant investigation of what appears to be historic fraud," he said.

At this time, it is unknown how many tuned in to see the debate when it was broadcast nationally on C-SPAN both Friday and Saturday. As of Sunday, any other media coverage has been minimal, a far cry from last week's debate between Nader and Baldwin in Washington, DC.

Third party candidates

Ralph Nader Image: Don LaVange.

Chuck Baldwin Image: 2008 Baldwin/Castle National Campaign Headquarters.

Former Congressman Bob Barr Image: Commissioned by Bob Barr.

Sources

• Jesse Tinsley "Minor-party presidential candidates take aim at two major parties in City Club debate" – The Plain Dealer, October 31, 2008
• Jason Pye "C-SPAN to air debate tonight" – BobBarr2008, October 31, 2008
• "Liveblogging the alternative Presidential Debate" – Independent Political Report, October 30, 2008
  

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable. Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators. Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections. Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.