Unfinished Article about 3rd Party Candidates in the 2000 Election

[Not only was this article never published, I didn't even finish writing it.  But this was something I toyed around with submitting to Chimes for the November 2000 election.]

Google: drive, docs, pub

Whether you like Bush or Gore, I think we can all agree on one thing: Nader was the coolest candidate.  Easily.  Did Bush get endorsed by Pearl Jam?  Did Radio Head hold up pro-Gore signs?  How many presidential Candidates have had the support of Rage Against the Machine?  When it comes to being endorsed by the hip rock stars, Nader comes away the winner.

However, with all the fuss over Nader and Buchanan, we’ve forgotten about the other candidates.  No, I’m not talking about Bush and Gore.  They’ve gotten more attention this year than O.J. did when he was on trial.  I’m talking about the other 3rd party candidates.  And so, this is my salute to men and women (well, mostly men I guess) who wanted your vote but didn’t make the headlines.  These are the candidates you didn’t hear about:

David McReynolds (Socialist Party):

You have to feel a little sorry for the Socialist Party.  There was a time when they were THE major third party.  Back when Eugene Debs got 920,000 votes for President well he was in prison, it seemed like the world was going their way.  Now, they don’t even register on the political radar (pardon the cliché).  David McReynolds, like Nadar, has a long history of activism that puts him above reproach.  Even if you don’t like Socialism (and I suppose polls show that the majority of Americans don’t), you have to admire a man whose spent his whole life fighting for his ideals of pacifism and democratic Socialism.

Awards:  Most under-rated Candidate, Most Respectable Candidate, and the Socialist Party as a whole gets points for still running candidates after so many, many failures.  

Monica Moorehead (The Workers World Party)

You’ve probably heard of Monica Moorehead, you just don’t know it yet.  Remember when Bush spoke at the NAACP this summer, and six protesters had to be removed before he could begin?  That was her work.  She’s also been actively involved in the demonstrations against the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund, as well as the protests at the Democratic and Republican conventions this summer.