Eddie McOwskey's Days of Change: Third Party Presidential Break Down

In the spirit of McOwskey's run for the New Jersey Gubernatorial race, we at "Days of Change" thought we would shine the spotlight on some other seldom seen players in our political system. It's no news that Obama and McCain are running for president, but did you know that various third party candidates are on most state ballots? Most of these candidates have dramatically different, some might say refreshing, positions than either the Democrats or Republicans.

Most of these lesser known candidates complain of lack of media coverage and most of the media won't cover these candidates due to low polling numbers and lack of campaign funds. But one legitimate critique of the presidential election process is the exclusivity of the televised Presidential debates. These debates are organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates, a corporation that is headed by former big-wigs of the Republican and Democratic parties. The Commission on Presidential Debates decides which candidates participate in the debates, and thus who is seen on TV debating the "mainstream" Democratic and Republican nominees. These debates serve most voters as a means of validating a candidate's legitamacy.

The Commission has qualifications for candidates to pass before they are allowed to debate, such as compliance with the rules set forth in the U.S. constitution as well as being on enough state ballots to mathematically win an election. The Commission also requires the candidates poll at least 15% in national polls. This rule is what excludes many third party candidates who already are on a majority of state ballots as well as meet all of the qualifications set in the constitution. Because these candidates don't have the built-in fundraising resources of the Democrats and Republicans, its very difficult for them to be known, much less favored by 15% of U.S. voters(never mind all the problems inherent with polling). Perhaps if these cadidates were allowed on stage with equal footing to the Democrats and Republicans we could have a much more healthy and diverse debate than the current two-party system allow.

Below are some folks you may not have heard of who are currently running for President and Vice President of the United States. The quality and views of these candidates is across the spectrum and the appearance of any candidate below represents the opinions of neither Eddie McOwskey nor "Days of Change."

Chuck Baldwin/Darrell Castle

The Constitution Party/ Endorsed by Republican Congressman Ron Paul

http://www.baldwin08.com/

Charles Jay/Thomas Knapp

Boston Tea Party - Personal Choice Party

http://www.cj08.com/

Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Clemente

Green Party

http://www.cj08.com/

Bob Barr/Wayne Root

Libertarian Party

http://www.bobbarr2008.com/home/skip/?s=0618