The Zeskind Fortnight No. 2
15 March 2008

By Leonard Zeskind

The Constitution Party Convention Comes to Kansas City

 Among the consortiums of off-the map anti-tax, anti-immigrant zealots, consider for a moment the Constitution Party.  An amalgam of state-based “third” parties with a national committee office operating out of Pennsylvania, it runs candidates for local, state and federal office. In California, one of its largest affiliates has roots stretching back to George Wallace’s segregationist presidential campaign in 1968.  Its platform opposes all abortion rights, even in cases of rape or incest. It is against membership in the United Nations, foreign aid, entanglements in foreign wars, and opposes free trade agreements such as NAFTA.  Some Constitution Party members also favor groups such as the League of the South and the Minutemen. And they are coming to Kansas City, Missouri on April 23 for a national convention, and to pick their candidate for president in 2008.

The Constitution Party was originally called the U.S. Taxpayers Party, and Howard Phillips was its candidate for president in 1992 and 1996.  While it attracted some of the most extreme personalities opposed to abortion rights, the party managed to get on the ballot in less than half of the states and attracted fewer supporters than other small, far right outfits.  In 1992, for example,  Phillips spent more money and received fewer votes than militiameister Bo Gritz, who ran on the Populist Party ticket. The organization changed its name to the Constitution Party in 1999 and ran Phillips for president yet again.  He received a mere 98,000 votes in the 2000 race, according to the Federal Election Commission.

 By comparison, Ralph Nader took 2,882,000 votes in that election, and gained notoriety as a spoiler candidate.  Pat Buchanan, who had won three million in the Republican primaries in 1996, received only 449,000 votes on the Reform Party ticket in 2000; a sign that most white racist and Christian nationalist voters were still locked up inside the Republican Party—at least during presidential elections.

 During the 2004 election cycle, things began to change for the Constitution Party. For the first time, some one other than Howard Phillips was its presidential candidate.  The Michael Peroutka – Chuck Baldwin ticket received 132,000 votes, according to a report by one of its national committee members, William Shearer. Although it was on the ballot in thirty-six states, the party’s most noteworthy developments occurred locally. 

 In Montana, Rick Jore became its first member to be elected to a state legislature.  Jore had been a Republican member of the Montana House of Representatives in 1994, 1996 and 1998, and his defection to the Constitution Party has given it a boost across that state.  According to the Montana Human Rights Network, Jore has been pushing an amendment to the state constitution that would declare that “life” begins at conception.  (The Network has published a 90-page report entitled, “The Constitution Party of Montana: The Radical Right Wing’s Collision with Mainstream Politics,” available at:
www.mhrn.org/publications/specialresearchreports/CPMTreport.pdf .)

 In Nevada, a contest for a seat on State Supreme Court drew Joel Hansen, a perennial candidate for office who had signed up with the Constitution Party.  Although he claimed not to agree with the state party’s resolution in 2002 that declared the Fourteenth Amendment null and void, Hansen did tell the Las Vegas Review Journal that the amendment had been ratified “under questionable circumstances”—a perennial complaint by neo-Confederates and other white supremacists. In the end, Hansen spent $48,000 in campaign expenses and received 197,934 votes, over 28% of the total cast—a significant set of numbers for a minor party candidate.

 In Pennsylvania, the Constitution Party’s national chairman, James Clymer of Millersville, ran in 2004 for the U.S. Senate seat held by Arlen Specter.  Although Specter had no reason to fear Clymer’s candidacy, the mere fact that this small party’s national chairman ran for office instantly sent a signal.  With most other Christian patriot outfits, the number of meetings held annually usually exceeds the number of candidates they produce.  Clymer raised $117,784 in individual contributions, received a $100,000 loan and spent over $200,000 on the race.  He won almost 217,000 votes, or about 4% of the total; again, a respectable total for a third party candidate in a federal election.

 At the end of January 2008, as the party’s national committee prepared for its convention in Kansas City, it had a little over $8,000 in the bank.  The national committee, which operates separately from the state parties and their candidates, had receipts of $224,400 in 2007 and spent $232,364.  Of that, a sizable amount was paid out on ballot access issues.  In California, where the American Independent Party is the state affiliate, 311,000 registered members guarantees that it has automatic ballot status.  In most of the other instances, however, the party will have to fight one state at a time to get its nominees listed alongside the Republicans and Democrats. And ballot access will be the name of the game in 2008, as the Constitution Party courts potential candidates to run for president.

 During the presidential primary season, party leaders hoped that a disgruntled Cong. Ron Paul would jump the Republican Party ocean liner and swim over to their wooden raft; but Paul said no. Other personalities that insiders are considering as candidates include former Alabama Judge Roy Moore, who violated the constitutional standards for separation of church and state when he mounted a sectarian memorial to the Ten Commandments within his courthouse.  Also in the mix is Bob Smith, the former United States Senator from New Hampshire. Smith has published opinion pieces on the party’s website, sparking some buzz about his plans.

 Certainly the Constitution Party could be in a position to make a giant leap in 2008.  At this moment, Republican conservatives have still not embraced Senator John McCain.  Among those supposed missteps cited most by McCain’s critics is his short-lived alliance with Democrats in support of comprehensive immigration reform legislation.  As Chuck Baldwin, the party’s candidate for vice president in 2004 wrote: “with John McCain as the standard bearer, Christian conservatives and constitutionalists cannot vote for either the Republican or the Democrat…” 

 Before the Constitution Party runs anybody more than just a token candidate, however, it must have money, ballot access and hold its convention at the Downtown Marriott Hotel in Kansas City.  But when Missouri state chair Donna Ivanovich put out a call for Kansas City area members to help with logistics, very few responded.  On February 7, 2008, Ivanovich wrote an email note saying: “For your information, there are 78 CP supporters in the Kansas City/NW [Northwest Missouri] area who receive these messages…only 8 people have volunteered to help.”

 No wonder Ron Paul has so far refused to sign up.

End TZF No. 2