Why do they run? No, I’m not talking about the mildly retarded, although worse labels have been applied to them. I’m talking about candidates who have no chance of winning. You know who they are. They’re usually from one of the many struggling third parties or independent. And I mean independent in every sense of the word – no money, no network, and no supporters (like us but we don’t care) – but not always.
While the democratic side of the 2008 presidential race thinned its herd relatively quickly, republican candidates Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee held on to the bitter end in spite of never having a snowball’s chance in hell. So, why do they even run? There are two explanations for this phenomenon. Let’s explore both.
Ron Paul Makes a Statement
First, and most noble, some do it to make a statement. Ron Paul comes to mind. This is the classic Libertarian candidate (although he ran as a republican). His positions and proposals make sense in the theoretical world, but are completely unrealistic in the real world where most of us live. Nobody in their right mind would make the kinds of statements he’s made in the presence of the Republican Party faithful and expect to win. Stop interfering in other countries’ business? Afford homosexuals the same rights as “normal” people? Pro-choice? Decriminalize drugs? Dude, you lost them at “hello”. Why does he run then? Because he’s forcing them to talk about things that they would otherwise never even consider. He’s raising issues and, as is the case with other libertarians and independents, slowly building a movement. At some point in the future an independent or third party candidate is going to win something big. The press will chalk it up as an overnight success, but the real reason will be because of “losers” like Ron Paul who came first.
As for the Huckabee-type candidates, it’s got nothing to do with God, country, or issues. It’s all about them. We’ll cover that in part II.
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