[EL] Democratic Party hurts itself by being perceived as kicking other parties off ballot

[Richard Winger]

In the last 30 years, the Democratic Party presidential vote has been greater than the Republican presidential vote in every election except 2004.  So why did Democrats do so badly in 2004, relative to 1992, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012, and 2016?  I believe part of the reason is that the Democrats did everything in their power in 2004 to keep Ralph Nader off the ballot, and that got publicity.
There are lots of voters who agree with the Democratic Party on policy, but who do not like that kind of behavior.
It appears the Democratic Party has decided to be active to keep Howie Hawkins, the Green Party nominee, off the ballot.  What was done in Montana state court yesterday is, in my opinion, outrageous.  It doesn't matter that the Republican Party paid for the Green Party's petitioners.  13,000 voters signed the petition, and now because 562 of the signers removed their names from the petition (after being asked to by Democratic Party workers), the entire petition is invalid, because of a clearly unconstitutional distribution requirement.  The Green Party would have done an independent presidential petition in Montana if it had known this was going to happen, but now it is too late.  There are bona fide Greens in Montana who had already won the Green Party primary for legislative office and they are also being injured.

Now there is a challenge to Hawkins in Wisconsin, very likely a coordinated effort by Democratic Party leaders.  This can backfire.  There is objective evidence that "left" parties do not hurt Democratic nominees, especially the 2004 leading pollsters' analysis relative to Ralph Nader's independent candidacy that year, and also the strong evidence from 1948 that Harry Truman was helped, not hurt, by Henry Wallace, documented in Sam Lubell's "Future of American Politics."  "Spoiling" is more complicated than it looks.  The presence of a third "left" candidate can change the perception of the Democratic nominee and help that nominee.

Richard Winger 415-922-9779 PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20200808/bef07b14/attachment.html>