1. I have to admit that as much as I track Third Parties in New York State for my website (a shameless plug thrown in there) and how they chose their Presidential candidates, I’m not familiar with how the national third parties chose their Vice-Presidential candidates. Is it normal for a minor party to select the VP candidate rather than have their Presidential candidate do it? In New York, there are three ballot qualified minor parties. Two of those, the Conservative Party and the Working Family Party, do not have national parent organizations, so they just take the VP candidate that was already selected for the Presidential candidate that they nominate. (Obviously the Conservative Party mostly goes with the Republican candidate and the Working Family Party, to date, has always gone Democrat.) The third minor party, the Independence Party, just started a national organization, so in prior years, they too, just went with the VP candidate of the Presidential candidate that they endorsed.

2. In all political parties, big and small, the convention formally chooses the vice-presidential candidate. The custom is that the presidential candidate expresses a preference, but no party’s rules say that the presidential candidate can formally choose the vice-presidential candidate. It isn’t official until the convention delegates express themselves.

   The last time a major party presidential nominee said he was neutral about vice-president was 1956 Democrats, when Adlai Stevenson said to the convention, “You guys decide for yourself.” Then there was a very exciting contest between Estes Kefauver and John Kennedy.

3. Sen. Estes Kefauver of Tennessee barely beat Sen. Kennedy for the VP nomination. Kefauver had finished second to Stevenson for the ’52 and ’56 presidential nominations.

   The ’72 Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. George McGovern (SD) asked the convention to nominate Sen. Tom Eagleton (MO) for VP, but a bunch of other candidates, including Sen. Mike Gravel, ran for VP anyway. Eagleton was finally nominated, but McGovern wound up having to make his acceptance speech at about 3 AM.

   After the convention, it was learned that Eagleton had received shock treatments for depression, and he had to drop out. Sen. McGovern then had to ask about 10 people before Sargent Shriver finally accepted. McGovern lost every state to President Nixon but Massachusetts.

4. The McGovern-Shriver ticket also carried the District of Columbia! What a shame that The Movement lost the election in the rest of the country.

   While extremely sympathetic to Dr. Benjamin Spock (the Peace and Freedom Party/Peoples Party candidate for president), I worked very hard for Senator McGovern’s campaign during the general election period. During the primary season, I worked very hard for Senator Eugene McCarthy’s presidential campaign. At that time, I was in the Democratic Party. What a wonderful president any of those three gentlemen would have made!

5. “Baldwin/Castle” … hmmm, has a nice ring to it. OK, now where can I get my bumper sticker?

   Seriously, this is great to see a former running mate rise through the party to become a lead candidate. And Mr. Castle has been involved with the CP for many years as well. IMHO, this is a sign that the Constitution Party is really moving in a positive direction, “growing their own”, kind of like major league sports farm teams. I know that Herb Titus is in the midst of some big legal cases now, and Howard Phillips has health issues with his legs, but what ever happened to Curtis Frazier?

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