Virgil Goode polled more votes in seven states than any previous Constitution Party presidential nominee. Those states are Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, and Wyoming.
The Constitution Party has never placed its presidential nominee on the ballot in North Carolina, but Goode’s write-in total of 619 is higher than any previous write-in total for the party’s presidential nominee in that state. Thanks to Kevin Hayes for the North Carolina figure.
Yet Congressman Goode still pulled worse than Chuck Baldwin, Michael Peroutka and Howie Phillips in 1996. I think the CP has to rank as one of the bigger third party flops this year (my own candidate Rocky Anderson’s bid is another). I wonder what the CP will do from here.
Of course the California situation needs to be considered in past performances.
It strikes me that the Constitution Party’s “business model” is fatally flawed. As long as they continue as the Republican Party’s minor league affiliate they will always be GOP conservatives’ second choice. The “wasted vote” syndrome and the fact that contributions will flow to a GOP hopeful until it is too late just makes it difficult, if not impossible, for the CP to make serious progress. I see no hope for the future unless and until something changes.
did he get enough votes to get auto-matic ballot access in 2014?
When comparing the vote totals of the Constitution Party’s Presidential candidates with past elections, some adjustments need to be made. First off is looking at WHICH states the party qualified for the ballot in each election. For example: in 1996, the party was able to petition onto the Texas ballot ONLY through the very generous donation of a well-heeled resident of that state. Second, the party’s vote percentage should be calculated by only using those states where the party WAS ON the ballot. Third, there are several parts of the Constitution Party platform that are much closer to the Libertarian Party position rather than the Republican Party. So when the Libertarian Party has a more effective candidate like Gov.Johnson, the Constitution Party will have greater competition for those particular voters.
@4… it doesn’t work that way. Each state has different ballot access requirements.
It seems like Virgil was a great candidate for the CP, but their ballot access drive was REALLY pitiful.
@7 Yes, Virgil Goode was a great choice for the CP. They just majorly flopped at campaigning and garnering ballot access. Jack Fellure of the Prohibitionsits, on the other hand, was a horrid candidate with even more outrageously bad ballot access support (or the lack thereof).
Well, at this point the Prohibitionists are just trying to keep their streak alive. If only 9 delegates bothered to show up at the convention, how serious can they be?
1) It will be taken out of Howard Philips’ garage once again in four years for a test drive, then back into storage.