Voters Hesitate Over Third-Party Candidates

Nov. 6, 2006 — -- In a state where all but three governors since the 1950s have been indicted -- and the current governor is in step to continue that tradition -- you might expect voters to find a third-party candidate to be a viable option.

But Illinois Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney -- though commanding up to 14 percent of the vote in some polls -- is still a long shot to reach office.

In October, Antonin "Tony" Rezko, a top adviser to Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, was indicted on charges of fraud. Judy Baar Topinka, the Republican challenger, has been linked to former Gov. George Ryan, who is scheduled to begin a 6½-year prison sentence on Jan. 4.

With the charges of corruption swirling around each campaign, neither candidate has been able to get a majority of the vote. Yet voters hesitate to stray from the major two parties.

One of the reasons is that many people still regard a vote for a third-party candidate as a throwaway vote. This presents a Catch-22 for Whitney and other third-party candidates.

"The more people believe I can win, the more likely they will quit thinking about choosing the lesser of two evils and actually consider voting for what they really want," said Whitney.

But winning in a first-past-the-post or winner-takes-all system may not be altogether possible -- especially considering the financial disadvantage that third-party candidates face.

H. Ross Perot had the greatest success as a third-party candidate in recent history. His 1992 presidential campaign earned him 19 percent of the popular vote. But all that success didn't come without a cost. The billionaire businessman spent an estimated $65 million of his own money on his campaign only to finish behind Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush.

Green Party candidates face an even tougher road. It is a practice for Green Party candidates not to accept corporate campaign contributions, on which Democratic and Republican candidates generally thrive. For example, Blagojevich has raised more than $12 million, and Topinka around $4 million, while Whitney has raised only in the tens of thousands.