gislatures and local governmental bodies, most voters play the role of unnamed co-conspirators in elections that are hostile to them. Many voters simply ignore these contestants by accepting at face value the idea that they are inconsequential, which is typically propagated by the media, Democratic and Republican Party spokespersons and most political consultants. Others buy into the argument that a vote for one of these candidates is a "waste" or - even worse - that casting their ballot for one of those contestants is the equivalent of voting for the major party candidate with whom they least agree.Finally, major party candidates do their best to marginalize minor party opponents when they feel threatened by them. Democrats and Republicans have been known to exclude these candidates from debates, ridicule them and treat them as sideshows. Often, when a third party or Independent candidate homes in on a popular policy issue, a major-party opponent co-opts it as his or her own.The Decision to RunThere are many factors in the decision to seek public office. The financial demands weigh heavily on all candidates, but they have a particularly big impact on third party and Independent contestants. Eighty-seven percent of these candidates, as opposed to the 80 percent of the major party candidates surveyed, believe that the cost of campaigning discourages good, qualified people from running for office.Sixty-three percent of them believe that press scrutiny into the private lives of public officials discourages good, qualified candidates from running for office, which is much less than the 81 percent of major party candidates who share that view.Not surprisingly, third party and Independent candidates raise and spend substantially less money than do their major party competitors. Only 4 percent of minor party candidates surveyed spent more than $25,000, as opposed to 35 percent of all major party candidates.Third party and Independent candidate...
