Swirl
By Mitch Berg
I’m not one of those conservatives who necessarily piddles on third parties. They exist for a reason – or, really, two:
- They provide a place for people who are vastly more into ideology than the mechanics of politics to ply their hobby (see also the Constitution Party, the Libertarians)
- Occasionally, they give voice to protests against some aspect or another of the big parties. Of course, they usually remove the protesters from one of the major parties, sometimes decisively influencing elections (the Greens in 2000
Minnesota’s “Independence” Party, an offshoot of Ross Perot’s “Reform” Part from the ’92 election, has lately been a third category all by itself; “the thing that wouldn’t leave”. An irrelevant collection of wonks lost in the wilderness until Jesse Ventura won the flukey election of 1998, the IP has been clinging to its misbegotten “Major” status ever since.
First Ringer at TvM notes that the IP is has been swirling the drain since Ventura walked offstage pouting, leaving on the the question “when will it die?”
Despite a strong field of statewide candidates in 2006, arguably the best and certainly most experienced IP slate ever to appear on a ballot, the party barely crested the 5% minimum to mantain major party status and thus state funding. And while in 2008, the last minute candidacy of former appointed Senator Dean Barkley gained a respectable 15% of the vote, the same year had the IP only running 13 candidates for various offices – its lowest total since Jesse Ventura’s 1998 win.
The answer, despite the protestations of the IP’s dwindling clot of partisans – the IP was never an independent political party. It was, indeed, never anything more than a small support staff for Jesse Ventura’s vanity project. And they tipped their hat when Ventura was elected to office; the people who pulled his strings, Dean Barkley and Tim Penny, were former DFLers (Penny a former Congressman, from the 2nd District); when Ventura took office, with no legislative traction whatsoever, he ran to the DFL, and governed like a mildly-apostate DFLer. The only other significant IP official, State Representative Sheila Kiscaiden, was a very moderate Republican (some would say RINO, but not me) who’d stabbed the party in the back on many issues and was best parted with.
So what’s happening with the IP today? Ringer has the story, or at least one that doesn’t begin with “who” and end with “cares”:
Since “shocking the world” that November night 11 years ago, the Reform/Independence Party remains fixated on lightning striking twice. Instead of focusing on building from the ground up – the IP only endorsed three candidates for local office in 2008 – the party continues to place its future on the slim hopes that one of its dwindling few candidates for major office will win. This indie modus operandi focus has stayed with the party over its numerous transformations, from one built on personality in 1998, to a way station for misfit pols in 2002 to finally a warming house for center-left policy wonks in 2006.
Perhaps the IP will finally drop out of major party status. Their influence has soaked up far too much Minnesota time, money and spotlight. None of it’s been earned since about 2002.
May 14th, 2009 at 9:14 am
I have always found it interesting that other countries often have more than just the two parties we seem to favor. Given the patterns of history, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a third party simmer for a while and then gain momentum to expand to a more significant share. With the continuing decline in numbers of people who claim membership in the Republican party, perhaps pointing fingers at how small the Independent party is… is not the best choice. In the race to shrink, the GOP seems to be moving as fast if not faster.
The Indies back in Ventura’s era made big strides gaining new first time voters; so did Obama and the Dems this last round of elections. Despite the rather comedic efforts by Michael Steele, I don’t have the impression that the GOP is making any strides whatsoever in that demographic. Heck, I actually attended a couple of campus republican get togethers back in the dim old days when I was in college; they were yawners even then, beer not withstanding.
In that context I was surprised to find that one of the challengers to Michelle Bachmann next time around is seeking a dual party endorsement, from democrats AND independents. I can’t recall having ever seen that before.
May 14th, 2009 at 9:32 am
The Indies back in Ventura’s era made big strides gaining new first time voters
DG, I remember that election very well. The first time voters you reference were mullet-sporting dudes who were laughing their asses off standing in the new voter registration line. I saw dozens of them at my polling place in New Brighton. They didn’t care about politics at all — they just thought it would be a kick to vote for a rassler for governor. As it turned out, there were enough of them to put Jesse over the top. But they lost interest in politics about as quickly as Jesse did. It was a one-time phenomenon.
As for Steele, I don’t think much of him, either. But the elections are still a year and a half away. A lot of things will change between now and November, 2010. One thing that won’t change is that the IP will still be trying to find a coherent message.
May 14th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Mr. D. says:
“As for Steele, I don’t think much of him, either. But the elections are still a year and a half away. A lot of things will change between now and November, 2010. One thing that won’t change is that the IP will still be trying to find a coherent message. ”
Well said D; this past election proved that there are a lot of previously unaligned voters now participating. I think it will be very interesting to see how many of them continue to align with either Obama and/or the Dems. Far more likely that there are large numbers of them up for grabs. I think that both parties may get a surprise in terms of how many people are willing to defect to a new group. A lot of things may change between now and November 2010; I have yet to see the GOP offering anything new that remotely suggests a serious change. They could – but I doubt that becoming even more conservative is going to work well for them. More likely the opposite, particularly in terms of the younger demographic where the divide between positions on the culture wars seems greatest. The IP has as likely a chance to find a coherent message as anyone else.
It will be interesting to see if this dual party endorsement idea catches on, and how it works out, potentially expanding both endorsing parties voter base…
May 14th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
DFL/D = Spread the Wealth
IR/R = Spend the Wealth
IP = Were not them, just trust us…
In the end they are just different shades of center-left to far-left policies once they have the power.
Way to take a crap on the foundation of America.
From cap and trade to Obama Motors… to the new DMV of health care…
It is all downhill from here, Mitch, we are all circling the drain.
June 6th, 2012 at 8:09 am
[…] Perhaps Mitch was right three years ago to call the IP “the thing that wouldn’t leave.” […]