Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin and his running mate Darrell Castle wound up with close to 179,000 votes, showing even with no ads and comparatively little media attention, the message of liberty resonated with many.

The tally was a 24% increase over the party’s vote total in 2004. However, this year we were not on the ballot in California or Pennsylvania, and in 2004 those states accounted for 33,000 votes. The Baldwin/Castle ticket even grabbed 3,418 write-in votes in Texas, the highest for any write-in candidate in that state.

While the Constitution Party lists their final tally to be “close to 179,000” votes, Wikipedia lists their total for 2008 as 181,342. Not too bad, really. Both the Libertarians and Ralph Nader finished ahead of the Constitutionalists, but they got a few thousand more votes than the Green Party. More from their message:

In addition to larger percentages of votes, 20 states will remain ballot qualified meaning fewer time-consuming and costly ballot-access campaigns will be necessary going forward. This is a 33% increase over 2004.

Many people do not realize that one of the biggest hurdles that young political parties have to overcome is actually getting on the ballot! You don’t just “wind up” on the ballot – you have to actually collect signatures and petition to be on the ballot in each state. It’s not the easiest process and as the quoted message above alludes to, it’s not an entirely quick process either.

It would appear that the Constitution Party made a decent showing for a third party with no financing and no advertising in the 2008 election. America needs a strong third party at the national level – could it be this one?

DO tell me why you are different that your opponent. One of Barack Obama’s biggest hurdles that he needs to overcome is the impression that he’ll have no idea what to do if he wins the election. Well…break that idea into little pieces by saying what you’ll do! And don’t give us the Kindergarten variety of “yes we can” and “change” and all of that horse shit. Tell us what your policies will be in clear, concise words. So far, the only thing that I’ve been able to decipher from Barack Obama’s speeches is that he’ll raise taxes for anyone making more than $200,000 per year.

At this point in the campaign, I should know more about your policies. From Barack Obama’s website:

Lower People’s Interest Payments by Creating a New Mortgage Interest Tax Credit: Many middle class Americans do not receive the existing mortgage interest tax deduction because they do not itemize their taxes. Obama will ensure that middle-class Americans get the financial assistance they need to purchase or keep their own home by creating a 10 percent universal mortgage credit that gives tax relief to 10 million Americans who have a home mortgage.

What does that mean? Why doesn’t Obama tell us how he’s going to pay for this plan? Why don’t these “new politicians” come out and say, “Many middle class Americans do not receive the existing mortgage interest tax deduction because they don’t care to learn how they can receive it. So, to make sure that those irresponsible Americans essentially get this free money, we’re going to create another gigantic government bureaucracy that will cost YOU more in taxes. That’s right. You get your mortgage deduction and you follow the rules, but we need you to pay more in taxes to pay for a program to help people who do not follow the rules. Sucks to be you!”

I thought the new politics were supposed to cut through the bullshit? And don’t you all get excited thinking that McCain is in the clear on all of this. Let’s not forget that McCain called Obama Jimmy Carter’s second term. Old politics at their worst on everyone’s account. Shameful.