United States third party and independent presidential candidates, 2008

This article contains lists of official third party or independent candidates associated with the 2008 United States presidential election.

Third party is a term commonly used in the United States to refer to political parties other than the two major parties, the Democratic Party and Republican Party. The term is used as innumerate shorthand for all such parties, or sometimes only the largest of them.

An independent candidate is one who runs for office with no formal party affiliation.

Candidates who received, or ran for, the presidential nomination of a political party other than that of the two major parties in the 2008 presidential election, as well those who ran as independents, are listed below.

Candidates who qualified for minimum 270 electoral votes

The following nominees appeared on enough state ballots to theoretically obtain the minimum 270 electoral votes needed to win the election.

Constitution Party

Ticket

Presidential nominee Chuck Baldwin		Running mate Darrell Castle
	Pastor, conservative political activist, and Constitution Party 2004 Vice Presidential nominee. Nominated by the Constitution Party at its 2008 National Convention on April 26, 2008 with 383.8 delegates.[1] On Election Day, Baldwin received 199,314 votes, about 0.15% of the total popular vote.[2]		National Vice-Chair of the Constitution Party. Attorney, political activist and former Marine Corps Lieutenant from Tennessee.

Candidates

Candidate[1]	Image	Background	Delegates[1]
Alan Keyes		Political activist, former U.S. diplomat. Three-time candidate for the Republican presidential nomination (1996, 2000, 2008), and three-time candidate for the U.S. Senate (1988, 1992, and 2004).	125.7
Max "The Swashbuckler" Riekse		Former U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel.[3]	4.5
Susan Gail Ducey		Stay at home mom and registered nurse from Kansas. Started out 2008 presidential campaign running as a Republican then switched to independent prior to seeking the Constitution Party nomination. She was also a 1996 Republican presidential candidate and made a brief run for the United States Congress in 2000 as a Republican in Oklahoma.[4][5]	1
Daniel Imperato		Businessman from Florida and Libertarian Party presidential candidate.	1

Green Party

Ticket

Presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney		Running mate Rosa Clemente
	Former Green Party nomination on July 12, 2008 at its 2008 National Convention in Chicago, IL with 324 delegates.[6] McKinney also received the endorsement of the Workers World Party in July.[7] McKinney received 161,603 votes for 0.12% of the vote.[2]		Commentator, political activist, community organizer and independent reporter from New York.

Candidates

Candidate	Image	Background	Delegates[6]
Kat Swift		State Party Co-Chair, progressive activist and newspaper credit manager from Texas.	38.5
Kent Mesplay		Biomedical engineer who sought Green presidential nomination in 2004 from California.	35
Jesse Johnson		Filmmaker, and 2006 Senate candidate and 2004 gubernatorial candidate for the Mountain Party from West Virginia.	32.5
Elaine Brown			9
Jared Ball		College professor, journalist from Maryland.[8]	8
Howie Hawkins			8

Libertarian Party

Ticket

Presidential nominee Bob Barr		Running mate Wayne Allyn Root
	Former Congressman and Libertarian Party on May 25, 2008 at its 2008 National Convention, in Denver, Colorado with 324 votes on the sixth ballot. Barr received 523,686 votes, 0.4% of the national vote.[2]		Sports handicapper, businessman, author, and TV show host from Nevada.

Candidates

Candidate[9]	Image	Background	Delegates (1st Ballot)
Mary Ruwart		Author of Healing Our World, research scientist, activist, candidate for the Libertarian 1984 presidential nomination and 1992 vice-presidential nomination.	152
Wayne Allyn Root		Sports handicapper, businessman, author, and TV show host from Nevada.	123
Mike Gravel		Former U.S. Senator from Alaska. Previously a candidate for the Democratic Party's 2008 presidential nomination.	71
George Phillies		Professor of Physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute,[10] 2002 candidate for chair of the Libertarian National Committee, and 1998 Congressional candidate from Massachusetts.	49
Steve Kubby		Businessman, marijuana legalization activist, and 1998 Gubernatorial candidate from California.	41
Mike Jingozian		Software company founder from Oregon.[11][12]	23
Christine Smith		Humanitarian activist, and writer from Colorado.[13][14]	6
Daniel Imperato		Businessman from Florida.	1
Robert Milnes		Activist from Camden, New Jersey.[15]	0

Independent

Presidential candidate Ralph Nader		Running mate Matt Gonzalez
	Consumer advocate, Write-in candidate in 1992, Green Party presidential nominee in 1996 and 2000, and 2004 independent candidate. Announced candidacy February 24, 2008 on Meet the Press. Nader received 738,475 votes,[2] the third highest total in the popular vote count.		Prominent lawyer and activist in San Francisco, California politics. In 2003 while a city supervisor was elected by peers on the Board of Supervisors to the presidency of the board representing a city of nearly a million people. He was a close second in a mayoral bid that won him 47% of the vote despite being outspent 6.5 to 1.[16]

Other candidates

The nominees of the following parties appeared on fewer state ballots than needed to qualify for the minimum 270 electoral votes required to win the electoral college. These candidates could only theoretically have been elected in the unlikely event of a successful write-in campaign, or in the event that no candidate received at least 270 electoral votes. In the latter scenario, the election of the President would be determined by the House of Representatives.

Boston Tea Party

New American Independent Party

Objectivist Party

Party for Socialism and Liberation

Presidential nominee
Gloria La Riva	Socialist, long-time anti-war and immigrant rights activist, of California. The Party for Socialism and Liberation announced the La Riva "People Over Profits" campaign on January 17, 2008. La Riva received the nomination of the Peace & Freedom Party in gubernatorial races in 1994 and 1998. She received 6,808 votes.[2]

Prohibition Party

Presidential nominee
Gene Amondson	Temperance lecturer, minister, artist, and 2004 Presidential Nominee. Nominated at the Prohibition Party National Convention held in Indianapolis, Indiana, September 14, 2007. Amondson received 653 votes.[2]

Reform Party

Presidential nominee
Ted Weill	Businessman, of Mississippi. Weill received the nomination of the Reform Party at its National Convention in Dallas, Texas on July 20, 2008.[17] Weill received 481 votes.[2]

Candidates
Daniel Imperato	Businessman from Florida who eventually joined the Libertarian Party.

Socialist Party USA

Presidential nominee
Brian Moore		Antiwar activist, independent (Green Party endorsed) candidate for U.S. Senate in Florida in 2006. Moore received the Socialist Party USA's presidential nomination at its National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri on October 20, 2007. Moore received 6,528 votes nationally.[2]

Vice Presidential nominee
Stewart Alexander		Political activist and former Los Angeles mayoral candidate of California

Candidates
Eric Chester		Author and former economics professor. 1996 Socialist Party USA vice-presidential candidate, three-time candidate for SPUSA presidential nomination (2000, 2004, 2008).

Socialist Workers Party

Independents

Independents do not run for a party and as such can be diverse from each other in numerous ways. They had no need to run in a primary, as they were candidates for the 2008 election already.

Candidates
Alan Keyes	Former Ambassador in the Ronald Reagan administration. Unsuccessfully sought the nominations of the Republican Party and the Constitution Party before beginning a campaign as an independent. In some of the states he appeared on the ballot for, he was listed as the candidate for America's Independent Party, a party formed by his supporters. Keyes received 47,694 votes.[2] Brian Rohrbough of Colorado was Keyes' running mate.
Joe Schriner	Journalist and author from Ohio. Independent presidential candidate in 2000 and 2004.[18] Dale Way of Michigan was Schriner's running mate.

See also

• List of candidates in the United States presidential election, 2008
• Democratic Party presidential candidates, 2008
• Republican Party presidential candidates, 2008
• United States presidential election, 2008 timeline
• List of political parties in the United States

References

External links

• Photo Gallery with Fun Facts of Third Party candidates
• Politics1 Presidency 2008 (includes Third Party and Independent candidates)