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The Constitution PartyAmerican Political PartyClick here for a list of candidates from all American political partiesThe Constitution Party was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers' Party in 1992, and was re-named the Constitution Party in 1999. The party's stated goal is "to restore our government to its Constitutional limits and our law to its Biblical foundations." The party advocates a platform which it says aims to reflect the principles of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Bible, and the Bill of Rights. The party puts a large focus on immigration, calling for stricter penalties towards illegal immigrants and a moratorium on legal immigration until all federal subsidies to immigrants are discontinued.The party absorbed the American Independent Party, which was originally founded for George Wallace's 1968 Presidential campaign. The American Independent Party of California has been an affiliate of the Constitution Party since its founding, but the current party leadership is disputed and the issue is in court to resolve this conflict. According to Ballot Access News, the Constitution Party ranks third nationally among all US political parties in registered voters, with 438,222 registered members as of October 2008, although 370,405 of those members belong to the American Independent Party in California. In 2006, Rick Jore of Montana became the first Constitution Party candidate elected to a state-level office, although the Constitution Party of Montana had disaffiliated from the national party a short time before that election. On April 26, 2008, Chuck Baldwin was nominated as that year's Constitution Party candidate for President of the United States. Many of the Constitution Party's state affiliates appear under various names. The Michigan affiliate has kept the U.S. Taxpayers Party name to retain ballot status. In Connecticut the affiliate is the Concerned Citizens Party. In Nebraska the affiliate has changed its name from "The Nebraska Party" to "The Nebraska Independent Party." Reports that the Constitution Party discussed a merger between several third parties such as the Reform Party, Independent American Party, American Independent Party, and the America First Party have been refuted by other accounts of the events. Nevertheless, all of the aforementioned parties except for the Reform Party endorsed the Constitution Party's Michael Peroutka as their Presidential candidate in 2004. Pat Buchanan threatened in 1996 to run as the U.S. Taxpayers Party candidate if Bob Dole chose a pro-choice running mate. Dole later chose pro-life Jack Kemp and received Buchanan's endorsement. Buchanan's Reform Party running mate Ezola B. Foster switched her membership to the Constitution Party in 2002. Buchanan stated on the September 7, 2004 edition of Hardball with Chris Matthews, "There is a chance I would vote for Peroutka." However, he later penned an endorsement of President George W. Bush in the pages of The American Conservative. US Senator Bob Smith announced his switch from Republican to the U.S. Taxpayers Party in 1999 to seek its 2000 presidential nomination. Smith later claimed that anti-New World Order ideologues within the party resisted his candidacy due to his Roman Catholicism. He continued his campaign as a non-partisan independent but ceased the campaign soon thereafter and returned to the Republican Party to assume a Senate committee chairmanship. In 2008, he began writing editorials on the Constitution Party's website, fueling speculation that he would seek its Presidential nomination again, although he had endorsed Rep. Duncan Hunter for the Republican nomination. He requested that his name be withheld from consideration in a March 2008 letter to CP supporters. Minuteman Project co-founder Jim Gilchrist ran for Congress with the American Independent Party in 2005, but has since rejoined the Republicans. Author and WorldNetDaily columnist Jerome Corsi launched a brief campaign for the 2008 nomination but in July 2007 decided to return to writing. Former Reagan Administration official and Christian activist Alan Keyes actively sought the Constitution nod in 2008 after ending a bid for the GOP nomination. The party has also attracted notables in the anti-abortion movement such as Dr. Gregory Thompson, Lon Mabon, Paul deParrie, and Missionaries to the Preborn leader Pastor Matthew Trewhella. A 2008 candidate for the Republican nomination, Representative Ron Paul (R-Texas), endorsed several third party candidates shortly after bowing out of the race. Ultimately, he would go on to endorse 2008 Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin. The unaffiliated Constitution Party of Montana replaced Baldwin with Paul for President and Michael Peroutka for Vice President. Paul requested that Montana remove his name from the ballot, but the Secretary of State of Montana denied his request, stating that the request was sent too late. Source: Wikipedia.org |