Third-party candidacies are almost always difficult, but they are especially so when you are running for the U.S. Senate in Virginia against two former governors, Mark Warner and Jim Gilmore.
Yet Gail Parker, of Alexandria, the independent Green Party candidate, thinks she offers the most practical choice in November.
“I’m a budget analyst and we can’t keep sending millionaires and lawyers to Congress to represent the interests and values for the rest of us,” said Parker, 62, a Central Michigan University graduate who worked in intelligence with the Air Force and spent two decades as a Defense Department budget analyst.
Parker wants to see construction of high-speed rail for a more vibrant economy and a balanced budget. She said the Congressional consideration of a $700 billion bailout of troubled financial banks and institutions is “welfare for Wall Street.”
“This will require us to increase the debt ceiling for the sixth time since 2001,” said Parker, who wants to balance the federal budget and pay off the debt.
One expert said third-party candidates should have a chance to get their ideas out, but lack the forum to do so. Parker is not being included in any of the debates between Gilmore and Warner.
“In American history, there have been good ideas and major impact from third parties,” said James Madison University political science professor Bob Roberts.
On the national political stage, Roberts said Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader earned the votes of enough environmentalists in 2000 to cost Democrat Al Gore New Hampshire, thus denying him the presidency.
In New York state, James Buckley, the brother of conservative icon William Buckley, earned election to the U.S. Senate in 1970 as a member of the New York Conservative Party. He served one term.
Independent and Reform Party member Jesse Ventura was elected Minnesota’s governor in 1998.
Roberts said the U.S. political system is stacked against third parties, who must get free media to get any attention. While Warner and Gilmore are iconic political figures in Virginia, the professor said their platforms are somewhat vague.
“Their platforms are very general. They are allowed to be general because no one is pushing them,” he said.
Parker said she is running a campaign about positive solutions, and thinks more people should run for political office.
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