|
|
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
|
Though declining, Prohibitionists still pursue presidency
|
|---|
| Parent(s) |
Candidate
|
| Contributor | RBH |
| Last Edited | RBH Apr 19, 2008 03:13am |
| Logged |
0
|
| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Orlando Sentinel |
| News Date | Sunday, April 6, 2008 09:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | If you've never seen a presidential candidate dressed as the Grim Reaper, you might consider a visit to Bourbon Street in New Orleans this summer, when Gene Amondson goes out to rally support for his campaign. Amondson, a 64-year-old ordained minister, is the presidential not-very-hopeful of the Prohibition Party, the United States' oldest third party, which has nominated a presidential candidate in every election since 1872.
This season is no different. Despite a rift between factions and the party's minuscule following -- it has about 30 members -- it will again field a candidate. The Prohibitionists carry on, even though they know that they won't win the elections or even be able to vote for themselves in most states.
The Prohibition Party, founded in 1869, never ranked as one of the country's strongest political groups. Still, it was once a force to be reckoned with. In 1904 and 1908, more than a quarter-million people voted for Prohibitionist candidates, and from 1917 until 1921, party member Sidney Catts served as governor of Florida. The passage of the 18th Amendment, which outlawed the production and sale of alcohol in the U.S. from 1920 to 1933, marked the party's heyday, or as members like to say: "America's best 13 years."
(..)
"Third-party candidates don't run to win; they run to make a statement," says Jim Hedges, the first Prohibition Party member elected to any office since 1959. He is currently in his second term as tax assessor of Thompson Township in Pennsylvania's Fulton County. Hedges, like most Prohibition Party members, accepts that he will be unable to vote for his party's candidate in November.
And what about that candidate? Amondson, a resident of Washington state, could vote for himself as a write-in. But he says he doesn't intend to do so. "I will probably vote for the Republican candidate," he says. "All third-party people are a little goofy." |
| Share |
|
|
2¢
|
|
| Article | Read Full Article |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
|
