Chuck Baldwin presidential campaign, 2008
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This article contains information about one or more candidates in an upcoming or ongoing election. Content may change as the election approaches. |
| BALDWIN 2008 | |
|---|---|
| Campaign | U.S. presidential election, 2008 |
| Candidate | Chuck Baldwin (2004 Constitution Party Vice Presidential nominee) |
| Affiliation | Constitution Party |
| Status | Active |
| Headquarters | Pensacola, FL |
| Key people | Anita Andrews (Campaign Manager) |
| Receipts | US$.04M ([[]])[1] |
| Website | |
| Chuck Baldwin 2008 | |
Chuck Baldwin began his campaign for President of the United States on April 10, 2008 as a candidate for the Constitution Party presidential nomination. He was selected as the nominee of the Constitution Party on April 26 at the 2008 Constitution Party National Convention after a campaign touting his stands on civil liberties, foreign affairs, and religion against candidates including former Ambassador Alan Keyes. He was previously the vice-presidential nominee for the party in 2004, and considers himself a close ally of Republican presidential candidate and Congressman Ron Paul. He has expressed paleo-conservative positions on a number of issues during the campaign including protectionism on trade, nonintervention in foriegn affairs, religion in the public and nativism.
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[edit] Early stages
While considering a run for president in October 2006 during an interview, Baldwin expressed his frustration with the Republican Party, which he believed was on a course of "self-destruction" and that was only kept afloat by the "absurd liberalism of Democrats." He praised Congressman Tom Tancredo, Pat Buchanan, Alan Keyes and Ron Paul but stated that the Republican Party had steered too far left for him to support any of their candidates for president. He described the party as a "second big-government, big-spending party" that could be characterized as "in practice more liberal than the Democratic Party." When asked if he would run for president in 2008 he stated that he had "no desire to run" but that he was "always open to God's will." [1] Baldwin endorsed Ron Paul for the Republican presidential nomination on a message sent to YouTube on December 19, 2007. [2]
During a March 25, 2008 interview with Miller politics, two weeks before Baldwin officially entered the race, he commended Alan Keyes as a possible Constitution Party candidate but stated that he "needs to clarify his foreign policy positions for the party." He described Libertarian Party candidate Bob Barr as a "very attractive candidate" who he "like[s]...very much." When asked about his own presidential aspirations, he responded by saying that "There are many great people in our party that, in my opinion, are much more qualified [to be the presidential nominee] than I am. I have always tried to be open to God's will. At this time, however, I have no inclination that this is God's will for me." [3]
[edit] Campaign developments
Baldwin announced on April 10, 2008 that he would seek the nomination of the Constitution Party for the presidency at the party's convention on April 23-26 in Kansas City, Missouri. [4] His run was perceived to have arisen from draft efforts within the Constitution Party who feared of the prospect of a presidential candidate who supported the war in Iraq as Alan Keyes. [5] Up until the nomination Baldwin did not campaign and in a follow-up interview with Miller politics on April 17, he stated that he was "not running" but merely placed his name into consideration, "trusting that God will reveal His will accordingly." [6]
During the convention, the party's founder Howard Phillips gave a controversial speech in which he endorsed Baldwin and referred to Keyes as "the Neocon candidate" who "lingered in the Republican Party until a week ago."[7] Baldwin defeated Keyes, 383.8 delegates to 125.7, with a percentage of 74% of the delegates. Baldwin received most of the delegates from all states who seated delegations with the exceptions of Missouri, Maryland and Oklahoma where Keyes narrowly edged Baldwin. [8]Attorney Darrell Castle of Tennessee was picked as his running mate. [9]
Baldwin announced that he would use the internet as Ron Paul "to circumvent the media", which he deemed responsible for holding back the possible prospects of thrid party candidates. He stated back in 2004 as Vice-presidential nominee that "the American people haven’t rejected our message; they haven’t heard our message." [10] Following the nomination, Baldwin set up a campaign website and opened accounts on MySpace and Facebook. A MySpace account was also created that included former supporters of the former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. [11]
In an interview with the Montana News on May 22, Baldwin expressed his discontent with the Republican Party on their positions and expressed his frustration with evangelicals who "coalesc[e] around John McCain" despite his "twenty-plus year track record of liberal policies." Baldwin highlighted globalism as the main threat to the nation stating that "Immigration, the U.N...., NATO, NAFTA, CAFTA, the North American Union, the Superhighway, the war in Iraq, China’s threat to our peace...are connected” through globalism. Baldwin stated that Iran would only be a threat "by sneaking people into our country. And that would be far more difficult with a sealed border." He stated that the border could be sealed by deploying troops to those areas. [12]
At the end of May and beginning of June a barrage of bad news for the Baldwin campaign hit the press. Comments surfaced that were made by Baldwin raising the possibility of a 9/11 conspiracy theory of a controlled demolition stating, "I don't know whether there was any kind of an inside apparatus involved in this or not... If there's duplicity involved in some kind of conspiracy, then let's find out who it is and prosecute whoever's involved." The comments were scrutinized. [13] The Poker Players Alliance released its grading of the presidential candidates on their position toward the legalization of gambling on June 1. Baldwin received an F for comments made that "Gambling promotes an increase in crime, destruction of family values, and a decline in the moral fiber of our country." Fellow candidates Ron Paul and Bob Barr both received an A+. [14]
On June 6, the media reported that internal conflict had erupted inside the campaign stemming from a comment made by campaign manager Anita Andrews that the campaign was uniquely Baldwin's and not Ron Paul's. It was later revealed that only one campaign member was disgruntled, Ron Paul grassroots organizer Tyler Simms. Sources from within the campaign stated that Andrews had commented that the campaign needed to focus on former Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson supporters along with Paul supporters. [15][16] This came as sources from inside the campaign revealed that the anonymous "Ron Paul billionaire" had joined the campaign and was willing to give $2 to $3 million. The existence of the "Ron Paul billionaire" is questioned. [17]
[edit] Polls
Chuck Baldwin has not been included on any mainstream polls but his campaign has emphasized polls that have shown statistics favorable to the candidate. A Fox News opinion poll taken in May 2008 shows that 47% of the public are open to voting for a third party presidential candidate such as Baldwin in November compared to 39% who are not. [18] A poll done by Zogby shows that among the conservative base that the Baldwin campaign is targeting, 42% of respondents say they will never vote for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain and 86% of participants who described themselves as "very conservative" are displeased with the candidate. [19]
[edit] Endorsements
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List of people endorsing Chuck Baldwin |
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[edit] References
- ^ http://conservativepresident2008.blogspot.com/2006/10/rev-chuck-baldwin-on-republican-party.html
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c84pJ6E7BYg&NR=
- ^ http://www.millerpolitics.com/6/post/2008/03/baldwin-answers-questions.html
- ^ http://www.ballot-access.org/2008/04/10/chuck-baldwin-declares-for-constitution-party-presidential-nomination/
- ^ http://www.nolanchart.com/article3570.html
- ^ http://thirdpartywatch.com/2008/04/17/baldwin-follows-up-on-announcement/
- ^ a b http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4879860832730250338
- ^ http://thirdpartywatch.com/2008/04/26/chuck-baldwin-becomes-the-constitution-party-presidential-nominee/
- ^ http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/political-fix/political-fix/2008/04/at-kc-convention-constitution-party-picks-pastor-for-president/
- ^ http://baldwin2008.com/the-last-word-constitution-party-chooses-baldwin/
- ^ http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=189722318
- ^ http://www.montanasnews.tv/articles.php?mode=view&id=11063
- ^ http://reason.tv/roughcut/show/436.html
- ^ http://thirdpartywatch.com/2008/06/04/poker-players-alliance-rates-chuck-baldwin/
- ^ http://thirdpartywatch.com/2008/06/06/breaking-news-upheaval-in-chuck-baldwin-campaign/
- ^ http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2008/06/no-real-upheaval-in-baldwin-campaign/
- ^ http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2008/06/ron-paul-billionaire-to-get-behind-chuck-baldwin/
- ^ http://baldwin2008.com/fox-elections-poll-results/
- ^ http://www.zogby.com/News/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1505
- ^ http://baldwin2008.com/alex-jones-show/
- ^ Joel Skousen's World Affairs Brief, May 2, 2008. http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com
