National Chairman's Letter
IAP Alive!
November 2004
Dear Independent American friends,
First item: I wish to thank all those good candidates everywhere who
placed their time and efforts on the line in the cause for freedom. Presidential
candidate Michael Peroutka traveled thousands of miles to deliver his message.
Our other federal candidates made numerous appearances. Some of our local
candidates spent countless hours campaigning door-to-door. And may I thank all
those campaign workers who helped these candidates with their campaigns.
Second item: The Independent American Party endorsed seventeen
candidates, and would have endorsed many more if we had had their campaign
profiles in time. Here are the election results of most of the candidates we
endorsed:
At the federal level: Constitution Party candidates Michael Peroutka for
President and Chuck Baldwin for Vice President received 149,027 votes or 0.13%
nationally. In Utah, Gary Van Horn for U.S. Senate got 16,151 votes or 1.96%;
Jeremy Petersen for U.S. House District #2 got 3,391 or 1.06%; and Ronald Glen
Winfield for U.S. House District #3 got 4,795 or 2.06%. Van Horn, Petersen and
Winfield are IAP members who ran under the Constitution Party banner.
In local races: In South Dakota, D. Scott Bartlett for Senate #11 received
396 votes or 3.30%. In Utah, Frank Crowther for Senate #24 got 1,158 or 4.30%;
Craig Perkes for House #34 got 190 or 1.95%; and Bruce Bangerter for House #44
got 252 or 2.10%. Each of these candidates are IAP members who ran on the
Constitution Party ticket.
Three Utah Constitution Party candidates garnered two-digit figures in their
races. Douglas K. Thompson for House #54 got 1,641 votes or 14.50%; Edward T.
McGarr for House #58 got 1,451 or 21.76%; and Benton L. Peterson for House #68
got 1,298 or 13.5%. Each of these were two-way contests with no Democrat in the
race. Peterson is also a member of the IAP.
We endorsed several other candidates: Timothy Raty ran Libertarian for Idaho
House #34-A. John Linnehan ran Republican for Maine Senate #28. L. Thomas White
ran America First for Massachusetts House #8. And Sandy Williams Collins and
Clint A. Deal, Jr. ran Tennessee Independent for Polk County Assessor and Polk
County Constable #3, respectively. I don't have the election results for these
races. Raty, Collins and Deal are also members of the IAP.
Third item. Now I would like to take a critical look at the outcome of
the presidential election. Here are the results for the top six candidates in
that race: Republican George W. Bush won with 51.0% of the vote. Democrat John
Kerry came in second with 48.0%. Independent Ralph Nader (unaffiliated with any
party) came in third with 0.43%. Libertarian Michael Badnarik came in fourth
with 0.34%. Constitution candidate Michael Peroutka came in fifth with 0.13%.
Green candidate David Cobb came in fifth with 0.05%. All other third party or
independent presidential candidates garnered the remaining 0.05% of the vote.
Now I would like to compare how these candidates did against themselves or
their counterparts from four years ago with the following table.
2004
2000
Diff
#1 Bush
(Republican)
51.0% Bush
(Republican)
47.9%
+3.31
#2 Kerry
(Democrat)
48.0% Gore
(Democrat)
48.4%
–0.04
#3 Nader (independent)
0.43% Nader
(Green)
2.69%
–2.26
--
--
Buchanan (Reform)
0.42%
--
#4 Badnarik (Libertarian) 0.34% Browne
(Libertarian) 0.37%
–0.03
#5 Peroutka (Constitution) 0.13% Phillips
(Constitution)
0.09%
+0.04
#6 Cobb
(Green)
0.09% Nader
(Green)
2.67%
–2.58
--
--
Hagelin (Natural Law) 0.08%
--
#7 Other
0.05%
--
--
--
Bush gained 6.9% in percentages points from 2000. Kerry gained only 0.08%
from what Gore got in 2000. Gore won the popular vote but lost the electoral
vote. Nader dropped 84% in percentage points from what he got before; and this
was only partly attributable to the fact that he was on considerably fewer state
ballots (34 plus Washington, DC) than he was in 2000.
The Libertarians were on an impressive 48 state ballots plus DC; but Badnarik
received 8% less percentage points than Harry Browne did in 2000. The Greens
took the biggest hit with Cobb dropping 96% in percentage points from what they
got in 2000; though this is mitigated by their having a lesser-known candidate
and being on less state ballots (27 plus DC) than before.
The Constitution Party was a bright spot with Peroutka gaining almost half as
many more percentage points as Howard Phillips got in 2000. However, this is
somewhat abated by the fact that Phillips likely would have gotten a greater
percentage if he had not had to share his would-be votes with
nearly-philosophically-identical candidate Pat Buchanan. Peroutka was on 36
state ballots whereas Phillips was on 39.
All third party and independent candidates together received about 1.04% of
the presidential vote; as compared to 3.70% of the vote in 2000 — a 72%
decrease in percentage points.
Fourth item: The National Committee of the Independent American Party met
in special session on November 13 (after the election) to decide the future of
our party. We had been in political limbo the past eight months after it was
determined that we would not be on the ballot in any state. We had encouraged
our candidates to run on other party tickets. We had talked informally on the
merits of merging with another like-minded party should it do well in the 2004
elections.
However, no third party showed any substantial gain or momentum overall from
prior elections. Some of the reasons are lack of a charismatic and well-known
candidate, inability to crack the media ceiling, lack of money, inability to
mount a credible campaign, and failure to educate and motivate the voters. No
third party has yet found the formula for overcoming these things.
After a long discussion of our options, the IAP National Committee (in
special session) voted unanimously to forge ahead to build the IAP for the next
elections and fight for freedom! The formula for success is out there, and we
are committed to find and utilize it. The IAP is alive!
For God, Family and Country!
Bruce Bangerter
IAP National Chairman
