Those taking part – Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Constitution Party candidate Virgil Goode, and Justice Party candidate Rocky Anderson – typically are left out of mainstream media analysis. None is polling in sizable numbers – as the Reform Party's Ross Perot did in 1992, when he won almost 19 percent of the vote. But as Al Gore can attest, it doesn't take all that much to count in a close race. Ralph Nader siphoned off 1.6 percent of Florida's vote in 2000, a good chunk of which would likely have otherwise gone to Mr. Gore, and the rest, as they say, is history. Here are the four third-party candidates – and their issues – that you can expect to see vetted in their lone debate in Campaign 2012. Source: CS Monitor
Watch the third-party presidential candidate debate live online at 8 p.m. Central!
Post by Heit & Cheri @ 9:31:20 PM CDT
The debate is over!
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 9:27:17 PM CDT
Rocky Anderson: Obama and Romney have refused to discuss the corruptive influence of money… because they are the recipients.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 9:25:35 PM CDT
Rocky Anderson: Imagine of there had been a candidate included in the Obama Romney debates to challenge our plutocracy. [...] We know that both of these major candidates have been bought and paid for.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 9:24:03 PM CDT
Jill Stein: There are 90 million voters who are not coming out to vote in this election. [...] Those are voters who are saying no to politics as usual. [...] Imagine if we got out word to those 90 million voters.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 9:22:21 PM CDT
Closing statements are beginning now.
Virgil Goode: Jobs in America for american citizens now! [...] It makes no sense to bring in so many foreign workers when we need jobs for american citizens first! [...] We need to end the superPACS.
Gary Johnson: I have been an entrepreneur my entire life. [As governor of NM] I vetoed 750 bills. [...] Immigration is really a good thing. [...] Wasting your vote is voting for somebody you don’t believe in.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 9:17:35 PM CDT
Jill Stein would pass an amendment that will clarify that money is not speech and corporations are not people, because in stealing our rights of personhood. [...] Corporations have taken away our rights of personhood. They can fight and stop the laws we need to protect our personhood.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 9:15:11 PM CDT
Gary Johnson: I am living proof that term limits work.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 9:14:34 PM CDT
Gary Johnson would pass an amendment on term limits to reduce false promises told to get elected/re-elected.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 9:13:30 PM CDT
Virgil Goode would pass an amendment on term limits so that there would be less emphasis on re-election.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 9:12:32 PM CDT
Rocky Anderson would pass an amendment to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identification.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 9:11:16 PM CDT
Question: If you could pass one constitutional amendment, what would it be?
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 9:10:00 PM CDT
Gary Johnson calls Ron Paul his hero.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 9:09:09 PM CDT
Gary Johnson: I would have vetoed the NDAA.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 9:07:20 PM CDT
Rocky Anderson: We are on the road to totalitarianism.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 9:05:17 PM CDT
Question: Where do you stand on NDAA–the ability to to detain citizens indefinitely?
Jill Stein on NDAA: It is an incredible betrayal of the president. [...] It is a basic offense against the very foundation of American liberty.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 9:03:18 PM CDT
Jill Stein: We cannot afford not to educate our students. [...] Indentured servants–that’s what our students are now.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 9:02:10 PM CDT
Rocky Anderson: We need to insist on prosperity, not austerity.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 9:01:27 PM CDT
Virgil Goode: We cannot afford more Pell Grants and more federally subsidized student loans.
Gary Johnson: Free comes with a cost. [...] Free has gotten us to the point where we are doing to experience a monetary collapse in this country.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:59:18 PM CDT
Rocky Anderson believes that we should provide a “free and equal” education for Americans.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:57:56 PM CDT
Jill Stein: Instead of bailout wall Street for the fourth time… instead let’s bail out the students and do something really useful with that bailout.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:56:56 PM CDT
Jill Stein is better than all the other candidates in the debate.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:56:20 PM CDT
Jill Stein: I think it is time to make public higher education free, as it should be. [...] We know that it pays for itself.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:54:40 PM CDT
Question: How would you provide the opportunity to go to college to everyone?
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:52:07 PM CDT
Rocky Anderson: No wars of aggression. To attack and occupy another country like we did Iraq is an illegal war of aggression. [...] The decision of whether to go to war is Congress’ alone.
Virgil Goode: I will not be in Syria unless Congress makes a declaration of war.
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Post by Cheri @ 8:48:46 PM CDT
Gary Johnson: Did we not learn anything in Afghanistan where we funded Osama Bin Laden?
Jill Stein: [We need to] permanently ban the use of drones as a weapon of war and spying on the American public.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:47:05 PM CDT
Gary Johnson: I am promising to submit a balanced budget to Congress that would include a 43 percent reduction in military spending. [...] It’s reducing the military footprint worldwide. [...] We have to stop with the drone strike.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:45:16 PM CDT
Virgil Goode: Part of the cuts have to be in the Department of Defense. [...] We need to retrench, rather than trying to be the policeman of the world.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:44:17 PM CDT
Virgil Goode: If you want that [legalization of drugs], don’t vote for me.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:42:29 PM CDT
The “war on drugs” is a war on poor people, and balck and brown people.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:41:43 PM CDT
Jill Stein: Marijuana should be regulated, but in a way that does not create a tobacco monopoly.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:40:55 PM CDT
FYI, Jill Stein is a medical doctor.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:40:22 PM CDT
Jill Stein: Marijuana is not dangerous at all.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:38:38 PM CDT
Gary Johnson: I have drank alcohol. I have smoked marijuana.
Rocky Anderson: We need to demand and immediate end to this insane war on drugs.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:35:41 PM CDT
Rocky Anderson advocates getting drug abuse out of the criminal justice system. #debates
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:34:24 PM CDT
Virgil Goode: I have the courage to submit a balanced budget. I am the only candidate who has called on a moratorium until unemployment is under 5 percent. It makes no sense to bring foreign workers when unemployment is so high in this country. [...] We need term limits.
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Post by Cheri @ 8:33:00 PM CDT
I suspect Virgil Goode is a racist. IJS
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:32:32 PM CDT
Gary Johnson: We should not bomb Iran. We should end the war in Afghanistan tomorrow. Marriage equality is a constitutional right. Let’s end the drug wars. Legalize Marijuana now. Let’s repeal the Patriot Act!
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:29:45 PM CDT
Rocky Anderson: During the Bush and Obama years our constitution has been shredded. [...] Our elected officials are sound asleep. [...] If you like the way things are going, vote Democrat or Republican.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:27:53 PM CDT
Rocky Anderson: We have all suffered through the sellout of our government to Wall Street.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:26:13 PM CDT
Jill Stein: The American people are in crisis. [...] The climate is in meltdown and our civil liberties are under attack. They continue to squander millions of dollars on wars we don’t need.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:24:53 PM CDT
Candidates have agreed to do opening statements now.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:24:18 PM CDT
Question: In what ways does the war on drugs affect Americans.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:21:43 PM CDT
Rocky Anderson: We need public financing of elections.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:21:12 PM CDT
Rocky Anderson: In federal elections it [the top two system] is a federal matter.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:18:09 PM CDT
Gary Johnson: I ran completely outside of the political system [when running as a Republican governor of New Mexico] I have always been pro-choice regarding every level.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:16:33 PM CDT
Virgil Goode: I do not favor the top two system. I am not for public financing. [...] The top two system is primarily a state issue.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:14:37 PM CDT
Rocky Anderson: (paraphrasing) He refers to the “top two” system as a duopoly. They are arguing about who is going to spend more on the military budget. Neither of them talks about getting rid of war on drugs, climate change or poverty.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:12:33 PM CDT
Jill Stein: Money is not speech, and corporations are not people.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:11:53 PM CDT
Jill Stein: The top two obscures the meaning of the parties. Whoever has the budget stands to win that primary. I oppose “top two.”
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:10:54 PM CDT
Question: What do you think about the “top two” ballot system?
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:10:20 PM CDT
Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson introduced.
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:09:44 PM CDT
Justice Party nominee Rocky Anderson and Constitution Party nominee Virgil Goode introduced.
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Post by Cheri @ 8:08:28 PM CDT
Green Party nominee, Jill Stein introduced. #3partydebate #debates
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:06:44 PM CDT
Even the host took some time to give her position at the beginning! #3partydebate #debates
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:04:56 PM CDT
The candidates represent a variety of political ideologies. #3partydebate #debates
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:04:08 PM CDT
This debate is already unconventional. The crowd participation is amazing! #3partydebate #debates
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Post by Heit & Cheri @ 8:02:15 PM CDT
The debate is beginning. Moderator Larry King tells the audience that they don’t have to keep quiet during the debate–like with all the other ones. #3partydebate #debates
