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in Minnesota, by the way into just another right-wing fringe cabal.

Don't "Educate." Recruit. It's all fine and good to talk about key points or political quizzes or things of that nature, but the plain truth is the majority of voters couldn't care less. Never have. Never will. Instead, third parties should reach out to people in the community who generally agree with their views and already have a positive standing. The problem is many of these people would be quite hesitant to accept a third party candidacy, and for good reason. Third parties must resist the temptation to say "Now that you're with us, we'll make you a true believer." Nothing will turn off a good potential candidate quicker than that. If a third party demonstrates it's serious not about indoctrination, but winning, a few good mavericks will eventually answer the call.

Indeed, such a strategy will inevitably change the ideological makeup of a party over time. Look what's happened to both the Republicans and Democrats over the years. Theodore Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan were the consummate partisans of their day, but if they were alive today neither would recognize their respective parties. Indeed, I fully expect the Democratic and Republican Parties (or whatever may succeed them) of 2108 will be quite different than what we know today. It's not a bad thing.

If a party leadership simply can't stomach that, then perhaps it's not really a political party in the first place. There's certainly nothing wrong with sticking with a cause until the end. All I ask is you don't confuse the matter.

Drop the Gimmicks. It's true that if there were proportional representation in the United States, the Greens, Libertarians, Constitutionalists and perhaps even the Socialists would have seats in Congress. But enacting proportional representation would represent a fundamental change in our elections, and would therefore require a constitutional amendment. This leaves third parties in a Catch-22: They think they need it to get elected, but the status quo will never allow it. The latter is certainly true, but I don't think the former necessarily is. Why bother then?

Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) has also been championed, but IRV would likely cause endless recount headaches with no particular guarantee for third party victories. Again, why bother?

Run the Big Races, But Stay Local. Barring a celebrity such as Jesse Ventura, the only reason a third party would run a presidential, gubernatorial or Congressional candidate at this point would be to market the organization on behalf of the more winnable down-ticket races. That was my thought, anyway. Third parties should organize much the same Republicans and Democrats do, complete with precinct committeepeople, county and state organizations as well as many candidates for local races as possible. Once a party establishes a foothold locally, then they can concentrate on the larger races.

Most third parties, however, do this backwards. In 2004 many Americans could have voted for Michael Badnarik or David Cobb or Michael Peroutka for president, but their Libertarian, Green and Constitutionalist counterparts in races for county commissioner, state legislature and other local races were in short supply just about everywhere. Why bother? Exactly.

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