Third Party Suppression

I want to share a video that I saw thanks to my following of the Cedar Rapids Activist Blog. First, allow me to give you a little back story for those of you that may not be from the immediate Eastern Iowa area. We are now in Iowa's 1st congressional district where two years ago, Ben Lange lost to incumbent Bruce Braley by a margin of less then 2%. This time the newly rezoned 1st district is a tightly contested race between, you guessed it, Bruce Braley and Ben Lange.

Hughes best publicity comes directly from Hughes

Some people have already observed the absurdity of being left with the same choice that they had two years ago. That somehow you are unhappy with the decision that you made and instead want to go back to the decision that you decided against last time. It makes my head hurt a bit.

To the point, a pair of third party candidates have stepped up to offer a true alternative, including Greg Hughes. The issue is that it has been frustratingly difficult for this candidate to get any attention from the prominent local newspaper, the Cedar Rapids Gazette. Who also owns one of the networked local stations KCRG (ABC). So Mr. Hughes grabbed his amateur camera crew and went to go get some answers as to why. The response they got was that the Hughes ticket has not picked up the support of a strong polling data, which a quick check og Gallop, RCP, and even The Gazette itself did a very winded article last week on the race where they failed to give any instance on how close or far ahead any one candidate is.

Without any Further ado, I present to you Greg Hughes attempt to confront an Editor at the Cedar Rapids Gazette for their lack of interest in what amounts to allowing for a new choice from the same election two years ago;

You can argue the distraction of having a third party candidate at the presidential debates or the amount of time that someone should be alotted when they don't have a realistic chance to win, but this appears to be that arguement at it's worst. The media is not seeking an alternative to the choices made two years ago, they are not supporting there decision to not consider him viable with any polling data, then they give him the runaround, avoiding invites to cover his rallies and promising to call but failing to come through. It seems a simple and basic function of the press to at least present the basic arguments of an alternative being available before you simply dismiss them. 

I have already printed off a copy of the ballot for this election and intend to vet all the candidates before making my decisions (which will be revealing in an upcoming post), and I challenge all of you to do the same. At the very least, third party canidates are wonderful for exposing topics that may not otherwise be given the attention they deserve, such as Hughes' attention on Judges who have disgraced their position.