Candidate: Socialists a mainstream party
Many who answer Web survey say their views are more like Socialist's than Gore's, Bush's
By Jeremy Schwartz Caller-Times
Something curious is happening on an Internet site called SelectSmart.com, where visitors can answer a series of questions to match them up with everything from the right wines to the vacation that would best suit them.
Of the 193,416 respondents who answered questions designed to match them with the presidential candidate who best represents their views, 20 percent found that they shared similar views with Socialist Party candidate David McReynolds. McReynolds drew more matches than Al Gore, George W. Bush and seven other candidates.
But McReynolds, who spoke at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Monday, doesn't harbor any illusions about a presidential victory in November.
"I am not going to be elected," McReynolds told a group of about two dozen faculty members and students. "We're using the election as a referendum to raise issues that are not usually raised."
McReynolds, a longtime pacifist and member of the War Resister's League, was on the last stage of a 12-city tour of Texas, where he will be a write-in candidate. McReynolds said he is hoping to get on the ballot in at least eight states.
With a $40,000 campaign treasury and about 1,000 Socialist Party members around the country, McReynolds has taken a low-key approach to campaigning, often talking to groups of students as he did in Corpus Christi.
"The Socialist Party, as small as it is, is twice as big as it was two years ago," McReynolds said.
Andrew Reyes, a 19-year-old Del Mar student who attended the talk, said candidates like McReynolds could energize younger voters by providing an alternative to the Big 2.
"Part of the apathy comes from the idea of 'What's the point?'" Reyes said. "If someone like David McReynolds was out there and could be heard, the turnout would be higher."
While McReynolds doesn't think he should be able to take part in the presidential debates, he said other third party candidates who have garnered more support should.
"They say you need 15 percent in the polls to get in the debates," McReynolds said. "How do you get it? If you're Ross Perot, you buy huge amounts of airtime. The debate structure is such that there can't be any other voices besides Bush and Gore. That reflects the corporate control of the country."
Much of the Socialist Party's platform seeks to break that corporate control, McReynolds said.
Among other things, McReynolds advocates higher taxation for wealthier Americans, socializing the banking and credit industry so poorer people can get the same rate of return as the rich, universal health care, an end to the drug war, decriminalization of marijuana and cutting military spending in half.
McReynolds said many of his views, such as those on the drug war and reforming prisons, are not out of the mainstream.
"And there's nothing radical about cutting the military budget," he said. "These are things that Gore or Bush can't talk about."