Candidates, Parties, and Polls

While compiling a list of all the presidential candidates I could find who have a website, I ran across some parties I'd never heard of before. Some examples are

The Balanced Party
The Humanist Party
The Vampires Witches & Pagans Party
The New American Party

So I did some checking, and it appears that a lot of people just make up their own party, and they're one of only a few (and sometimes the only one) in it.

I guess these candidates run as the rough equivalent of Independent Candidates, so I lumped them together with the Independents in the links list as well as in the poll.

Altogether, I found over 70 presidential candidates (and I'm sure I probably missed a few, although I did try to be all-inclusive). Some of them are very well-known, mainstream political personalities. Others are unknowns. Still others seem to be a little unusual, to say the least.

I did do a little research, and intentionally did not include anyone who has said they were not running. There's no sense in muddying the waters with candidates who aren't really candidates, after all. I have included everybody who has announced their candidacy, regardless of whether they have filed with the FEC.

Again, if I left anyone out, I apologize and will be happy to correct my error.

In the blogosphere, even if not in real life, everyone starts out on an even playing field. I have put a link to every poll candidate's website on this blog, so readers can research them before voting if they like. I have also put links to the political parties' websites, as well as some links to other resources for information. All of those links are located on the left-hand side of the blog, categorized by the type of link. I'm sure I will be adding to those links as time goes on.

Again, if you know of any links which should be added, please let me know. I want this blog to include everyone.

The polls are set up so that each person can vote once per month, for as many choices as they like in each poll. Of course, we all know that it isn't foolproof, and that with a little internet savvy it is possible to vote more than once. For that reason, these polls are just for fun. I will report the poll results at the end of each month with the exception of this one, since the polls just got started today. Based on the results of the polls, I will be adding more polls later. If you have an idea for a poll, please let me know.