Blog Upgrades and Corrections

I have upgraded the blog, with the following additions and corrections:

I added some discussion links, thanks to Elfmom in the comments section.

I corrected Alan Keyes name, thanks to Robert in the comments section.

I added Kent McManigal as a candidate, thanks to Kent in the comments section.

I replaced the Libertarian Party and Constitution Party polls to reflect the changes to information for Keyes and McManigal. No votes had been cast in the Constitution Party poll since I posted it yesterday. The Libertarian Party poll had 5 votes for Steve Kubby, 4 votes for George Phillies, 1 vote for Christine Smith, 1 vote for Wayne Allen Root, and 4 votes for Doug Stanhope. The other Libertarian candidates had zero votes.

Since the polls have been up for less than 24 hours and deleting them and replacing them with corrected polls meant that anybody who voted in them before could vote again, I decided it was the fairest way to handle the situation since I don't plan to announce results until the end of April, at which time the polls will be reset and will start again.

I added a sitemeter, starting at 20 visitors based on how many people I think have already visited the blog from voting and from comments.

Political Party List

I have listed links to a number of political parties, on the left-hand side of the blog under the polls. While this list is not comprehensive by any means, there is a method to my madness. Rather than considering merely whether the party is running a candidate, or whether it has views which may or may not be controversial, I listed parties which appear to be national parties and which may have some contribution to forming voter viewpoints in the 2008 presidential election.

I intentionally omitted one-person parties, parties with no discernable membership, and state parties, as well as parties which appear to have never run a candidate for office.

If anyone feels I have incorrectly left out a political party, please let me know in the comments section, including their url and why they should be included.

The parties I have listed are, in alphabetical order:

America First Party
American Nazi Party
American Party
American Reform Party
Boston Tea Party
Communist Party USA
Constitution Party
Democratic Party
Green Party
Libertarian Party
Prohibition Party
Reform Party
Republican Party
Socialist Party

Full Candidate List

What follows is a list of every candidate I have listed on this blog as of its inception today. Please take the time to review it, and let me know if I have left out anyone. Links to all candidates are available on the left-hand side of this blog, under the polls.

Please bear in mind, however, that I only list candidates who have stated an interest in running, who have not said that they are not running, and who have a website or a blog at minimum.

I will also be compiling some biographical information on each candidate, so if anyone would like to contribute to that effort, it will be greatly appreciated.

Democratic Candidates:

* Barack Obama
* Bill Richardson
* Chris Dodd
* Dan Francis
* Dennis Kucinich
* Hillary Clinton
* Joe Biden
* John Edwards
* John Joseph Kennedy
* Karl Krueger
* Michael Forrester
* Mike Gravel
* Oloveuse "Ole" Savior
* Randy Crow
* Warren Ashe


Republican Candidates:

* Allen Bunch
* Duncan Hunter
* Edward A. Buck
* Hugh Cort
* Jim Gilmore
* John Cox
* John McCain
* Michael Charles Smith
* Mike Huckabee
* Millie Howard
* Mitt Romney
* Richard Michael Smith
* Ron Paul
* Rudy Giuliani
* Saint Michael Jesus Archangel
* Sam Brownback
* Tom Tancredo
* Tommy Thompson


Green Party Candidates:

* Cynthia McKinney
* Elaine Brown
* Kat Swift
* Pat LaMarche
* Rebecca Rotzler


Libertarian Candidates:

* Alden Link
* Bob Jackson
* Christine Smith
* Dave Hollist
* Doug Stanhope
* George Phillies
* Jim Burns
* Kent McManigal
* Mike "Jingo" Jingozian
* Robert Milnes
* Steve Kubby
* Wayne Allyn Root


Constitution Party Candidates:

* Alan Keyes
* Chuck Baldwin
* Dale Thompson
* Jerome Corsi
* Jim Clymer
* Jim Gilchrist




Independent Candidates and Candidates from Other Parties:

* "Average Joe" Schriner (Independent)
* Arthur J Regan (Independent)
* Ben Thompson (Independent)
* Bob W Hargis (Independent)
* Cris Ericson (Marijuana Party)
* Daniel Imperato (Independent)
* Frank McEnulty (Independent)
* Gene Amondson (Prohibition Party)
* Gene Chapman (Multi-Party)
* John Taylor Bowles (American Nazi Party)
* Jonathan "Impaler" Sharkey (Vampires Witches & Pagan Party)
* Lanakila Washington (Humanist Party)
* Orion Karl Daley (Balanced Party)
* Rick Williams (Independent)
* Steve Adams (Independent)
* Tee Barkdull (New American Party)
* Vinnie Ferrari (Independent)

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.

Welcome to the Presidential Election '08 Blog

The purpose of this blog is to try to even the scales for all of the 2008 presidential candidates, especially third party candidates since they don't get mainstream media coverage.

I have tried to include everyone who has announced their candidacy, without regard to whether they have filed with the FEC yet since it is still early. If I have left anyone out, please let me know. I have only included candidates with websites and blogs, since a web presence is free and if a candidate doesn't have one, they must not be serious.

Everyone is free to comment (but try to keep profanity to a minimum, and don't leave any spam). If you are using a pseudonym, try to come up with something original so others can tell which commentator is which.

If you find a good news article that you think will be a good addition to this blog, post the url in the comments section and I might use it on the blog, giving you credit for finding it.

I have lots of links and they're all categorized to make them easy to use. Let me know if you know of a link I should add. I will be adding polls as well.