At this point in the elections, virtually everyone knows who the major candidates are: George Bush, Al Gore, Pat Buchanan, Ralph Nader, and Harry Browne. "Harry who?" you may ask. This is a common question for people when they hear the name. Despite the fact that Libertarian Harry Browne is on the ballot in all 50 states, and was the first third party candidate to be. Despite the fact that he qualified-and turned down-Federal matching campaign funds, there is a virtual media blackout of his campaign.
Both Nader's Green Party and Buchanan's Reform Party receive extensive coverage in the media, despite the lack of any real effort on the part of their campaigns. Ralph Nader has only run one TV ad, Buchanan hasn't run any, while Harry Browne has a series of four commercials running on CNN and other cable news channels. Mr. Browne has also done extensive campaigning across the country, but gets virtually no major media coverage, with the exception of talk radio. Why is that?
Many major media outlets will respond by saying that there's little interest in Mr. Browne's campaign. Little interest? According to the Rasmussen polls, the only major polls that include Mr. Browne, he is beating Pat Buchanan and nipping at Ralph Nader's heels. And this is despite the continual lack of major media coverage for his campaign. Rasmussen polls, by the way, have been the most accurate predictors of election outcomes over all of the other polls, according to the Progressive Review. Another recent poll, the Reuters/Zogby poll, shows Buchanan and Browne tied-again, with virtually no media assistance.
Moreover, Mr. Browne's few nationally televised appearances, on the O'Reilly Factor on Fox News and on ABC's Politically Incorrect, have already garnered voter responses to his website. With comments about how they'd never heard of him before, voters were impressed by him and will support him in the election. Obviously, both the polls and public response show that there is a segment of the population hungering for Browne's Libertarian message. Why won't the media give it to them? It wouldn't take much. Just including him in the polls, and mentioning his name as one of the candidates who want to be in the national debates could do wonders. The media should do the American people a service and enable the electorate to judge his message for themselves.