One Man’s Opinion: No Name...No Way

By Bill Crane

A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that 47% of registered voters in America would consider voting for a third-party candidate for president. That gets quickly worse when you put a name on that third party or candidate.

In the fifty-seven presidential elections since President George Washington (who ran as an Independent, but became the figurehead of the Federalist Party), third-party candidates have garnered at least 5% of the vote on only twelve occasions. Only once has a third party supplanted either of the two primary parties at the time of an election. The 1912 election saw Bull Moose “Progressive Party” nominee, former President Teddy Roosevelt, win 88 Electoral College votes, surpassing his hand-picked successor and the GOP nominee, but still losing to Democrat and soon-to-be President Woodrow Wilson.

In most presidential elections where third, fourth, or fifth parties have even been a factor, they have played the role of spoiler, drawing votes mainly from the party they dropped away from, typically handing victory to the opposition. Think H. Ross Perot’s knockdown of a second term for President George H.W. Bush against Bill Clinton, or Ralph Nader’s 2000 White House run as the Green Party nominee, peeling just enough votes off of then Vice President Al Gore in the state of Florida to give then Texas Governor George W. Bush the popular and electoral votes of Florida, which along with a favorable US Supreme Court ruling, gave Bush the White House in January of 2001.

This brings me to West Virginia US Senator Joe Manchin, an independent-minded Democrat in an increasingly GOP-leaning state. When West Virginia’s Governor Jim Justice won his office in 2016 (while campaigning as a Democrat), he almost immediately switched parties to the GOP, subsequently winning re-election. Justice is term-limited and is now running as a Republican for Manchin’s seat in the US Senate in 2024.

Recently, Manchin traveled to New Hampshire to speak to a massive crowd about the possibility of him running for president, as the lead of

Sports Talk: 2023 Fall Middle School Golf League

By Our Town Gwinnett Staff

Although the Middle School Golf League (MSGL) in the past has had both a spring and fall season, beginning in the fall of 2023, league team play will only be available in the fall. Optional MSGL tournament play will be offered in the spring. With the change, the fall season will be expanded, with play starting on August 20th and running through October.

Players are assigned to teams of 5 to 8 players, generally based on middle school attendance, and receive golf shirts with their middle school or feeder high school colors. Each Middle School is encouraged to have a teacher or staff member as a contact to make it more of a school club sport.

The Middle School Golf League is organized with parents registering through the South Gwinnett Athletic Association. Regular play during the fall season is planned at Snellville’s County Club of Gwinnett, Lawrenceville’s Collins Hill Golf Course, Loganville’s Cedar Lake Golf Course, and Winder’s Chimneys Golf Course. Play also may be a new party called “The No Names” – sort of a political equivalent of generics, with a platform more focused on finding solutions than party seniority or pork. It sounds like a great concept, except the premise is more fantasy than reality. Joining Manchin onstage were former Connecticut senator and Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman and Jon Huntsman, a former GOP governor of Utah.

Lieberman, a longtime centrist, is credited with a lousy debate performance, giving a much-needed “win” for GOP vice-presidential nominee Dick Cheney in 2000. Huntsman was an early casualty of the 2012 GOP White House field, won by fellow Utahan Mitt Romney. And though Manchin is incredibly popular with DC media and the Sunday shows for his occasional “Maverick” status – somewhat similar to Arizona Senator John McCain – recent polling for his Senate seat shows re-election there is far from certain.

The two parties control Congress and state legislatures, which write the laws that regulate ballot access. Even the Libertarian Party only finally secured ballot access in all 50 states during the 2020 election, and those ballot access procedures and thresholds vary between states and voter petitions, percentage of raw votes in the prior contests, etc. Third parties do not have critical financial or people infrastructure on the ground, or the primary process which focuses attention and media coverage on their candidates, nor the national conventions which appear every four years for nights of fawning attention, offering days of airtime and millions of eyeballs and associated credibility to the Democratic and GOP nominees and platforms.

In 2016, two former successful GOP governors of Blue States left their party and formed a strong ticket for the Libertarian Party. Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson was joined by former Massachusetts Governor William Weld to form a ticket with very impressive resumes. The Johnson/Weld Libertarian Party ticket received 4,489,221 votes (including mine) in the general election, 3.28 percent of the popular vote. Johnson had nearly tripled the vote he received as the Libertarian nominee in 2012, with 1,275,971 votes (almost 1 percent).

Granted, it appears the competition may be even weaker come the fall of 2024. However, the last third-party candidate who made a credible enough run to win individual states was the American Independent Party candidacy of Alabama Governor George Wallace in 1968. Wallace ran as an ardent segregationist, carrying five states of the Old South, and peeling enough votes off of fellow Democrat Senator Hubert Humphrey, to propel Richard Nixon into the White House. I’d like to see Joe Manchin remain a US Senator, but The No Name Party – No chance.

Bill Crane owns the full-service communications firm CSI Crane. More information at www.CSICrane.com at Dacula’s Trophy Club of Apalachee, and Monroe’s Providence and Monroe Golf and Country Club Courses. Play is mainly on Sunday afternoons, with some instruction, practice, and tournament play on Saturdays.

“When we began the Middle School Golf League on Sunday afternoons,” said League Director Les Witmer, “it was a time when course play was readily available. The popularity of golf since Covid has increased golf course play on weekends. By making it mostly a fall league and having just tournament play in the spring, we think it will benefit all.”

Witmer emphasized that the program’s goal is to teach the fundamentals of golf and, through team best ball play, provide a positive environment where everyone participates, no matter whether just a beginner or a junior player who has playing experience.

“We’re really proud of the interest we have received in the past from these middle school players and parents and the support from their middle school administration and their cluster high school golf coaches,” Witmer said.

According to the league website, beginning players new to golf are afforded optional basic golf instruction before everyone attends the All-Players MSGL Clinic. After the instructional golf clinic, players are encouraged to take that knowledge onto the golf course. In addition, all players, especially beginning golfers, are encouraged to practice ball striking skills between team play. During the 8-week season, the format

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