Ballot Access News:

The February 20 issue of the Columbus Dispatch has this story about the Libertarian Party’s 2010 campaign in Ohio. This is the first year that the Libertarian Party has been on the ballot in a mid-term year in Ohio, as a party, since 1982.

The story does not mention the other ballot-qualified minor parties in Ohio this year, which are Constitution, Green, and Socialist. Ohio has never before had six ballot-qualified parties with their own primary. The highest number of parties with their own primary in the past has been four.

By Jim Siegel
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The party that advocates the small — small taxes, small government, small infringements on personal freedom — is trying to grow up and play with the big boys.

Seemingly better organized, and riding a wave of anti-government sentiment fueled by a poor economy, rising deficits and a national Tea Party movement, Libertarians want to harness the public’s dissatisfaction with the two major parties to become a true force in Ohio politics.

Libertarians are running in every nonjudicial statewide race and have filed in a number of congressional and state legislative races where, even if their chances of victory are remote, some think they could play a role in close outcomes that could help determine which party controls both Congress and the Ohio House.

“The discontent with the two parties has stirred a lot of interest in people who want to get involved and are seeking an alternative,” said Charlie Earl, the Ohio Libertarian Party’s communication director and a candidate for secretary of state.

A state representative in the early 1980s, Earl said he was a Republican for 42 years.

“Even when Republicans have been in power, government has grown larger,” he said. “We are sprinting toward tyranny and socialism with the Democrats. With Republicans, we merely jog there.”

Earl said the Libertarian Party made more of an effort to recruit candidates this year.

Paul Beck, an Ohio State University political-science professor, said the popularity of third parties ebbs and flows.

“It’s probably at its height when there is a good deal of distrust of incumbents and negative feelings toward the two major parties,” he said.

Though it’s still unlikely to translate into victories, Beck said, Libertarians can have an impact on state races.

“Right now, the momentum is with the Republicans because they are the out party,” he said. “If third-party candidates can divide the oppositional sentiment, (Democrats) can eke out some victories.”

House Minority Leader William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, is trying to net a four-seat pickup in November to regain control of the Ohio House. He said Libertarian candidates could pose a problem, especially in tight races.

For example, in 2008, a big year for Democrats in Ohio, Democrat Marian Harris won the 19th Ohio House District in eastern Franklin County by just 735 votes in a race where Libertarian Michael Johnston picked up nearly 3,400 votes. In the 20th district, which covers Gahanna and Bexley, Democrat Nancy Garland won by 1,652 votes.

This year, Johnston is again running in the 19th district, while Libertarian Lawrence Binsky has entered the 20th.

“Obviously they aren’t going to win,” Batchelder said of the Libertarians.

“If they take enough votes away from the Republicans, they may be able to keep taxes high by their efforts. Defeating a Republican who is committed to conservative principles does not help conservatism if they end up with a majority of people who have shown they are not as concerned with tax increases and government intervention.”

In 2008, some observers said Libertarian Mark Noble helped Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy edge out Republican Steve Stivers in central Ohio’s 15th Congressional District.

Noble, the Franklin County Libertarian chairman, is now running in the 22nd Ohio House District. Asked about Batchelder’s comment, he said, “That is the kind of attitude taken by people who feel they own votes. When voters vote for minor party candidates, they are able to voice their discontent.”

The split between Libertarians and Republicans was highlighted this week when, with the Conservative Political Action Committee holding its annual conference, Libertarian Party Executive Director Wes Benedict ripped the group as a bunch of phonies.

“Unlike libertarians, most conservatives simply don’t want small government. They want their own version of big government,” he said, pointing to foreign wars, bank bailouts and farm subsidies.

Though Noble and other Libertarians say they draw votes from both parties, House Democrats are happy to see the third-party candidates.

“Because Libertarians are often pulling from a conservative base, I think it will help our Democrats shore up a larger vote total,” said Liz Brown, political director for the Ohio House Democratic Caucus.

Still unknown is how the Tea Party movement will affect Ohio elections. Libertarian philosophies generally mesh well with tea partiers.

“We share a lot of the same values, but they are very wary of us, as we are of them,” Earl said. “Some of them grab us and endorse us and hug us and love us.”

But some Tea Party factions, Earl said, want to restore the Republican Party. “We feel that party has failed.”