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Tonight’s gubernatorial debate in New York featured seven candidates.
The Republican and Democrat were joined on stage by Charles Barron of the Freedom Party, Howie Hawkins of the Green Party, and Warren Redlich of the Libertarian Party. And then there were Kristin Davis, the former “Manhattan madam,” of the Anti-Prohibition Party, and Jimmy McMillan of the Rent is 2 Damn High Party.
Third party activists would normally argue that all candidates on the ballot should be allowed to debate, but this event proved why that’s not always the right way to go. McMillan stole the show, and not in a good way, as the candidate of the Rent is 2 Damn High Party. He was funny, but he was also crazy. Wearing black gloves and sporting a complicated beard, McMillan looked like an extra from one of the X-Men movies.
Gawker has a few of the clips up on their site for your entertainment.
His thoughts on gay marriage: “Rent 2 Damn High Party feel you wanna marry a shoe, I marry ya.”
On the other candidates: “As a karate expert, I will not talk about anyone up here.”
But here’s the problem: More people will run for office on crazy platforms, inspired by McMillan’s performance and wanting to gain attention and YouTube fame. Think I’m wrong? Hours after the debate, someone has already recut soundbites into a song. But worse than encouraging ballot clutter, future debate organizers will now think very long and hard before throwing the door wide open again. Likely they’ll set some requirement that the candidate be polling at 5% or 10% and shut out 95% of all future third party candidates.
I really disagree. McMillan also made some great points about child hunger and, of course, rent. Regardless of whether he’s crazy by your standard or not, he collected enough signatures to get on the ballot and therefore deserves a place in the debates. This is the same as any other third party debate issue – it’s not for any organization to decide who should win the election, and that’s exactly what excluding candidates does.
His inclusion probably seals the fate of the Green Party’s far more serious candidate. No 50,000 votes this year.
Austin,
You’re absolutely right. Poor Howie Hawkins, one of the most serious-minded and impressive third-party candidates in this election cycle, will probably be one of the biggest casualties of McMillan’s colorful antics and flamboyant flirtation with fame. New York City Councilman Charles Barron will also suffer considerably.
What do you have against complicated beards?