Get a Reagan Into the Race

Fellow HNN blogger Allan Lichtman has a post, which discusses how the considerable attention paid this past week to Ronald Reagan’s legacy will affect the presidential campaign. He points out that Bush is the natural inheritor of this legacy but also that that fact can be a double-edged sword. Lichtman writes, ”On the one hand, he might be helped by celebration of the conservative heritage and the contributions of Ronald Reagan, which will likely be on full display at the GOP convention. On the other hand, the campaign could go too far in wrapping themselves in the mantle of Reagan and Bush could suffer from invidious comparisons with the now iconic ex-president.”

Can you imagine if this election were a three-way race among Kerry, Reagan, and Bush. George Bush would be so far behind he would probably be in single digits. Now if the Kerry campaign really wanted to take advantage of the national positive focus on Ronald Reagan and his values then they would find a substitute for Reagan. One does exist and he most likely will be on the ballot in all fifty states. Every single American who walks into the voting booth to pick our next leader will see the name Michael Badnarik, Libertarian for President.

However, if recent electoral history repeats itself astoundingly few of those people will have a clue as to who Badnarik is or what he stands for. The more Kerry can change this history, the better chance he has of winning. Badnarik can play the same role for Kerry in 2004 that Nadar did for Bush in 2000. All the Libertarian lacks is fame, that is what is most important not money. In politics money is merely a means of obtaining celebrity but that can be had in other ways.

One-way for Kerry to acquaint voters with idea of Badnarik as a substitute Reagan, they could vote for, would be for the two of them to debate each other. It would be of enormous benefit for John Kerry to be onstage while Michael Badnarik calmly and precisely explains just how far away George Bush is from Ronald Reagan and the principles he stood for.

Such an event, or better yet series of events, would not cost Kerry any significant amount of votes. Those who are supporting the Democrat have but one overriding goal, to defeat George Bush and remove him from office post haste. Michael Badnarik, let us be honest, is not going to win and therefore Kerry’s people are not going to vote for Badnarik even if they like him. If the left is not going to desert Kerry for Nadar they certainly won’t for a Libertarian.

A lot of Conservatives, on the other hand, are very disenchanted with Bush and the way he has conducted himself in office. Policies such as the Patriot Act and uncontrolled spending are part of an extensive list of affronts to the legacy of Reagan committed by the present administration. Many on the right would love to punish Bush for this in the voting booth but they need someone other than a liberal Senator from Massachusetts to cast their ballot for.

Also, Michael Badnarik is ideal for Kerry’s purposes. The Libertarian Party has always had members from both the right and left side of the political spectrum and while they share core values there can be some stark differences in emphasis and style. Badnarik definitely comes from the right side of the spectrum, potentially much more appealing to Bush voters than some other possible candidates. He is a Constitutional scholar and computer programmer by trade who comes across as sober and conservative. No porn star on the arm or crown of marijuana leaves on his head.

Kerry would need but one rule for these debates, only candidates who are on the ballot in say forty states would be invited. This would keep Ralph Nadar off the platform because he does not have the Libertarian Party’s institutional access or the money and manpower to get on the necessary ballots. It therefore would be a three-way debate among Kerry, Badnarik, and most likely an empty chair.

Once Kerry and Badnarik had accepted such an invitation it would put Bush in a no win situation. He could show up giving even more legitimacy to the idea that people could vote for the Libertarian instead of him and we all know how well Bush does in live unscripted circumstances or he could not show up and give up what would be a very intense spotlight. The first such event would be unprecedented and extremely newsworthy.

And, the light would shine favorably on Kerry. One of the moments that helped to generate the great love and respect, even from most of his enemies, that we witnessed last week happened in New Hampshire when Ronald Reagan said I paid for this microphone we going to let him speak. By debating Badnarik, Kerry would be tapping into America’s innate sense of fair play while at the same time making Bush look somewhat cowardly.

I do not see how Kerry could pass up such a chance. At the very least he should write Badnarik a two thousand dollar check today and he should ask his wife to write one too.