2008 Constitution Party National Convention
Baldwin announced on April 10, 2008 that he would seek the Constitution Party presidential nomination at the party's April 23–26 convention in Kansas City, Missouri. His run was believed to have arisen from draft efforts within the Constitution Party, who feared the party would nominate a pro-Iraq War candidate like Alan Keyes. Until the convention, Baldwin did not campaign and in an April 17 interview with Miller Politics, he stated that he was "not running" but merely placing his name into consideration, "trusting that God will reveal His will accordingly."
During the convention, the party's founder Howard Phillips endorsed Baldwin and gave a passionate speech in which he referred to Keyes as "the Neocon candidate" who "lingered in the Republican Party until a week ago." Afterwards, Baldwin defeated Keyes, 383.8 to 125.7, winning approximately 74% of the delegates. He won the majority of delegates from most states with the exceptions of Missouri, Maryland, and Oklahoma, where Keyes narrowly edged Baldwin. At Baldwin's request, the delegates then chose attorney Darrell Castle of Tennessee as his running mate.
Following the nomination, Baldwin set up a campaign website and opened accounts on MySpace and Facebook. He announced that he would use the Internet in the same manner as Ron Paul "to circumvent the media," holding the mainstream news media responsible for holding back third party candidates.
Read more about this topic: Chuck Baldwin Presidential Campaign, 2008
Famous quotes containing the words constitution, party, national and/or convention:
“A constitution that is made for all nations is made for none.”
—Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)
“Good government cannot be found on the bargain-counter. We have seen samples of bargain-counter government in the past when low tax rates were secured by increasing the bonded debt for current expenses or refusing to keep our institutions up to the standard in repairs, extensions, equipment, and accommodations. I refuse, and the Republican Party refuses, to endorse that method of sham and shoddy economy.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“Not one of our national officers ever has had a dollar of salary. I retire on full pay!”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)
“No convention gets to be a convention at all except by grace of a lot of clever and powerful people first inventing it, and then imposing it on others. You can be pretty sure, if you are strictly conventional, that you are following genius—a long way off. And unless you are a genius yourself, that is a good thing to do.”
—Katharine Fullerton Gerould (1879–1944)