Chuck Baldwin Presidential Campaign, 2008 - 2008 Constitution Party National Convention

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.