Lyndon LaRouche U.S. Presidential campaigns
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Lyndon LaRouche's U.S. Presidential campaigns have been a staple of American politics since 1976. LaRouche has run for president on eight consecutive occasions, a record for any candidate, and has tied Harold Stassen's record as a perennial candidate.
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[edit] 1976 campaign
In 1971 LaRouche founded the U.S. Labor Party as a vehicle for electoral politics, maintaining that both the major parties had abandoned the American System economic policies that the LaRouche organization had embraced. In 1976 he ran for President of the United States as a U.S. Labor Party candidate, polling 40,043 votes (0.05%). According to LaRouche supporters, the major accomplishment of the campaign was the broadcast of a paid half-hour television address, which gave LaRouche the opportunity to air his views before a national audience. This was to become a regular feature of later campaigns during the 1980s and 1990s.
[edit] 1980s campaigns
Since 1979, LaRouche and his supporters have also conducted some of their activities within framework of the Democratic Party (despite the strong objections of Democratic Party officials and organizers, who regard these activities as infiltration). In 1979, Larouche formed a Political Action Committee called the National Democratic Policy Committee (NDPC), a name that many regard as being designed to convey the impression that it is an official part of the Democratic Party. LaRouche has run for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States seven times, beginning in 1980. His current Political Action Committee is called "LaRouche PAC."
The Democratic National Committee has consistently asserted that LaRouche is not a Democrat, but the U.S. electoral system makes it impossible for the party to prevent LaRouche followers entering Democratic primaries. LaRouche himself has polled negligible vote totals, but continues to promote himself as a serious political candidate, a claim which is sometimes accepted by elements of the media and some political figures. In 1999, however, a court ruled that the Democratic National Committee had the right to keep LaRouche from electing delegates to the Democratic National Convention, based on a party requirement that a Democratic nominee must be a registered voter. LaRouche, as a convicted felon, is not eligible to be a registered voter in the state of Virginia, where he lives. (see United States v. LaRouche)
Some of LaRouche's followers have achieved moderate electoral success in Democratic primaries for lesser offices, and have won them on occasion . The best known example was in 1986, when two LaRouche candidates, Janice Hart and Mark Fairchild, won the Democratic primary elections for the posts of Secretary of State and Lieutenant-Governor of Illinois. The Democratic gubernatorial candidate, former Senator Adlai Stevenson III, refused to run on the same ticket as Fairchild and formed the Solidarity Party for the election. Fairchild's victory was attributed to low voter turnout and a poor "regular" candidate, but may have also reflected some genuine (if transient) support for LaRouche's anti-establishment message. NDPC candidates have won several other Democratic primaries in various states, but LaRouche's organization has never succeeded in entering the mainstream.
Some of the LaRouche organization's electoral success may be attributable to the organization's willingness to exploit public fears about the AIDS epidemic. In 1985, LaRouche wrote, "It is in the strategic interests of Moscow to see to it that the West does nothing to stop this pandemic; within a few years, at the present rates, the spread of AIDS in Asia, Africa, Western Europe, and the Americas would permit Moscow to take over the world almost without firing a shot."[1]
[edit] 1992 campaign
In 1992, LaRouche became the second person in U.S. history (after Eugene Debs) to run for President from a prison cell -- although Debs was generally considered a serious candidate and was in jail for his political beliefs (against World War I) rather than for fraud. LaRouche's supporters argue that he was, in fact, in jail for his political beliefs (see United States v. LaRouche). Classical violinist Norbert Brainin performed a benefit concert on his behalf in Washington, D.C.; the Washington Post reviewer praised his musicianship while condemning his political message. LaRouche's running mate, who did the active campaigning, was the American Civil Rights Movement leader, Reverend James Bevel.
[edit] 1996 campaign
Prior to the primaries the Chair of the Democratic National Party ruled that LaRouche "is not to be considered a qualified candidate for nomination of the Democratic Party for President". In subsequent primaries LaRouche received enough votes in Louisiana and Virginia to get one delegate from each state. When the state parties refused to award the delegates LaRouche sued in federal court, claiming a violation of the Voting Rights Act. After losing in the district court the case was appealed to the First District Court of Appeals, which sustained the lower court.[2]
[edit] 2000 campaign
A routine FEC audit of the 2000 "LaRouche's Committee for a New Bretton Woods" campaign found that vendors whose sole client was Lyndon LaRouche had added unqualified "mark-up charges" to the bill submitted for matching funds. The vendors were American System Publications, Inc., Eastern States Distributors, Inc., EIR News Services, Inc., Hamilton Systems Distributors, Inc., Mid-West Circulation Corp., Southeast Literature Sales, Inc., and Southwest Literature Distributors, Inc. They had overbilled by $241,519 and the campaign was ordered to repay $222,034. The FEC decision was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. [3][4]
[edit] 2004 campaign
LaRouche entered the primary elections for the Democratic Party's nomination in 2004, even though as a convicted felon he is not even a registered voter. The Democratic Party did not consider his candidacy to be legitimate and ruled him ineligible to win delegates. LaRouche gained negligible electoral support. However, according to the Federal Election Commission statistics, LaRouche had more individual contributors to his 2004 Presidential Campaign than any other candidate, until the final quarter of the primary season, when John Kerry surpassed him.
LaRouche was present in Boston during the 2004 Democratic National Convention but did not attend the convention itself. He held a media conference in which he declared his support for John Kerry and pledged to mobilize his organization to help defeat George W. Bush in the November presidential election. He also waged a campaign, begun in October 2002 [5], to have Dick Cheney dumped from the Republican ticket.
[edit] Campaign statistics
| Year | Party | Running mate | Total funds raised | Matching funds | Campaign debt | Primary votes | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Labor | Ronald Wayne Evans | |||||
| 1980 | Dem | $526,253 | 177,784 | ||||
| 1984 | Dem | Billy Davis | $494,146 | [7] | |||
| 1988 | Dem | Debra Freeman | $825,577 | [8] | |||
| 1992 | Dem | James Bevel | $2,709,531 | ineligible | $2,223,985 | [9][10] | |
| 1994* | $1,154,623 | $2,124,099 | [11] | ||||
| 1996 | Dem | $4,304,184 | $624,692 | $2,079,927 | 496,423 | [12][13] | |
| 1998* | $138,424 | $2,051,489 | [14] | ||||
| 2000 | Dem | $4,898,362 | $1,448,389 | $2,471,918 | 327,928 | [15][16] | |
| 2002* | $3,080,601 | $2,360,261 | [17] | ||||
| 2004 | Dem | $10,255,464 | $1,456,019 | $3,217,890 | [18] | ||
| Total since |
$23,814,604 | $2,899,889 | $18,881,195 | [19] |
[edit] Campaign committees
- 1976 - Committee to Elect Lyndon LaRouche (1976 Committee)
- 1984 - Independent Democrats for LaRouche
- 1988 - Democrats For National Economic Recovery - LaRouche in 88
- 1992 - Democrats For Economic Recovery-LaRouche in 92
- 1996 - The Committee to Reverse the Accelerating Global Economic and Strategic Crisis: A LaRouche Exploratory Committee [20]
- 2000 - LaRouche's Committee for a New Bretton Woods [21]
- 2004 - LaRouche in 2004
Unknown years
- LaRouche Democratic Campaign
- Texas Democrats to Draft LaRouche
- LaRouche Campaign
- Citizens For LaRouche
[edit] See also
- Political views of Lyndon LaRouche
- LaRouche Movement (includes information on other political organizing)
[edit] External links
- Lyndon LaRouche 2004 Presidential campaign
- LaRouche 1979-80 campaign
- LaRouche PAC
- Lyndon LaRouche tries again Associated Press report on LaRouche's entry into the 2004 presidential race
- Strange Bedfellows on Pennsylvania state Rep. Harold James' endorsement of LaRouche's 2004 campaign for the Democratic nomination
- LaRouche supporters disrupt Democrats January 2004 CNN report on LaRouche followers disrupting a Howard Dean event
- The 1986 LaRouche electoral debacle in Illinois Paper presented by John W. Williams at the annual meeting of the 1995 Illinois Political Science Association and printed in 1995 issue of the Illinois Political Science Review.
- FEC Court Case Abstracts Summaries of litigation between the Federal Election Committee and LaRouche political committees.
- Dolbeare v. FEC A LaRouche-related FEC case.
