EXPERTS CONTEND THIRD-PARTIERS DON'T WIN OFFICE

It may be fun to speculate about whether Ross Perot or Colin Powell will run for president as third-party candidates, but it doesn't really matter.

Third-party candidates have a poor track record, local party leaders say.

That view is echoed by Dr. Mike Weatherson, a speech professor who is in his 16th year at Southeast Missouri State University.

Even former president Teddy Roosevelt couldn't win as the nominee of the Bull Moose Party in 1912, Weatherson said.

Weatherson and Hal Bochin, a speech professor at California State University at Fresno, have written a book on Hiram Johnson, who was Roosevelt's third-party running mate in 1912.

The book is called "Hiram Johnson: Political Revivalist."

Weatherson will lecture about Johnson at 7 tonight in the University Center Lounge. The event is free and open to the public.

Weatherson's presentation will include a slide show, and he and his colleagues will wear political buttons from Johnson's era.

The Southeast professor has spent the last 18 years researching Johnson and his political activities.

Weatherson said Johnson was a maverick, who would change from political friend to bitter enemy.

As governor of California from 1911 to 1916, Johnson fought for increased regulation of the Southern Pacific Railroad, supported legislation that improved working conditions, and established commissions that regulated government expenditures and strengthened civil service.

In 1912, the Roosevelt-Johnson ticket finished second to the Democratic ticket, the highest finish ever by a third party in this nation's presidential election.

The Bull Moose Party garnered 27 percent of the vote and split the Republican vote. That resulted in the election of Woodrow Wilson, Weatherson said.

The third-party ticket benefited from having a popular, former U.S. president as its nominee and a strong vice presidential candidate, he said, adding that the Bull Moose Party pushed for public education, non-partisan election of judges and other issues that were later adopted nationwide.

"They were also concerned about monopolies," he said. "In a lot of states, the railroad was the villain."

Johnson was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1916 and served until his death in 1945..He was so popular in his home state that he often was renominated by both the Republican and Democratic parties.

In his first vote as a senator, Johnson voted with the majority in declaring war against Germany in World War I.

On his deathbed in 1945, he voted unsuccessfully to keep the United States from joining the United Nations.

Dr. Rick Althaus, political science professor and chairman of the Cape Girardeau County Democratic Central Committee, said there is good reason why third-party candidates don't do well. The election laws are stacked against them.

"The laws, let's face it, have been written by Democrats and Republicans," he said. The Democratic and Republican parties also are fairly moderate on issues, which appeals to voters.

David Barklage, director of Missouri's House Republican Campaign Committee, said third-party candidates can help determine the outcome of an election even though they don't win themselves.

"Powell and Perot, either one, would have the potential to pull some of the more conservative voters away from the Republicans in a tight race," he said.

But Barklage sees little success for any third-party candidate because both major parties start with a strong base of voters, which gives them a huge advantage in any national election.

"I think voters like to go with winners," he said.