Third-party candidates are in full force this presidential election, and many voters believe Green Party candidate Ralph Nader and Libertarian candidate Harry Browne could impact the outcome of November’s vote. However, since presidential candidates need 15 percent support in a variety of polls to qualify for the national debates, some ISU voters do not expect a third-party candidate to win the election. “The third-party candidates have a chance of affecting the results, especially in the individual states,” said Robert Lowry, associate professor of political science. “The chances of a third-party candidate to win under current laws is not realistic. When a third-party candidate starts to make waves, the major-party candidates will adopt the major issues of the third-party candidate. I don’t think that it is happening much this year.” Aaron Fister, president and producer of ISU9’s “Politics Unlimited,” said a third-party candidate in office would mean many changes for the United States. “Both mainstream candidates’ positions are so close to each other on every issue,” said Fister, junior in management information systems. “If any third party would win, there would be some significant changes.” Browne is running for president for the second time as the Libertarian Party candidate. His vice presidential candidate, Art Oliver, is the mayor of Bellflower, Calif. “He is taking votes away from normally Republican voters, so he could have a pretty big impact on the election,” said Brian Anderson, president of the ISU Libertarians. One of Browne’s beliefs is that the federal government should stay out of personal and state issues, including education. “Basically, his overlying theme is to get the government out of people’s lives and let them live their own life,” Anderson said. Browne holds “strict constitutionality” as a model for how the government should work, Anderson said. Although Browne personally is against abortion, he does not believe the government has any right to have a say in abortion laws. One of his more controversial issues is his plan to end the war on drugs by pardoning everyone who has been convicted of a nonviolent federal-drug crime. Although Browne has limited support in Iowa, he is polling well in other states, Anderson said. “In this state, he’ll probably end up getting about 2 percent, but he’s doing better in other states,” he said. “In Georgia and New Hampshire, he’s polling about 4 or 5 percent.” Anderson said he hopes students will not be afraid to vote for Browne. “A lot of times, people think they’re throwing their votes away, but you’re making a lot more of a statement then if you vote for third party than if you vote for one of the two main candidates,” Anderson said. One of Browne’s opponents is Nader, who is leading the third-party candidates in most of the preliminary polls. Nader is facing a tough battle right now to participate in the debates with Democratic candidate Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush. Nader and his vice presidential candidate, Winona Duke, feel that shutting out significant third-party candidates from the debates limits the competitive democratic process. “I don’t think people are writing him off at all because he has a lot of support across the nation,” said Jeremy Varner, president of the campus group Nader 2000. “I don’t think he will reach the entry level for the debate of 15 percent. I don’t think either Bush or Gore want to debate Nader.” Universal health care is one way Nader wants to help the people, promoting “care from the cradle to the nursing home,” according to his Web site. He thinks the government needs to create more competition among prescription-drug companies to drive down prices. “Democrats and Republicans will try to keep third-party candidates out, but the third-party candidates have always been the driving force behind elections,” Varner said. “They bring up issues that the candidates will have to deal with.” Steffen Schmidt, professor of political science, said he hopes voters do not automatically discount the third-party candidates. “I don’t like the monopoly and the exclusion of those two [primary] parties,” he said. “I’m saddened there isn’t a little more room for diversity of candidates and parties in terms of who can get elected.” To find out more information about Nader, go to his Web site . To find out more information about Browne, go to his Web site.