PRESS RELEASE from the Constitution Party
09/07/2008

CP Presidential Candidate Baldwin on the Ballot in MN

St. Paul, MN - In an election year fraught with unusual challenges, the Constitution Party of Minnesota (CPMN) surprised even some long-term Party activists by obtaining ballot access for the Baldwin/Castle presidential ticket by submitting almost a thousand petitions over and above the minimum number required well in advance of the legal deadline. Four people that did the most significant amount of work gathering signatures are David Carlson from Hastings, Leo and Bev Heinze from Long Prairie and Marilyn Nibbe from Apple Valley. Hats off to them and all others that joined in the tremendous effort. Baldwin petitions were in to the Secretary of State even before Barr and Nader. Carlson, alone, brought in over 1000 petition signatures.

The feat was especially difficult considering that there was also a (successful) state-wide petition effort this season for the US Senate candidate James Niemackl, which had the effect of doubling the amount of petition work. Also, this was a year in which many Constitution Party regulars placed a fair amount of time, talent, and treasure toward the campaign efforts of presidential candidate Ron Paul, which diluted the forces available in the Baldwin petition efforts.

According to the CPMN PR Coordinator, John Robillard, the success of the effort goes to show the level of discontent the voting public has with the choices presented them this cycle. He said, "The Palin pick has subdued the vocally discontented with McCain for the moment, but don’t forget that there was talk of delegates walking out of the convention when some VP candidates on McCain’s "short list" were being vetted, just prior to the convention. Eventually reality will set back in and people will realize that when McCain talks about ’reaching across the aisle’, he means working with the Democrats to give amnesty for illegals; he means working with Democrats to ban various gun sales; he means working with Democrats to ration energy. You can be assured that when he presents something that arguably is going in the right direction - as in his proposals for reforming health care for instance - his ideas will be dead on arrival, and Republicans in the US Senate will be there to help put the nails in the coffin."

Robillard continued, "When the RNC is done with Sarah Palin, she will be treated just like they treated Ron Paul. She will have no future in the Party any more than he does. She is just what they need for McCain to be competitive in November ... no more. When that reality is considered, the levels of discontent will settle to where they were before, and lower. We’re confident that will translate into competitiveness from alternative parties like the CPMN. If not right now - this cycle - then eventually. Time is proving that the two mainstream parties are exactly the same ... the Party of big government. In the long term, the CP is the only viable option for believers in limited government."