Photo credit: Janet Donovan
Third party candidates plan to “power through” – the latest political catch phrase – to the election. One of those candidates is Evan McMullin. “I think in general the climate in the United States is right for independent candidates and an independent movement or just in general for political disruption,” he told Hollywood on the Potomac at a party in his honor at the Kalorama home of Juleanna Glover and Christopher Reiter. “42% of Americans now consider themselves independents and 82% (it fluctuates between 70% and 82% according to Gallup) believe the country is on the wrong track. Both of the major party candidates this year for president have historically high negative ratings. All of this, all of these statistics, all of this data shows that I think the American people are ready for something new. We will see what happens in this election but it’s about beyond this election too.”
Evan McMullin
“Trump and Bernie Sanders were examples that prove that the time is right for disruption, for political disruption in our country,” he explained. “I’m a center right guy and I believe that we need to do that too. There’s a place for disruption from the center right instead of doing things the way we’ve always done them in the past, like many in the center right are doing. We need to step out and disrupt as well. By November 8th we’ll either be on the ballot or registered as a write in in 40 to 45 states so the vast majority of Americans will be able to vote for me on November 8th.”
On ads: “Mostly we’re doing digital on the campaign that’s much more cost affective. We can target it where we really want to make a difference. Our goal is non-traditional. We don’t believe we can win 270 votes in the electoral college at this late stage so we’re looking to block Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump from achieving the majority in the electoral collage which would take the election to the house where we like our chances. That’s our electoral goal, but then we have the bigger long term conservative movement goal which is happening very quickly for us – much more quickly then we ever imagined that is a new conservative movement that is committed to liberty but is also tolerant. I think that’s what’s needed in this country now.”
Evan McMullin, Bill Crystal and Juleanna Glover
Juleanna introduced Crystal as the person that taught her the art of writing a thank you note. “He taught me that it’s utterly mandatory that anybody who even spends time listening to your ideas or hearing your pitch gets a thank you note. It was my job when I worked for him.” “I’d say Juleanna’s thing about the thank you note, I don’t know where that comes from,” responded Crystal. “My wife was rolling her eyes at the idea that I ever told anyone to write a thank you note, or ever wrote a thank you note, but anyway, Juleanna wrote very nice thank you notes.”
“Evan deserves a huge amount of credit for doing this,” said Crystal. “It’s not easy. He gave up his job, you start with nothing, you go totally uphill, no name ID, no money, really. From the outside it looks fine and exciting, but actually it’s daunting. You worry you’re going to look ridiculous and people are going to make fun of you. What if you can’t win, you can’t get on every ballot and writing stuff’s too hard, and who are you? He’s just forged through all that, pushed through all that, and has been utterly credible, and I would say admirable in his public appearances, and I’m pleased to be associated with what he’s doing in a very small way.”
Evan McMullin and Bill Crystal
We decided to take a look back at others who had ‘trudged through’ and were stunned to see how many had gone before him. The list is extensive so take a look yourself here. Most are considered spoilers. Take Green Party candidate Ralph Nader in 2000 whose small 2.74% share of the votes was blamed for the outcome of a highly-contested race between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore. Then there was Ross Perot’s Reform Party in 1992 with that comment heard round the world by his Vice-Presidential choice James Stockdale who seemed bewildered on stage where he remarked in the opening debate: “Who am I? Why am I here?” Love them or hate them, as comedian Rodney Dangerfield would say: “I don’t get no respect!” Maybe they should.
