"Veal tenderloin for fund-raiser, $1,000 a plate; campaign ads filled with half-truths, $10 million; promises to special interest groups, over $10 billion.

Monday, August 14, 2000

"Veal tenderloin for fund-raiser, $1,000 a plate; campaign ads filled with half-truths, $10 million; promises to special interest groups, over $10 billion. Finding out the truth? Priceless."

No, it’s not another Master Card commercial. It’s Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader’s campaign ad. It attacks not politicians, but the political system itself.

The ad concludes, "There are some things money can’t buy. Without Ralph Nader in the presidential debates, the truth will come in last."

Chances are, Austinites won’t be seeing this spot on television any time soon. While his major party counterparts are spending $40 million on their campaigns, Nader has committed that he will spend less than $5 million, which is still a lot of money, but is less than the average Powerball jackpot.

Because of the "low" budget campaign, Nader’s camp will be focusing their efforts in larger markets – smart move considering the lack of Green Party supporters in rural Minnesota.

Nader’s television message really goes beyond party lines. Plug any other smaller candidate’s name in the last sentence of the ad. It still rings true.

The presidential election, with recent exception thanks to Ross Perot, seem to boil down to the two major parties. But there are many, many more people running for office other than Al Gore and George W. Bush.

There are, according to Politics1.com, about 15 parties represented in the presidential race. I didn’t take the time to count each name, but it looks to be more than 100 Americans running for the office, officially anyhow. The Web site also provides link to each of the names on the list for more information.

Another site, http://www.speakout.com/SelectSmart lists 17 questions - which range from economics to abortion to prayer in schools – to give Web surfers an idea of which candidate has the most similar views. Again, it’s not limited to the two big dogs; the scrappy little pups are in there too.

A Yahoo! Web search with the key words "presidential candidates" yields 28 category matches and 85 Web site matches. Yes, a lot of them are Bush and Gore, but not all.

Of course, I’m not advocating that a decision be made from an online questionnaire. The point is that there are plenty of candidates out there. And because they will not be allowed in the televised debates, it’s important to do the legwork yourself if you really want to know the whole truth. Indeed, it is priceless.

Shawnda Schelinder is the associate editor. Her columns appear Sundays. She can be reached at 434-2235 or e-mail her at shawnda.schelinder@austindailyherald.com.