WASHINTGON - Candidates from the Libertarian Party, the Green Party and the Constitution Party each garnered a tiny fraction of votes in Tuesday's presidential race.
Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee, was on the ballot in 48 states. A computer programmer from Austin, Texas, Badnarik focused his anti-regulation message on two swing states — New Mexico and Nevada — in hopes of taking votes away from President Bush.
He didn't make much of a dent, though, failing to crack the 1 percent mark in any state. Neither did any of the other third party candidates.
David Cobb, who won this year's Green Party nomination over rival Ralph Nader, was on the ballot in 28 states but pitched his pro-environment platform in non-battleground states that wouldn't draw votes away from Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites). Cobb didn't come close to getting the 2.7 percent of the vote Nader won as the Green Party candidate in 2000.
Michael Peroutka, a Maryland lawyer on the ballot in 36 states as the Constitution Party's candidate, stressed conservative values and his campaign slogan: God, family, republic.
