By TERJE LANGELAND
Colorado Daily Staff Writer
Colorado is a stronghold of minor political parties. Thanks to the state's liberal election laws, most parties enjoy ballot status and run candidates for office.
You wouldn't know it, however, by looking at the voter's guide published last Sunday by Colorado's largest newspaper, the Denver Rocky Mountain News.
Despite the plethora of minor-party candidates running for office in Colorado, the News included only Democrats and Republicans in its candidate profiles. Coverage of the U.S. presidential election, for example, included lengthy profiles of George W Bush and Al Gore - even including the names of their pets - but left out information about Ralph Nader, Pat Buchanan, Harry Browne, John Hagelin, David McReynolds, Earl Dodge and Howard Phillips.
To voice their dismay over being slighted by the News, a coalition of minor-party members, candidates and supporters planned to stage a demonstration Wednesday evening outside the newspaper's headquarters in Denver. The demonstration was scheduled to take place after the Colorado Daily's press time.
"When people have a chance to vote, they should have a chance to find out about all the candidates," said Nancy Harvey, state campaign coordinator for Nader, the Green Party presidential candidate.
The voter's guide is only the latest example of the News ignoring third parties, Harvey said.
The Libertarian Party of Colorado, which has 82 candidates on ballots throughout the state, said the News' move "defies reason."
"What is the point of all the work we have done to get people on the ballot and get the message out if the News simply decides we are not worth mentioning?" asked Bette Rose Smith, chairwoman of the Libertarian Party of Colorado, in a news release. "The reason voter turnout has been going down consistently for four decades is that people are tired of the choice-less choice offered by the major parties. Here the News had an opportunity to show people that there was another choice and they simply ignored it."
Altogether, about half of the candidates running were excluded by the News, according to a joint news release from third parties.
Deb Goeken, managing editor of the News, did not return a telephone message seeking comment by press time.