page_title: Virgil Goode 2012 presidential campaign
section_title: Media campaign
hierarchical_section_title: Virgil Goode 2012 presidential campaign / General election / Media campaign
caption_attribution_description: "Wasting your vote is voting for someone you don't believe in." - Gary Johnson Chicago saw an historical third party debate on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012 at the Hilton Chicago, held by Free and Equal Elections (freeandequal.org). Larry King of CNN fame moderated an open debate, which all 6 candidates were invited to. Four attended: Jill Stein (Green Party), Rocky Anderson (Justice Party), Virgil Goode (Constitution Party), and Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party). Watch the whole video on CSPAN: www.c-span.org/Events/Third-Party-Presidential-Debate/107... For a fair and balanced news report about the debate, check out the following articles: www.wtvm.com/story/19899099/third-party-debate-offers-ide... takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/the-third-party-d... www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-third-party-debate-fr...
context_page_description: The Virgil Goode presidential campaign of 2012 began when former U.S. Congressman Virgil Goode of Virginia announced his decision to seek the 2012 presidential nomination of the Constitution Party in February 2012. During the nomination campaign, he put forth a four-point plank that included his plans to restrict immigration, balance the federal budget, decrease the size of government, and institute congressional term limits.
  After winning the Constitution Party's presidential nomination on the first ballot at the party's April 2012 national convention, Goode chose outgoing party chairman Jim Clymer as his running mate. The ticket coordinated ballot access efforts to add to the 16 states on which they had already qualified. Goode focused on his home state of Virginia, where polls showed the ticket with five to nine percent support.
  During the general election campaign, Goode participated in numerous media interviews and debated other third party candidates. He continuously faced criticism that his campaign would act as a "spoiler", taking votes from presumptive Republican Party nominee Mitt Romney and helping President Barack Obama win re-election.
context_section_description: After Labor Day, the Goode campaign launched a media campaign. He was supposed to appear on the September 5 edition of Special Report with Bret Baier, but it was bumped due to the 2012 Democratic National Convention. After appearing the Ohio Constitution Party State convention, he taped Stossel on September 11 in New York along with fellow presidential candidates Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party and Stewart Alexander of Socialist Party USA. On the episode, which aired September 13, Goode discussed the Constitution Party platform and the debate between the Founding Fathers on term limits. He engaged with Alexander and Johnson on the National Defense Authorization Act and disputed Johnson's claim that Thomas Jefferson smoked cannabis. Goode appeared live on The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell on September 11 and responded to media personality and Romney supporter Donald Trump who tweeted "Republicans must get Virgil Goode out of the race in Virginia. He will take votes away from @MittRomney." Goode said he was "not too scared", and argued that Romney should listen more to "people on the street" than Trump. That same day, Paul Gottfried praised the Goode campaign in an article in The American Conservative. On Constitution Day, September 17, the campaign held a moneybomb. Meanwhile, the campaign secured ballot access in Rhode Island, Alabama, and New Hampshire, raising the total number of ballot-qualified states to 26, the final count. Despite Goode's appearances in the media, Pew Research Center revealed on September 19 that only nine percent of the voters knew of Goode.
  The Washington Post published a feature on Goode on September 23. It followed Goode on a campaign trip in Virginia, finding "[h]e is his own driver, strategist, scheduler, press man." Throughout the trip, Goode encountered voters concerned that he would take votes that would otherwise go to Romney. He countered this by arguing that he would take votes from both Romney and Obama and that there was little difference between Obama and Romney particularly on immigration. However, during a visit to a barber shop, Goode met with two elderly men, who say they would vote for Goode. Goode hypothesized with The Post that he could possibly win Virginia with 38 percent of the vote. An Associated Press report found that several people Goode encountered while campaigning in Virginia thought he was running to regain his old congressional seat. Salon also interviewed Goode for an article published September 29. When asked who he would vote for if he had to pick between Romney and Obama, he said he would write-in himself "because Virgil Goode is the best choice for president". On September 30, he spoke with Newsplex and said that though he could not win the popular vote, he believed he could win the election through the Electoral College. He argued, "[i]f grassroots America wakes up and says, 'Look, we want someone that's for the U.S. citizen first and for grassroots America,' then they're going to vote for Virgil Goode." That same day, Goode appeared on Washington Journal on C-SPAN, taking questions from callers and host Steve Scully.
  Goode began October with a trip to the Wayne County Agricultural Fair in Goldsboro, North Carolina. He then campaigned in South Carolina and Georgia and attended the Florida State Constitution Party Convention. The party qualified for write-in status in many states in which ballot access efforts fell short. Concerns grew about the Goode campaign's impact on the race, particularly in Virginia. State GOP chairman Pat Mullins proclaimed, "A vote for Virgil Goode is a vote for Barack Obama." Goode felt the GOP attacks were an overreaction, arguing that he was more likely to receive votes from "disgruntled Democrats" and non-voters than Republicans. He disputed the "spoiler" label on CNN's The Situation Room, arguing that he was "doing the right thing" by running because it would "help America if we can get a lot of votes". He added that if he were elected president, "it would be a tremendous help" because "it would shake up Washington; an 
caption: Goode speaks to the media.
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