Five questions with Mike Munger

At Duke University, political science students can now take courses from someone who weathered the storms of a campaign for governor.

Michael Munger, chairman of Duke's political science department, finished a very distant third as the state's Libertarian gubernatorial candidate. He got about 3 percent of the vote. Sounds like he got trounced, right?

In fact, Munger is encouraged by his vote totals and says it enforces his belief that there is room for a real, viable third party in state politics.

In campaigning, Munger learned some valuable lessons. One, he's no Paul Harvey. Also, at least three percent of North Carolinians would trust him with their cat.

He learned some other stuff as well and told us about it. Here's what he had to say:

1. So was your experience as the Libertarian candidate for governor what you thought it would be? Any major surprises?

I am writing a book on the experience. The title is "Where's Paul Harvey?" I was doing a radio show, in Wilmington. I'm all excited, ready to start, ready to hear those callers and talk politics. And some extremely old guy (from his voice) is the first caller. Host says, "you're on the air. what is your question?" Old guy: "I don't want to hear this fella. Where's Paul Harvey?"

Also, I have developed the "cats theory" of politics. People don't want to know what your issue positions are. They want to know if they trust you to watch their cats. Not their kids. That's too much. But their cats. Could they give you a housekey, and leave for a week for vacation, and trust you to watch the house and change the litterbox, and feed the cat and not kick it like a fat football.

2. Do you think the Libertarian party made some inroads this year in this state?

"Absolutely. I got more votes than any third party candidate in the last century. The [Libertarian Party] created a party structure, with county officers and a new database of volunteers. We made big progress. Also, we got enough votes to stay on the ballot! Being on the ballot this year meant something. Now, I got almost five times as many votes as Bob Barr, our Prez candidate. But Bob Barr got a respectable number, and most of his votes were from Republicans. Barr got 25,421 popular votes in North Carolina - more than Obama's 14,053 [projected margin of victory]. In other words, Barr cost McCain the state of North Carolina in the Electoral College.

On the other hand, and I think for the first time, the Lib Gov candidate (me) took more Dem votes than Repub votes. It shows that there is real room for a third party here, and the Libs can make a difference by running on the LEFT. Interesting, and unexpected, but clearly true from the polling data in the last week.

3. Did you talk about your candidacy in your classes at all, or is that verboten? Did students ask about it?

"I made it verboten. The students WANTED to talk about it, but I thought it was inappropriate. However, we are talking about it now. And it made me a much better teacher, and researcher. In fact, a PhD student of mine, Dan Lee, just finished his doctorate and got a job at Michigan State University on the strength of his research on third parties and their impact on elections. This experience carries over into my classroom teaching, and into my research, in a natural way."

4. What did you learn while campaigning that might surprise folks who have never run for a state or local political office?

"Organization is the key, and money is the key to organization. Obama ran the best ground game I have ever heard of. He and his staff really understand how to mobilize votes. So, all the people who think we shouldn't have parties, and you should just for the "best candidate", are kidding themselves. The better party organization wins elections. Candidates have relatively little to do with it. Let's just say that if Obama had not organized the state so well, Bev Perdue would likely not be Gov right now."

5. You received just about 3 percent of the vote. Was that about where you thought you'd be? Did you expect more?

"It was less than I had hoped, but more than I feared. Two things: 1. We had to spend $250k to get on the ballot, and that took up ALL my time until May of 2008, starting TWO YEARS earlier. I had no time, or money, to make an organization or run a campaign. 2. We needed to get 2%, to stay on the ballot. We did that. After that, the difference between 3% (what I got) and 6% (what I hoped for) is not that big a deal."

A bonus question:

6. Would you run again?

"I will, definitely, run again."