BY SANDY THEIS
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS -- Although John Mitchel and Zanna Feitler are running for governor this year, neither defines "winning" as being elected on Nov. 3. Both Mr. Mitchel, a Reform Party candidate, and Ms. Feitler, endorsed by the Natural Law Party, see victory in the promotion of their ideas.
"Bringing some new, effective ideas to the race and the people of Ohio is a victory itself," said Ms. Feitler, a 47-year-old transcendental meditation teacher from Shaker Heights.
Unlike the major-party candidates, who expect to raise and spend about $10 million each, the minor-party candidates expect to spend less than $10,000.
Neither has paid staffers, rented buses to haul reporters or hired consultants to prepare campaign commercials.
Instead, Mr. Mitchel -- traveling in his 1995 Ford Escort -- promotes his candidacy on talk radio shows and in small gatherings, hoping his ideas will catch fire sometime soon.
Like the Reform Party's creator, Ross Perot, Mr. Mitchel is unhappy with candidates and ideas offered by the major parties. "We believe there's really not that much difference between a Republican and Democrat anymore," he said.
Both parties are too consumed with promoting the status quo, he said. As a result, both pay too little attention to the needs and concerns of average voters, he said.
He characterizes one of the race's major issues as "government reform," and blames the major parties with creating the need for reform.
"One major source of our problems is money, and we need to pass meaningful campaign finance reform," he said, adding that the amounts raised need strict limits.
Despite laws that limit the amount individuals and PACs can give, he noted that Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Taft already has raised in excess of $6 million and Democrat Lee Fisher is near the $5 million mark.
"That's not meaningful reform," said Mr. Mitchel, 51, a retired Air Force pilot from Beavercreek.
Like the Democratic and Republican contenders, Mr. Mitchel and Ms. Feitler agree that education is the No. 1 issue facing Ohio. Mr. Mitchel wants to earmark between $400 million and $500 million of the state's surplus for school building needs and provide more long-term money by trimming Medicaid and scaling back tax breaks to corporations.
Ms. Feitler advocates expansion of charter schools, which are publicly funded schools that operate free of many regulations that govern traditional public schools.
"It's very important that we have some level of school choice," Ms. Feitler said. "Communities that can support charter schools should have the opportunity to do so."
Although appearing on the ballot as an independent, Ms. Feitler is state chairwoman of the Natural Law Party. It believes in transcendental meditation and is connected to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
She defines transcendental meditation this way: "It is a simple, effortless mental technique practiced sitting comfortably, with the eyes closed, 20 minutes every morning and evening.
"It allows the conscious mind to transcend the surface-thinking level and give the person the experience of themselves in their very pure nature."
Because Ohio recognizes the Reform Party as an official political party, Mr. Mitchel needed to collect just 500 signatures to qualify for the ballot.
Because the Natural Law Party is not considered an official party, Ms. Feitler needed signatures from 5,000 registered voters to secure a spot on the ballot.
To be recognized as a political party under Ohio law, candidates from that party must receive at least 1 percent of the total votes cast in the last race for governor or president, explained Orest Holubec, a spokesman for the Ohio secretary of state's office. In the last presidential race, Mr. Perot collected 10.7 percent of the vote, while the Natural Law Party candidate received just 0.2 percent.
Ohio history shows that third-party candidates have had little impact on statewide races, said Herb Asher, professor emeritus of political science at Ohio State University.
"At the national level, oftentimes, third parties gain support because the two major political parties either have not addressed certain issues or new issues come up that the existing parties cannot cope with very effectively," he said.
"That kind of description does not seem to fit third parties on the state level, at least this year or in the recent past."
During the 1994 governor's race, former State Fair Director Billy Inmon ran as an independent, garnering 3.2 percent of the vote. His highly publicized hunger strike and criticism of Republican Gov. George Voinovich's management abilities never caught on with voters.
Third-party candidates sometimes change the outcome of elections by taking votes away from one major party or the other, Mr. Asher said.
He noted that a recent New Mexico congressional race featured a candidate from the Green Party, a pro-environmental group that attracted support from those who otherwise tended to vote for Democrats. With the Democratic and Green parties' candidates splitting the traditional Democratic voters, the Republican candidate won, he said.
Ohio's statewide ballot features no Green Party candidate, and Mr. Asher said he doubts that this year's minor party candidates have the potential to influence the outcome of this year's race, especially if the robust economy continues.
"Today, in the current climate, their best hope is really over questions of political reform, arguing over the arrogance or machination of the existing parties," he said.
"What if, in the next couple of months, a massive scandal broke out that implicated both political parties? Then I could imagine a third party coming up with the theme, "Let's clean up government.' "
