WASHINGTON – Charles McPeek doesn’t give up easily.
The Democrat filed in three different congressional districts thisyear before settling on the 7th District, where he came in dead last inlast week’s primary, collecting just 1.9 percent of the vote.
Even though he conceded “I’m on the bottom rung” of the race, he vowedto press ahead with his campaign. McPeek said he was determined toregister as an independent candidate and run in the general election –until he learned that the State Board of Elections said that was notallowed.
The deadline for candidate petitions was Aug. 5. Elections boardDirector Ross Goldstein said the only hope for McPeek would be to run awrite-in campaign for the Nov. 5 election.
Dissatisfied with the slim prospects of winning a write-in campaignand upset with what he called an “unfair” prohibition on him running nowas an independent, McPeek said he will instead prepare his 2004 campaignfor the 7th District.
He said he plans to file again as a Democratic candidate, even thoughhis platform favors abolishing the party system.
He dismissed registering as an independent in the next election as”too much of a hassle.” Instead of working to put together an independentcandidate’s petition, he will be concentrating purely on campaigning.
Party officials said McPeek is going to need to campaign for the nexttwo years, pointing to the 1.9 percent of the vote he garnered this week.
“He’s welcome to keep fighting as long as he wants, but I don’t knowif past performance would be an indicator of future success,” said DavidPaulson, a spokesman for the Maryland Democratic Party.
Pollster Carol Arscott, of Gonzales/Arscott Research & Communications, said that even though he’s just finished his first campaign for the 7th District, McPeek already fits the profile of the perennial candidate.
“There is a breed of candidate, the perennial, and losing doesn’t seemto bother them at all,” Arscott said.
McPeek said he hopes to gain media attention for his campaign, butthat he will also go door to door for the next two years, trying tospread his message of decriminalizing gambling and prostitution,abolishing the income tax and strengthening national defense, among otherissues.
“It’s going to take me two years to convince the people what I have to offer is needed,” McPeek said of the work ahead. “My own granddaughterdisagrees with me.”