Hi. I’m Jeff Brown, and I’m not running for governor.

    But you might think I am if you look at the listing of gubernatorial candidates on the Nov. 4 general election ballot. Right there, the third name down, is the candidate for the Blue Enigma Party – Jeffrey Brown.

    Right church, wrong pew, as Dad used to say.

    This particular Jeffrey Brown (he’s one of 14 with that name in Delaware) is a 37-year-old bartender from Elsmere. With Mike Protack out of the running, he now appears to have a shot at winning over voters disaffected with Democrat Jack Markell and Republican Bill Lee.

    I couldn’t contact my namesake, so I checked the documents he filed with the state election commission and Blue Enigma’s website, www.theblueenigmaparty.com. I also checked for his site on MySpace.com, but it appears to have been switched off.

    On Blue Enigma’s website, Brown describes himself as a longtime community advocate, ready to fight for the common man. The party platform includes supporting sports betting and allowing poker rooms in Delaware’s casinos to help build revenue, beefed up police presence, reducing energy consumption and supporting natural, alternative energy sources.
    Noble goals, all.

    Brown also is running for state representative from District 13, a seat currently held by Democrat John Mitchell, and the party has candidates listed for lieutenant governor and two other House seats.

    Not to be lost in the glut of potential state office holders this year are candidates for the Independent, Working Families and Libertarian parties. All are challenging the two-party status quo that has been a staple of American politics since the system came into being in the early 1800s.

    Traditionally, third party candidates haven’t done well nationally, but their presence brings up issues the major parties sometimes co-opt for themselves. In the quadrennial race for the White House, third party candidates have had other effects, such as in 2000 when Green Party candidate Ralph Nader probably drew enough of the popular vote from Al Gore to ensure a victory for George W. Bush.

    And third party presidential candidates occasionally pull in electoral votes, but haven’t done so since 1968 when George Wallace ran on the American Independent Party ticket.

    While our democracy supposedly encourages third-party candidates, in reality they often have a hard road to hoe. Many are so small they can’t afford filing fees and thus are left off the ballot; debates for the same office rarely feature more than the Republican or Democratic candidates.

    But there are some success stories. Third party candidates have met success in Montana, where a former Republican ran on the Constitution Party ticket, a Progressive mayor was elected in Burlington, Vt. (where several members of that state’s legislature also are Progressives), and others. And, of course, who can forget Jesse Ventura, who in 1998 was elected governor of Minnesota as a member of the Reform Party?

    While any successes seem small given the overwhelming reach of the two major parties, the overall message here is a good one. We need to hear all voices, even those that may be drowned out by someone bigger and with more money. Sometimes, just sometimes, those little voices get heard and something gets better for all of us.

    And isn’t that what a democracy is all about?

Email Jeff Brown at jeff.brown@doverpost.com.