DIRECTORY OF U.S. POLITICAL PARTIES THE TWO MAJOR PARTIES: DEMOCRATIC PARTY (DNC) - The Democrats regained control of the US House and US Senate in the 2006 elections, and of the White House in the 2008 elections (plus widened their congressional advantage). An inability to cure the inherited stagnant national economy and voter discontent over health care and other successfully adopted Obama agenda items caused a significant erosion of support, costing the Democrats control of the House and several governorships in 2010. While prominent Democrats run the wide gamut from the near Euro-style democratic-socialist left (Barbara Lee, Raúl Grijalva and the Congressional Progressive Caucus) and traditional liberals (Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Debbie Wasserman Schultz) to the Dem center-right (Harry Reid, and the NDN) to the GOP-style conservative right (Blue Dog Coalition) to the pragmatic "centrist" moderate- to-liberal style (Mark Warner, Rahm Emanuel). The Democrats swept into office in '06 and '08 include a combination of some vocal progressives on the left, some centrists, and a some conservatives on the party's right. Much of the party's congressional losses in 2010 came at the expense of Blue Dog and centrist Democrats in swing districts. In 2012, President Obama was reelected and the Democrats held control of the US Senate and narrowed the GOP majority in the US House. Other official, affiliated national Democratic sites include: Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer. Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), and US Senate Democratic Leadership. Democratic Governors Association (DGA). Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. Young Democrats of America (YDs). College Democrats of America ("College Dems"). REPUBLICAN PARTY (RNC) - Republicans lost control of the big job in 2008: the Presidency. The party was swept out of office in response to the public's high disapproval rating of President George W. Bush. The GOP also held control of the US House from the 1994 sweep until they were ousted from power in 2006 in a backlash to the unpopular Iraq War and a culture of corruption on Capitol Hill. A weak national economy helped the GOP come back strong in 2010, recapturing control of the US House. The GOP also holds several key Governorships (including TX, PA, OH, FL, GA, MI, NJ and VA), and narrowly held majority status in the US Senate in 1995- 2001 and 2003-07. Despite the 2010 gains, the party is largely split into two warring ideological camps within the Republican Party, battling for control. The conservative "Tea Party" purists say the GOP lost the 2006 and 2008 elections because their Republican leaders "went Washington" when they won control of Congress and "lost sight of true conservative Republican values." They argue the party needs to become uncompromisingly conservative, seeking ideological purity over pragmatism. The GOP pragmatists embrace the "Big Tent" Reagan view that the party is big enough to embrace people of widely varying beliefs -- moderates and conservatives alike - - so long as all agree on a few key core values. Republicans can generally be classified into several different sub- sets: traditional establishment conservatives (John Boehner, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, and the Club for Growth), the "Religious Right" (Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, and the Family Research Council), libertarians (Rand Paul and the Campaign for Liberty), the rapidly dwindling old Nixon/Rockefeller "centrist" or "moderate" wing (Scott Brown, Mark Kirk and the Republican Main Street Partnership), and a "paleo-conservative" wing that backs strict anti- immigration controls (Tom Tancredo and Pat Buchanan). The influential "Tea Party" movement -- split between several groups who each claim the name (Tea Party Patriots, Tea Party Express, Tea Party Nation, etc.) -- emerged in 2009 and seem to straddle somewhere between the libertarian and paleo-conservative wings of the GOP. The GOP failed to regain the White House in 2012, in large part by losing the Hispanic vote by such a lopsided margin, and losing ground among women and independents. Official, affiliated national GOP sites include: National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), House Speaker John Boehner and the House Republican Conference. National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Republican Governors Association (RGA). National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW). Young Republican National Federation (YRs). College Republican National Committee (CRNC). National Teen Age Republicans (TARs). THE THIRD PARTIES: THE "BIG THREE" THIRD PARTIES: (Based upon vote performance over past two election cycles and ballot access) CONSTITUTION PARTY - Former Nixon Administration official and one-time Conservative Coalition chair Howard Phillips founded the US Taxpayers Party (USTP) in 1992 as a potential vehicle for conservative pundit Pat Buchanan to use for a third party White House run -- had he agreed to bolt from the GOP in 1992 or 1996. The USTP pulled together several of the splintered right-wing third parties -- including the once mighty American Independent Party (below) -- into a larger political entity. The USTP renamed itself the Constitution Party in 1999. The party is strongly pro-life, anti-gun control, anti-tax, anti-immigration, trade protectionist, "anti-New World Order," anti-United Nations, anti-gay rights, anti-welfare, and pro-school prayer. When Buchanan stayed in the GOP, Phillips ran as the USTP nominee in 1992 (ballot status in 21 states - 43,000 votes - 0.04%), 1996 (ballot spots in 39 states - 185,000 votes - 6th place - 0.2%), and 2000 (ballot status in 41 states - 98,000 votes - 6th place - 0.1%). The party started fielding local candidates in 1994, but has fielded disappointingly few local candidates since 1998 (except in a handful of states). The party received a brief boost in the media when conservative US Senator Bob Smith of New Hampshire -- an announced GOP Presidential hopeful -- bolted from the Republican Party to seek the Constitution Party nomination in 2000 (but the erratic Smith quit the Constitution Party race a few weeks later, announced he would serve in the Senate as an Independent, and subsequently rejoined the GOP by the end of 2000). At the 1999 national convention, the party narrowly adopted a controversial change to the platform's preamble which declared "that the foundation of our political position and moving principle of our political activity is our full submission and unshakable faith in our Savior and Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ" -- although the party officially invites "all citizens of all faiths" to become active in the party. Any national candidate seeking the party's nomination is explicitly required to tell the convention of any areas of disagreement with the party's platform. The CP's 2004 Presidential nominee, attorney Michael Peroutka, had ballot status in 36 states (144,000 votes - 5th place - 0.1%). Former three-time GOP Presidential candidate Alan Keyes -- a former Ambassador during the Reagan Administration -- bolted to the Constitution Party in 2008, but was defeated for the nomination by fundamentalist pastor Chuck Baldwin (note: which prompted Keyes to immediately create his own rival conservative party). In the 2008 election, Baldwin had ballot status in 37 states and won 196,000 votes (5th place - 0.15%), the CP's best showing to date. In 2012, former GOP Congressman Virgil Goode was the party's Presidential nominee and captured 122,000 votes (5th place - 0.09%). Other related sites: Constitution Party News and Constitution Party Discussion Forum. GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES - The Green Party -- the informal US-affiliate of the leftist, environmentalist European Greens movement -- is one of the two largest third parties in the nation. The party regularly fields candidates for local, state and federal offices in many states, and has established active state affiliate parties in nearly all 50 states. The Greens scored a major political points when it convinced prominent consumer advocate Ralph Nader to run as their first Presidential nominee in 1996. Spending just over $5,000, Nader was on the ballot in 22 states and carried over 700,000 votes (4th place - 0.8%). In 2000, Nader raised millions of dollars, mobilized leftist activists and grabbed national headlines with his anti-corporate campaign message. Nader ignored pleas from liberal Democrats that he abandon the race because he was siphoning essential votes away from Al Gore's campaign -- answering that Gore was not substantially different than Bush. In the end, Nader was on the ballot in 44 states and finished third with 2,878,000 votes (2.7%). More significantly, Nader missed the important 5% mark for the national vote, meaning the party remained ineligible for federal matching funds. Until 2001, the Greens were largely a collection of fairly autonomous state/local based political entities with only a weak (and sometimes splintered) national leadership structure that largely served to coordinate electoral activities. That faction -- formerly named the Association of State Green Parties (ASGP) -- was the larger and more moderate of the two unrelated Green parties. The ASGP voted in 2001 to convert from an umbrella coordinating organization into a formal, unified national party organization. Nader made another run in 2004 -- but ran as an Independent. Instead, Green Party General Counsel David Cobb of Texas won the Presidential nomination (ballot status in 29 states - 120,000 votes - 6th place - 0.1%). Cobb argued the party needed to nominate a candidate who openly belonged to the party (note: Nader had never joined) and was pledged to building the party at the local level. Cobb ran what was seen as a "safe-states" strategy -- a controversial move whereby Cobb only made major efforts to gain votes in states where a strong Green showing would not compromise the ability of the Democratic nominee to defeat Bush in the state. Democrats appreciated the move, but it weakened Cobb's message.