Long shots: 3rd-party candidates keep plugging away

This is the first year Personal Choice has made it on the ballot, but already it has attracted a national presidential candidate, Charles Jay, and his running mate, former porn star Marilyn Chambers. "Each individual should be free to decide for themselves, even if they want to do something that's inappropriate," explained Personal Choice founder Ken Larsen, who is running for Utah governor. "It's called freedom. It's called free agency. It's called leave us the hell alone."

Dismay over the federal government's intrusion in individual lives is a motivation for many, though not all, third-party activity, particularly among Constitution Party members and Libertarians — although they differ on what those individuals should be free to do.

The Constitution Party sees the Constitution as divinely inspired and believes that "close to 80 percent" of what the federal government now does is not granted by the Constitution, said candidate Van Horn. Libertarians think the government shouldn't legislate over matters like drug use and sexual matters.

That's what fires up Libertarian attorney general candidate Andrew McCullough, a lawyer who has made his speciality defending "adult entertainment" such as escort services and exotic dancers. McCullough, now 56, is sort of surprised his life has turned out the way it has. "Little by little I kind of realized I wasn't fitting into the stereotypical Utah Republican," says the attorney who once was a Young Republican and Brigham Young University student.

"I can't be what they want me to be," he says about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, although he still considers himself a member. He's never had a drink or an illegal drug in his life, not even a cigarette, he said.

Third-party candidates are often colorful figures, whose lives and resumes don't fit the mold. Larsen is a retired University of Utah researcher who studied the biological rhythms of mice and once made a point of being arrested on State Street so he could protest Salt Lake City's cruising law.

Like McCullough, he is a BYU grad. In the late 1970s, he said, "I began to realize I was more for complete free agency. I believe that people should have the right to screw up . . . as long as they don't harm anyone else." Because the Constitution offers religious freedom but fails to detail other freedoms, he has founded The Church of the Hemp Goddess, the Same Sex Church and the Church of the Beer God.

This is his tenth try at public office but likely not his last. He has "an inner fire" that motivates him, he says. "I keep praying to God: 'If you're not going to help me win, please take this fire away from me.' "