At a recent meet-the-candidates night at Daybreak in West Jordan, 3rd Congressional District Constitution Party candidate Jim Noorlander attacked illegal immigration, pornography and gay marriage as "symptoms of a disease, the disease of socialism." He has produced a DVD outlining his philosophy that America is a nation whose founding was favored by God and whose constitution is based on "eternal, gospel principles." Democracy, argues the Constitution Party, is the worst form of government, because the majority doesn't always follow God's laws.

Although most third-party candidates don't have deep pockets, they do have the Internet, and each congressional candidate has a Web site (although some are still "under construction."). Third Congressional District candidate Philip Hallman, at 27 the youngest candidate, is campaigning via MySpace.

A personal incident that Hallman describes as "police misconduct/abuse" propelled him to think about "the implications of state power" and to run for office as a Libertarian. For other candidates, the impetus to run was more incremental: as U.S. Senate Constitution Party candidate Scott Bradley says: "I asked myself, 'Are we closer to the 'foundational principles' (of the Founding Fathers) than we were 40 years ago or four years ago or four months ago?"'

Many of the third-party candidates were once Republicans or Democrats themselves, sometimes even serving in the local party hierarchy. Now they think the Republicans have veered to the left ("Yes, Orrin is a liberal," argues Libertarian Senate candidate Dave Seely); or, if they're Green party candidates, they complain that Utah Democrats might as well be Republicans.

Government interference and spending inflames Constitution and Libertarian candidates, as well as some Personal Choice candidates. (The Utah-based party is a little hard to categorize since it has no cohesive platform, instead welcoming all candidates and their platforms under the umbrella of its yellow smiley-face logo.)

Displeasure with America's role in Iraq is the one element that links all the third parties, from the archconservative Constitution Party to the liberal Greens. Most aren't fond of the U.S. Patriot Act either.

Harboring hope