Kevin Zeese, former executive director of NORML and president of Common Sense for Drug Policy, is running as a third-party candidate for the U.S. Senate in Maryland.

The Baltimore Sun reported Oct. 9 that the cornerstones of Zeese's campaign include opposition to the war in Iraq, overhaul of the federal income tax, and national health insurance.

Pundits give Zeese, 51, no chance to beat Democratic U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin and Republican Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, but Zeese has managed a few small victories: he is the first third-party candidate in Maryland to be included in debates for the Senate seat, and also is the first candidate in the U.S. to win endorsements from both the Green Party and the Libertarian Party.

Sixteen percent of Maryland voters are registered as independents. On the down side, Zeese's campaign war chest is a mere $70,000, and he has had problems getting media coverage. "I don't expect him to poll more than 2 or 3 percent," said James G. Gimpel, professor of government at the University of Maryland at College Park. "Maryland has never really had a third-party tradition. That makes it difficult, particularly when you've got an electorate that is pretty polarized between the two major parties."

"I'm running to win," Zeese replied. "And I really think if we can make a three-way race out of this, and people hear my views, I will win. Those are hard things to do, so I'm not predicting it. But even if I get something as little as 5 percent, it will be a message to the two parties that they'd better wake up -- and you'll see much more talk about the issues I'm talking about."

Zeese also has the support of former third-party presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who he served as campaign press secretary in 2004. "I think if he gets in on the six debates, he can turn it into a three-way race, and that changes the whole dynamics," Nader said. "That's the best scenario for Kevin. But the intermediate one is, it will change the dynamics of it between the two. Whether it changes the stands they take remains to be seen. Maybe they will have to choose whether they're going to ignore them, or whether they're going to expand their agenda to try to take votes away from him."