Simon and Davis Prove It's Time for a New Voice: None of the Above

Santa Monica City Councilman Kevin McKeown on California politics:

"When people laud the benefits of a two-party system, I tell them I wish we had one."

Ain't it the truth. At a time when it would be nice to move toward a three-party system, for the sake of adding a fresh perspective to the discussion, California seems to be headed in the other direction.

Both the Assembly and state Senate are overrun with Democrats, and the governor is a Democrat as far as anyone can tell. Meanwhile, the state Republican Party is clinging to a life raft that's thrashing against the rocks, piloted by a man with tax shelter problems and a $78-million fraud judgment against his family business.

On the other hand, people are not taking to the streets and turning cartwheels over the work of Gov. Gray Davis. In a survey by the Public Policy Institute of California, half the voters registered as Democrats said they're not tickled with any of the choices in the fall election, and who can blame them?

"Democratic and Republican registration have both declined over time," says the institute's David Baldassare, whose latest book is "A California State of Mind: The Conflicted Voter in a Changing World." "The biggest growth is in the number of people who describe themselves as 'decline to state.' "

That number is 2.2 million, or 15% of the electorate, and growing. So maybe there's hope, after all, for a third voice in California politics--the None of the Above Party.

It's not as if there's no difference between the two major parties, says Councilman McKeown, a Green Party member himself running for reelection. The problem is there is not enough of a difference.

All of which--on Labor Day weekend, the traditional start of the campaign season--is my way of saying you don't have to vote "R" and you don't have to vote "D." Six people are running for governor, so look farther down the list, and set yourself free.

If I told you there's a candidate who's smart, funny, and burned up about all the sellouts in American politics, you'd be interested, am I right?

If I told you he won't take a corporate nickel to finance his campaign, because he abhors the way both parties have been co-opted, you'd want to know more, wouldn't you?

And here's the capper. What if I told you Ronald Reagan once called him one of the most dangerous men in California?