The Fringe Candidates Record Mostly Single-Digit Numbers
RAN 2/21/96
By HOLLY RAMER - Foster's Daily Democrat Staff Writer
   ROCHESTER, N.H. - The good news: perennial presidential candidate
   Lyndon LaRouche quadrupled his support in his native city Tuesday. The
   bad news: he still only came up with 8 votes.
   
   LaRouche and dozens of other fringe candidates shared a smattering of
   votes across the state, but their often far-fetched ideologies failed
   to translate into far-reaching support.
   
   The list of long-shots divided nearly evenly among Republicans and
   Democrats, but aside from party affiliation, few had much in common
   beyond the $1,000 they paid to see their names printed along with the
   prime-time primary candidates.
   
   For many of the candidates, town clerks dutifully recorded zeros next
   to their names. More than one stumbled trying to pronounce "Sal
   Casmassima" and other unknowns.
   
   Voters drew a sharp distinction between the main field and the fringe,
   with the top handful of candidates scooping up the vast majority of
   votes.
   
   In the Democratic primary for example, President Clinton took 91
   percent of the votes, leaving the other 20 candidates to divide the
   remaining 8 percent.
   
   But even though the numbers show that voters don't take such
   candidates very seriously, most say their campaigns are nothing to
   laugh at. Except Pat Paulsen, that is. Paulsen, a comedian and
   Democrat from Tujunga, Calif. is running a comic campaign, with a
   decidedly silly slogan, "United We Sit." His platform pokes fun at the
   big issues, with statements such as "Gun Control: I can't control my
   car, let alone a gun."
   
   Paulsen's irreverence apparently struck a nerve, or the funny bones of
   some New Hampshireites, as he led his fellow fringesters in several
   cities. In Rochester, Paulsen garnered 21 votes, more than five times
   the votes received by "major candidate" Robert Dornan. Similarly,
   Paulsen picked up 22 votes in Dover.
   
   These local votes combined with more than 800 statewide gave Paulsen
   the dubious distinction of being one of two fringe candidates to make
   it to the 1 percent mark.
   
   The other, Carmen Chimento of Brookline, captured 762 votes, making
   him the top-ranked New Hampshirite.
   
   With her pro-marijuana views, Caroline Killeen's dreams of becoming
   president have all but gone up in smoke. The Democrat from Flaggstaff,
   Arizona did grab a few votes however.
   
   Alongside the other fringe candidates, her moment in the sun may have
   vanished as darkness fell on another N.H. primary.