The Libertarian Party will run more than 1,420 candidates for local, state, and federal office this year -- the most candidates in party history, and more than all other alternative parties combined.

As of mid-September, the party had 1,427 candidates on its "official" list, but that number could move slightly up or down before Election Day since candidate names are still being added and deleted, said LP Political Director Ron Crickenberger.

Whatever the final, precise number, the record-setting slate of LP candidates "clearly places us as the preeminent third party," he said.

"Every American will find at least one Libertarian candidate on his or her ballot when they step into the voting booth on November 7th. And most voters will find a broad selection of Libertarian candidates to choose from -- ranging from local office, to state legislature, to Congress, to the presidency."

This is important, said Crickenberger, because Libertarian candidates give Americans the opportunity to vote for freedom.

"These are candidates who truly understand the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and who believe that freedom works and freedom is right," he said. "Our campaigns are the first exposure to Libertarian ideas that most Americans get. Running for office is the single most effective way to promote the freedom philosophy."

The 1,420+ candidates represent a 70% jump over 1998, when the party ran 836 candidates. It's also a dramatic jump from the 800 candidates the LP ran in 1996, and the 450 who ran in 1994.

The slate of Libertarian candidates is also larger than that of all other third parties combined, reported ballot access expert Richard Winger.

Together, the Reform Party, the Green Party, the Natural Law Party, and the Constitution Party are running no more than 660 candidates, according to Winger's Ballot Access News.

"Once again, the Libertarian Party has confirmed its status as the only real choice in American politics," said Crickenberger.

Although record-setting, the line-up of Libertarian candidates did fall short of the party's goal of "2,000 in 2000."

The reason, said Crickenberger, is that the goal of 2,000 candidates was very ambitious.

"We deliberately set a 'stretch' goal -- one that would encourage us to try a little harder, and stretch a little more," he said. "Based on our membership growth, we could have reasonably expected to run no more than 1,800 candidates this year.

"By making 2,000 candidates our target, it encouraged many of our states to set very ambitious goals -- and they fell short. But most of them still ended up running more candidates than they ever have before."

However, the LP came closer to the goal of "2,000 in 2000" than the final number indicated, said Crickenberger.

"Over 1,800 [LP candidates] announced for the year," he said. "If you count spring elections, primaries, and candidates who announced but fell prey to restrictive ballot access laws, we came much closer to the goal."

For example, several dozen LP candidates lost in competitive primary races, said Crickenberger, so they didn't move on to the November ballot.

The party is running 256 candidates for U.S. House, 26 for U.S. Senate, nine for governor, 55 for other statewide offices, 612 for state legislature, and 455 for various local offices, said Crickenberger.

The 256 candidates for U.S. House represent the first time in 80 years that any third party has fielded candidates in a majority of Congressional districts, according to Ballot Access News. The Socialist Party last did it in 1920.

Leading the list of the states with the most LP candidates is California with 295, followed by Michigan (115), Texas (113), Indiana (111), Colorado (82), Ohio (80), Washington state (63), North Carolina (49), New Hampshire (44), and Utah (38).

Only Maryland and North Dakota have no other Libertarian candidates on their ballot besides president and vice president.

Although there are too many variables to accurately predict how many candidates will win on November 7, Crickenberger said he hopes that between 20 and 60 Libertarians will be victorious.

"One of our goals in the future will be to make sure more of our candidates don't just run, but actually win," he said. "We will have to up our win ratio at the lower-level offices, and get into double digits on a regular basis at upper-level offices to really break through as competition for the older parties."

It's too soon to decide how many candidates will run in 2002 -- but the party may be able to equal or exceed this year's line-up, said Crickenberger.

"We'll set the 2002 goal through consultation with state chairs, just as we did for 2000," he said. "Typically, we have managed to recruit a slightly smaller number of candidates in a non-presidential year than in the previous presidential cycle.

"But if we can implement California's highly successful Operation Breakthrough recruiting plan" -- which used a telemarketing operation to recruit candidates from the state's list of registered Libertarians -- "in other states, we have the potential to exceed this year's total."