Politics1 - Guide to the 2004 Prohibition Party Presidential Candidates

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PRESIDENCY 2004:

EARL F. DODGE of Colorado
Prohibition Party
Presidential Nominee

"I reviewed the material you have online on the Prohibition Party and my candidacy. It was very fair and objective and I want you to know how much I appreciate the quality of the Politics1 site." - Earl F. Dodge

EARL DODGE BIOGRAPHICAL FACTS:

POLITICAL: National Chairman Emeritus of the Prohibition Party, 2003 - present. National Chairman of the Prohibition Party, 1958-1962 & 1979-2003. National Executive Secretary, Prohibition Party, 1962-2003. Prohibition Party nominee for US Senator from Kansas, 1966 (9,400 votes). President, Good Government Association of Kalamazoo (Michigan), 1968-71. Chairman, Colorado Prohibition Party, 1971 - present. Prohibition Party nominee for Colorado Governor: 1974 (6,400 votes), 1978 (2,200 votes), 1982 (3,500 votes), 1986 (8,200 votes) and 1994 (7,700 votes). Prohibition Party Vice Presidential nominee: 1976 (16,000 votes) and 1980 (7,200 votes). Prohibition Party Presidential nominee: 1984 (4,200 votes), 1988 (8,000 votes), 1992 (900 votes), 1996 (1,300 votes) and 2000 (208 votes). President, American Civic League. Secretary-Treasurer, National Prohibition Foundation, Inc. Secretary-Treasurer, Right-to-Life Education Fund, Inc.

PROFESSIONAL: Owner, campaign button mail-order business.

EDUCATION: Attended the Malden Public Schools. Attended the Narcotics Institute (Illinois), 1959.

PERSONAL: Born December 24, 1932 in Malden, Massachusetts. Married to Barbara Regan Dodge. Seven children, 17 grandchildren. Baptist. Member, Sons of the American Revolution. Member, Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims.

HOWARD LYDICK of Texas
Prohibition Party
Vice Presidential Nominee

Howard Lydick -- an attorney from Richardson, Texas -- is the party's nominee for Vice President. He is also active in the United Methodist Church, filing numerous petitions requesting various changes ranging from advocating the repeal of "no fault" divorce, to administrative matters, to demanding that the clergy abstain from alcohol and tobacco use (in fact, nearly half of his petitions were on anti-alcohol topics). Having failed to get the church to create a committee he requested, Lydick went ahead an launched (and chairs) the Independent Committee on Alcohol & Drugs for United Methodists. Lydick is also one of nine members of the Prohibition Party's National Executive Committee responsible for the operations of the party.

LINKS:

Prohibition Party - Official National Site.
Buttons By Dodge - Dodge's Campaign Button Business.
Independent Committee on Alcohol & Drugs for United Methodists- Lydick's Committee
Prohibition Party 2004 Platform - Official Platform.
Partisan Prohibition Historical Society - Party-Affiliated Educational Site.
Ohio State University: Temperance & Prohibition - University Site
Dodge Family Association - Dodge's Family Page.

ANALYSIS:

There is such a bitter rift within the Prohibition Party in 2004 that it almost took a legal fight in court to determine whether or not Earl Dodge remained the party's nominee for President this year on the Colorado ballot. Dodge spent nearly three decades as National Chairman of the Prohibition Party (1958-62 and 1979-2003) until he was kicked upstairs to the honorific post of "Chairman Emeritus." He has also been the party's nominee for President five times in the past (1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000), for Vice President twice (1976, 1980), for US Senate once, and five times for Colorado Governor. Dodge, who owns a campaign button mail-order business, also produces (and sells) lots of pins for each of his races. VP candidate Howard Lydick is an attorney and longtime party activist. In 2000, Dodge was on the ballot in just one state and received only 208 votes -- the party's worst showing ever. Since then, the small party has been torn into two rival camps (pro-Dodge and anti-Dodge). The anti-Dodge "reform faction" folks -- led by new National Chairman Don Webb -- wrested control of the party away from Dodge by late 2003. The new leadership group subsequently declared that the Dodge-Lydick ticket was illegally nominated at an improperly called "national convention" held in Dodge's living room in early 2003. When Prohibition National Committee (now controlled by the anti-Dodge faction) selected Gene Amondson as the replacement nominee, Dodge refused to accept the move. The new group offered Lydick the VP spot on Amondson's ticket -- but he refused to run with anyone other than Dodge. Dodge maintains he still runs the party and the Webb faction are the ones acting illegally. Dodge subsequently ignored the party's decision and filed the Dodge-Lydick ticket as the Prohibition Party candidates in Colorado. The Prohibition National Committee originally vowed they would go to court to disqualify Dodge from the Colorado ballot and have him replaced with Amondson. In June 2004, the tiny Concerns of People Party in Colorado offered their Presidential ballot line in the state to Amondson -- thus helping to avoid the court fight that neither Dodge nor the anti-Dodge group within the party could afford. "The [Prohibition Party's national] officers believe that by making the Colorado election a de facto Prohibition Party primary and soundly defeating Dodge, we can keep Dodge from further disrupting the work of the new leadership in revitalizing our party," explained Webb.

OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN CONTACT INFORMATION:

Earl Dodge for President
P.O. Box 2635
Denver, Colorado 80201
303-237-4947
E-mail: earldodge@dodgeoffice.net

THE PROHIBITION PARTY LIBRARY:

Deliver Us from Evil: An Interpretation of American Prohibition by Norman Clark (1995). This book details the history of the prohibition movement in the United States -- including the rise and decline of the Prohibition Party. Clark also traces the roots of the cause back at least three centuries -- and shows the significance of the urban-versus-rural split in the 19th Century that gave rise to the political movement. Overall, a very good introduction to the politics of the prohibition movement. List: $15.65. (Paperback.)