When Michael Munger began campaigning for governor of North Carolina, he knew he would face challenges getting recognition as the Libertarian candidate.
But Munger, the chair of the political science department, could not have anticipated the final obstacle of his campaign-diving into the Atlantic Ocean in early November, fully clothed, in a bid to attract media attention.
"It was cold," Munger said, adding that the dip came at the end of a three-day campaign tour across North Carolina by way of U.S. Route 64. The spectacle was the culmination of his nearly three-year-long campaign.
The cold, though, was not as bad as the rocks that found their way into Munger's brown loafers as he made his way out of the surf, he added.
Luckily both Munger's shoes and his polyester blazer survived the bath-in fact, as he spoke, Munger noted that he was wearing the same shoes he wore on that 65-degree day in Manteo, N.C.
A video of Munger's dive filmed by campaign manager Barbara Howe has been viewed about 800 times on YouTube. Although Munger said he has attempted to differentiate himself from his opponents by relying on policy arguments during his campaign, he felt the video was an appropriate way to end his race.
"Why is it that voters tolerate a media that does not cover substance, that covers stunts?" he said. "And that was the intended irony. That's why I wasn't wearing a bathing suit. I was wearing a suit."
Lacking publicity and hampered by his third party status, Munger did not begin the race thinking he would win. By the end though, he found himself wanting to be governor.
His goal, however, was simply to earn enough votes to keep his party on the ballot through 2012.
North Carolina's ballot access law required Munger to collect at least 70,000 signatures to run, all of which must be validated by the N.C. State Board of Elections. Because he won more than 2 percent of the votes cast in North Carolina, with nearly 3 percent, Libertarian candidates will not have to collect signatures in order to appear on ballots through 2012.
"Now we can concentrate on organization at the county level, working very hard at the grassroots level, getting people elected to office, rather than jumping through hoops of gathering the signatures to participate," said Howe, who is also chair of the North Carolina Libertarian Party.
But in a season of historic races for North Carolina, Munger said his run was anything but. Although he was the first Libertarian candidate to participate in a televised debate in the state and won a higher percentage of votes than any Libertarian has won in the N.C. gubernatorial race since Scott McLaughlin received 4 percent in 1992, he said little has changed in the political landscape.
"This was business as usual," Munger said. "The result of the election was that [Governor-elect] Bev Perdue, the leader of the corrupt regime, was installed as queen, so nothing is going to change. Same direction, same corruption."
Despite his electoral loss, Munger said his ideas may gain traction in the incoming government. Shifting from his experience as failed gubernatorial candidate to political science professor, Munger explained that research in his field has shown that third-party candidates can influence policy by introducing new ideas to the public, even if the candidates flop at the ballot box. Perdue has already adopted some of his ideas on transportation, Munger said.
In Munger's case, appearing in three televised debates with other gubernatorial candidates allowed him to spread his views to a wide range of people, he said.
Munger may build on this exposure by running for governor again in 2012 and he has also considered running for a N.C. Senate seat in 2010, he said. Since election day, he has continued holding events, including a Nov. 11 stop at the James Joyce Irish Pub restaurant and the Federal restaurant in Durham to meet with "20 enthusiastic Libertarians," he said.
Munger has not officially declared his candidacy for a 2010 race in order to pursue a different line of work. Munger will soon be featured on the Bill LuMaye show on Raleigh's WPTF-AM 680 from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursdays, he said. Listeners will hear Munger sandwiched between the shows of two nationally known conservative commentators-Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.
Munger also plans to pen a book based on his experience, titled "You're Not Going to Win are You?" Munger said the title comes from what his wife said when he first announced his plans to run for governor.
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