U.S. Constitution Party nominates former Congressman Virgil Goode for president

April 22, 2012

Former U.S. Representative Virgil Goode of Virginia received the presidential nomination of the Constitution Party (CP) Saturday at the party's in. He was selected on the first ballot over former football coach  and the 2008 CP Vice presidential nominee, who announced his candidacy Friday. Goode picked outgoing CP National Chairman as his.

Goode served in the for twenty-three years before being elected to represent  as a Democrat in 1996. He was re-elected two years later, and left the Democratic Party before his second re-election campaign in 2000, when he ran as an. He joined the Republican Party ahead of the 2002 election, and was re-elected three additional times until his defeat in 2008. Since then, Goode has joined the Constitution Party, and has served on its executive committee. In February, he announced his intentions to seek the party's presidential nomination, and spoke with Wikinews later that month.

At the convention, Goode won a total of 203 out of the 403 votes cast while Castle received 120 and Wells secured 58. Candidates Susan Ducey and received 15 and 6 votes, respectively. Had Goode received two less votes, the nomination would have gone to a second ballot.

The Constitution Party was founded in 1991 as the U.S. Taxpayers Party, and changed to its current name eight years later. The party advocates, gun rights, limited government, protectionism, and non-interventionism. It strongly opposes abortion and illegal immigration. In terms of voter registration, it is the third largest U.S. political party with 367,000 members. Pastor won the party's 2008 presidential nomination and appeared on 37 state ballots, receiving 199,314 votes or 0.15 percent.