Third-party candidates seem lost in the tidal wave of campaign coverage for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Some of these candidates are Green Party nominee and former Democrat Cynthia McKinney, independent candidate and former Green Party nominee Ralph Nader, Libertarian nominee and former Republican Bob Barr, and Constitution Party nominee Chuck Baldwin.

Additionally, former Republican Alan Keyes is the nominee of America’s Independent Party and the Reform Party’s nominee is Ted Weill. Further down the list, there also are candidates from the Prohibition Party, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Socialist Party USA, the Socialist Workers Party, the Peace and Freedom Party, and the Boston Tea Party.

Unfortunately, though each of these candidates have unique stories and positions to talk about, they will be almost entirely shut out by the mainstream media, as reporters dissect every word and step of the Obama and McCain campaigns in excessive detail.

Nader has based much of his campaign on emphasizing popular issues where his position is dramatically different from those of Obama and McCain. His independent campaign supports a universal single-payer health care system for all Americans, does not accept any corporate donations to his campaign and supports full equal rights for gays and lesbians. Despite the wide appeal of these positions, the media rarely discusses Nader’s campaign.

McKinney has been widely embraced by the Green Party for her positions on social and environmental issues and for her pursuit of the truth in high-profile national issues such as the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks. As an African American woman with a black Puerto Rican running mate in hip-hop activist Rosa Clemente, McKinney could appeal to many voters who aren’t especially swayed by Obama or McCain.

Barr was most known for being a leader in the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton, and in 2006 he defected to the Libertarian Party. Though a right-wing conservative for much of his congressional tenure, Barr was later an outspoken critic of President Bush’s policies on civil liberties. Such intrigue should warrant at least some attention from the mainstream media, but Barr has been largely ignored.

That these candidates are not heard on a greater level is an illustration of the less-than-democratic process by which presidents are elected in this country and the complicity and willingness of much of the mainstream media to continue the duopoly of the Democratic and Republican parties.

Especially in the years since Ross Perot threatened to break that duopoly in 1992, the two largest parties have been on the offensive, actively working to make sure that citizens do not hear from or about any candidates other than their own.

These efforts have included keeping “third-party” candidates out of the debates, creating excessive hurdles to ballot access and trying to scare voters away from supporting such candidates by engaging in character assassination and alleging that they are “spoilers.”

One role of the mainstream media and free press in a democratic society should be to inform voters of the great diversity of voices and choices available to them in the election, rather than focusing solely on Obama and McCain. Imagine the robust, lively debates that would ensue if more candidates were permitted to participate and were accordingly covered in the press.

Instead, it is up to the voter to seek information on these candidates, further dwindling their chances of reaching audiences of significant size and influence.

Given the lack of media and public attention paid to “third-party” candidates, is it any wonder that most modern presidential elections have been determined by slim margins of victory between just two candidates?

Ryan Dinkgrave is a State News columnist and a public relations graduate student. Reach him at dinkgrave@gmail.com.