UPDATED

More Third Party action for this year’s presidential election.Alan Keyes failed to receive enough votes for the Constitution Party presidential nomination. The party delegates, instead, voted for their own homegrown candidate Chuck Baldwin, a party activist and Baptist preacher. This may come as a surprise to many who have viewed the Constitution Party from afar, but for many who watched closely, this was predictable. The Party is puritanical when it comes to their platform. Most in which, is unrealistic and fringe oriented. So the idea of someone like Keyes coming in and taking the reins was unspeakable to many.In my opinion, the CP missed a wonderful chance of getting some mainstream exposure with a possibility of receiving one-million votes if ballot qualified in all 50 states. They have long claimed they were the alternative to the GOP but that is hardly the case.

With Chuck Baldwin (exactly — you are not the only one who has never heard of him) they may get ballot qualified in just over half the states and will receive less than 500,000 votes.For the GOP, this is one less worry for McCain as it could have caused major problems if Keyes and Barr were both competing for the conservative vote. Thanks to the CP’s convention, that has been ruled out. Barr on the other hand enjoys a lot of support from the Libertarian Party and many are saying he is the likely nominee.

Here is how it broke down at the convention: (Everyone on this list except Alan Keyes are virtually unknowns) Riekse 4.5 Baldwin 383.8 Ducey 1 Imperato 1 Keyes 125.7 Ballot Access NewsThe Constitution Party national convention in Kansas City will actually vote for a presidential nominee on Saturday, April 26, starting at 8 a.m. Nominating speeches will have been made the preceding day. There will probably be a strong vote for Alan Keyes, a strong vote for Chuck Baldwin, and a strong vote for drafting Ron Paul. Thanks to Glenn Brown for the details about the schedule.

Meanwhile, Constitution Party insider Trent Hill, is at the convention in Kansas City covering the events. So far this is what he has reported at Third Party Watch.

I’v been at the convention for 5 hours now, and already too much has happened to possibly include in this post, at least not without boring the masses. I arrived at 2p.m. central and explored the convention’s offerings. The many tables outside the doors show just how conservative this group is. Everything from the National Traditionalist Caucus to the John Birch Society.Everywhere there are arguments—based wholly upon the Presidential nomination.

People stood around politely talking about the North American Union and the Federal Reserve, but inevitably arguments have broken out left and right. Foreign Policy, Foreign Aid, Mandatory National Service, and Islamofascism—these are all issues that no one expected to be hotly contested issues at the CP Convention. Even myself and Tom Hoefling, Keyes’ political director, got into a heated exchange.There are more Alan Keyes-friendly delegates than I originally suspected. A couple dozen by my count, and they also have captured the votes of California’s delegation. By my count, this is leading to a fun convention, and one where people’s feelings are going to get hurt. I suspect if Keyes does not receive the nomination, he’ll continue his race for President.

I fear that people may see the rejection of Keyes as an anti-catholic or anti-black maneuver, which is laughable considering some of his leading opponents are Paul Venable of Idaho and Ricardo Davis of Georgia—both African-American men.Enough about my analysis. So far the Credentials and Platform committees have met. The newest platform is one which utilizes Constitutional or Original Intent quotes to hold up it’s respective planks. At least one plank got the axe, although it could’ve been more (indeed, I wish it were more).

As I write this, Richard Viguerie is delivering a speech to the National Committee about how to change the debate on conservatism.Keyes is making a massive effort—and I’m incredibly impressed. He’s been up in his hospitality suite for the past 10 hours constantly speaking with delegates or conducting radio interviews. It really is a mammoth effort. While I disagree with Keyes on the war, I’v certainly grown to respect the man’s endurance.