Commoner also has an argument ready for those who would accuse him of being a "spoiler" in the presidential race--that is, of drawing votes away from the Democratic party and thus guaranteeing a Reagan win. Suppose you are a voter concerned about growing militarism in the world, he says. Suppose you cast your vote for Carter because you have weighed the risks and decided that Carter would be a bit less likely to get America involved in a war. Well, says Commoner, that may be the case (though he doesn't see that much difference between Carter and Reagan)--but a vote for Carter does not in any way let Carter know that it was a vote cast specifically for peace. It is a wasted vote because it isn't differentiated from the millions of other votes Carter receives.

A vote for the Citizen's Party, on the other hand, "would leave no doubt whatsoever in the mind of whoever won eventually that it was most definitely a vote for peace," he says. "Nor would voting for Anderson be a vote for peace, because Anderson's position will have no meaning after the election.

If the Citizen's Party does well and establishes a constituency for peace, "it could even put a chip in Reagan's fascist tendencies."

But more immediately, Commoner's campaign faces the more concrete problem of getting his name on the ballot in as many states as possible.

With a win in November an almost certain impossibility, a more realistic goal for the election is five per cent of the popular vote--the level necessary for a party to become eligible for federal election aid funds. Commoner has said that if the party can reach 80 per cent of the electorate, he believes there is a good chance the Party would capture five per cent.

Federal funds, which could run into millions of dollars, is essential in the process of building a party from scratch. As it is, the party is scratching for what funds it can get and Commoner plans a major fund drive to stock the party's treasury once the petition drives to get on the ballot end.

Right now, Commoner has successfully met petition deadlines in six states out of eight attempts--and deadlines are fast approaching in many others.

In Massachusetts, the party faces a stiff challenge in meeting the May 5 deadline, Commoner predicts. With 39,425 signatures required, Massachusetts is among the toughest states for achieving ballot status, Commoners believes, adding that poor organization earlier has left the party in a tough spot.

The petition campaign is in full swing now, and Commoner was in town this week to gather more volunteers to collect signatures. Wednesday he spoke to about 35 Harvard students at the Eliot House Junior Common Room about the problems of mounting a third party campaign, and asked them to "sacrifice some time, maybe even a bit of your GPA, to help us provide the alternative Americans want."

Commoner is fond of comparing the birth of the Citizen's Party to the beginnings of the Republican Party in the years before the Civil War, on the grounds that its conception emerged from the failure of the two major parties to deal with the fundamental issues of their day.

Commoner, of course, has a vested interest in making an analogy with a successful political departure, but perhaps Studs Terkel's comparison to the Populist era is more appropriate to the contemporary political scene. Eugene V. Debs, founder of the American Socialist Party, once said during that period, "I would rather vote for what I want and not get it, than vote for what I don't want and get it."