Running as an independent candidate and as a party candidate each has its advantages and disadvantages. A party candidate may – or may not – have a party machine to back him up. What a party candidate gains from party machinery is made up for by adherence to the party platform. If the candidate actually agrees with the platform, it can work for him. Otherwise, he becomes a phony.
The biggest advantage of an independent candidacy is that an independent candidate controls his own message. An independent candidate may lose the economy of scale that comes from being part of a party machine, but gains the authenticity that comes from expressing his own ideas rather than prefabricated talking points.
In my future commentaries, I will comment on the Republican Party platform and the Democratic Party platform for North Dakota, and carefully explain my own ideas. Where they coincide and where they differ, including topics that both political parties ignore.