FOUR OTHER CANDIDATES WALK PATHS LESS TRAVELED

OLYMPIC VALLEY -- Steve Kubby must be one of the few aspiring politicians
in America who doesn't care if you know he has smoked marijuana regularly
for years.

In fact, Kubby says his experience using marijuana -- which he regards as a
medicine that has kept his adrenal cancer at bay for two decades -- helped
shape his Libertarian views.

For years, he has known the government could arrest him, perhaps seize his
house, maybe take his child away, all because of "what I was doing to stay
alive."

"The fact that I had to live with that every day has totally colored my
politics," Kubby said recently as he sat in the kitchen of his house
overlooking Squaw Valley.

The experience inspired him to help put Proposition 215, which legalized
the medical use of marijuana, on the ballot two years ago. Now, Kubby is
seeking his first substantive elective office, and he's starting at the
top: He is running for governor.

Along with the other minor-party gubernatorial candidates, he struggles to
publicize his message in a huge state where political communication is
usually limited to multimillion-dollar television ad campaigns.

As a Libertarian, Kubby prescribes less government. He wants to phase out
the state income tax and believes people should be able to possess anything
- -- such as guns or drugs -- as long as they don't hurt anyone else. He
views speeding tickets as "highway robbery," and says the CHP should give
up its cruisers for tow trucks.

Dan Hamburg of the Greens and Gloria Estela La Riva of the Peace and
Freedom Party support roughly similar platforms of liberal positions, such
as stronger environmental protections and abolition of the death penalty.
Both parties essentially view the Democrats as too conservative.

On the other end of the spectrum, the American Independent Party sees the
Republicans as too liberal. Its candidate, Nathan Johnson, says he would
try to have abortion clinics declared "public nuisances," opposes the
school bond issue on the November ballot and supports the creation of
educational vouchers to help parents send their kids to private schools.

Harder to characterize ideologically is the Natural Law Party, which is
running Harold Bloomfield, a San Diego area psychiatrist. Bloomfield wants
to emphasize preventive medicine, stress-reducing meditation and organic
farming. For example, he would require HMOs to cover stress-reduction
classes and nutritional education.

Diverse as they are, however, the minor-party candidates share one view:
They struggle to get media and voter attention.

"The hardest work of all is convincing people to come and listen to you,"
said Kubby.

Sometimes it takes creativity. Kubby remembers attending the PTA convention
in San Diego earlier this year. He had been invited to speak, but when
neither Gray Davis nor Dan Lungren showed up, convention officials canceled
the speeches by the gubernatorial candidates.

Kubby went outside, climbed atop a wall, and gave his speech anyway.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski