Virgil Goode 2012 presidential campaign

Virgil Goode for President
Campaign	2012 United States presidential election
Candidate	Virgil Goode U.S. House of Representative from Virginia (1997–2009)
Affiliation	Constitution Party
Headquarters	Rocky Mount, Virginia
Key people	Jim Clymer (running mate) Lucy Goode (treasurer)
Receipts	US$194,621 (2012-08-31)
Slogan	Citizenship Matters
Website
Virgil Goode for President (archived)

The Virgil Goode presidential campaign of 2012 began when former U.S. Congressman Virgil Goode of Virginia announced his decision to seek the 2012 presidential nomination of the Constitution Party in February 2012. During the nomination campaign, he put forth a four-point plank that included his plans to restrict immigration, balance the federal budget, decrease the size of government, and institute congressional term limits.

After winning the Constitution Party's presidential nomination on the first ballot at the party's April 2012 national convention, Goode chose outgoing party chairman Jim Clymer as his running mate. The ticket coordinated ballot access efforts to add to the 16 states on which they had already qualified. Goode focused on his home state of Virginia, where polls showed the ticket with five to nine percent support.

During the general election campaign, Goode participated in numerous media interviews and debated other third-party candidates. He continuously faced criticism that his campaign would act as a "spoiler", taking votes from presumptive Republican Party nominee Mitt Romney and helping President Barack Obama win re-election. In response, Goode argued he was in the race to win and would take votes away from both candidates. By discussing alternative solutions, restricting individual campaign donations to $200 and not accepting money from Political Action Committees, Goode cast himself as a grassroots "average citizen" that offered a distinct choice for voters outside of "Tweedledum and Tweedledee".

On Election Day, Goode appeared on 26 state ballots and was a write-in in an additional 18 states. He finished in fifth place with 122,001 votes for 0.09% of the total popular vote.