When Randy Stiefer steps out of his big-rig truck, people might guess that the 6-foot, 5-inch, 300-pound Corcoran man is a Rush Limbaugh-loving conservative who can't stand tree-hugging liberals. They would be wrong, because the 36-year-old Stiefer is a tree hugger and a member of the Green Party. "I'm a strong environmental activist," Stiefer said. "I see the Republicans and Democrats as like two sides of the same coin. They both are very corporate-minded." Then there are voters like Byron Dallas -- a nurse who believes that when it comes to politics, people don't need government to hold their hand. Dallas is a Libertarian, which puts him at odds with both Republican and Democratic policies that give government a big role in people's lives.

Married with one daughter, the 24-year-old Lemoore man doesn't buy into the hackneyed speeches that Republicans and Democrats like to make about "change."

A real change in the status quo, Dallas proclaims, should start with a third party.

"There are two major parties, and people from both sides keep talking about change," Dallas said. "I think the biggest change would be to give a third party a chance."

As the election charges toward the finish line, the two major political parties are throwing millions of dollars into mailers and TV ads.

Lost in the shuffle are tiny political parties and their voters, who rarely get any media coverage.

But in a sea of Kings County voters who call themselves Republicans or Democrats, there are 1,746 local residents like Stiefer and Dallas who march to a different drumbeat.

Going Green

Stiefer's environmentalism goes back to his mother, a Greenpeace activist who was once arrested for getting in a small boat and protesting a Russian ship dumping waste into the ocean.

Stiefer and his mother also brought their passion for protest to Kings County.

"We both got arrested up there at Kettleman City, when they were first putting that Chem Waste facility in," Stiefer said.

Stiefer said the image of truck drivers as members of the "hardcore right" is 90 percent accurate.

Not wanting rip-roaring arguments that might turn into fistfights, he generally keep his views to himself.

Those views are not easy to categorize.

On the one hand, he believes in hard work. On the other hand, he believes that government should guarantee certain things to people "so they aren't going to be taken advantage of" in the marketplace.

"I'm a capitalistic socialist," he said.

He's against Proposition 8 on the grounds that "what people want to do is their own business."

Proposition 8 would outlaw same-sex marriages.

But he's for Proposition 4 on the grounds that parents should be involved with their kids' medical decisions.

Prop 4 would require parental notification for a minor to get an abortion.

He'll probably vote for Ralph Nader, who is running for president as an independent.

He wishes that the Green Party had more access to public funding. Maybe then, he feels, the message could be heard.

Stiefer said that if he lived in a swing state, he'd probably vote Democratic, because "obviously I'm more in line with Democrats than Republicans."

But California being a solidly Democratic state, Stiefer feels free to vote for either the Green Party candidates or other minority party candidates who are more in line with his views.

Stiefer said he doesn't feel politically isolated in Corcoran. He said he has plenty of politically independent friends who "pretty much" agree with him.

Hanford, too, has dozens of voters who aren't happy with the dominant political parties.

Cornelius O'Brien, a landscape contractor, yearns for a more open system where third parties would have a greater chance of victory.

"I'd like to see a more liberal democratic movement, one that isn't as indebted to campaign contributions," O'Brien said. "There is a lot of stagnation in Washington. I'd like to see public campaign financing, to make the place more democratic."

In this election, however, O'Brien is voting for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama "because I think he is more concerned with the needs of ordinary people."

'Not a wasted vote'

Dallas, 24, grew up in a Republican family. That didn't stop him from following his heart and registering Libertarian when he turned 18.

He has been a staunch Libertarian ever since.

Like Stiefer, Dallas is an example of how decisive a third-party voter can be. He is determined to vote for Bob Barr, the Libertarian presidential candidate.

Dallas knows it's a long-shot campaign for Barr. But he is voting for him anyway.

"Realistically, I may be throwing my vote away, but I don't look at it that way," Dallas said. "You've got to follow what you believe in when it comes to voting ... I'm pretty concrete in my Libertarian views."

Dallas is voting against Prop 8.

"Personally, I'm for homosexual marriages," he said. "As long as somebody's pursing their own liberty and not taking away anybody else's, I don't think it's detrimental to society."

As a parent, Dallas was a little more conflicted about Prop 4.

But he still says he will vote against the measure.

"It's tough because I've got a young daughter," Dallas said. "Every parent wants to know what's going on with their own daughter's life. But if we do pass Prop 4, I think abortions are still going to happen. People will pursue other avenues. I'm afraid it would increase runaways and back-alley abortions."

Thirty miles and a dozen farms away in Corcoran is Sandra Bega, a 54-year-old employee with the Tulare County Office of Education helping children with special needs, is also registered as a Libertarian.

But even so, she and Dallas are miles apart on their views.

Bega, a devout Pentecostal, puts the Bible before anything else, even Libertarianism. In many cases, she ends sympathizing with the Republican position on issues like abortion restrictions and same-sex marriages.

For example, she is for Prop 8 and Prop 4.

"This is the future of my grandchildren," said Bega, who has seven of them. "I don't want anybody telling my grandchildren same-sex marriage is OK and abortions are OK. First and foremost, I am with the Bible."

Bega said that's the reason she's voting for Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

"Are we going to take the more moral way or (go with) the world," Bega said. "If I voted for Obama, I would be compromising my beliefs."

But Bega has always had an independent streak.

In 2000, Al Gore got her vote. In 2004, she rejected George W. Bush and John Kerry and voted for Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik. This year, she said she would be voting for McCain.

"I have 113 nieces and nephews," Bega said. "I hope that our leaders and their decisions would spare them from the evils of this world. That's why I vote the way I do."

A protest vote

For Kings County residents who registered as members of the Peace and Freedom Party, the decision seemed to be more of a protest against Republicans and Democrats than a strong identification with Peace and Freedom principles.

"I want something to change," said first-time voter Magdalena Mendoza, an 18-year-old Corcoran resident.

Mendoza, however, voted for Obama, and is planning to switch her registration to Democrat as soon as she can.

"(Obama's) speeches inspired me. I felt that since I voted for him, I should be in the same party," Mendoza said.

Shawna Jones, a 32-year-old divorced mother of three in Armona, said she went with Peace and Freedom because she "just wanted something different from what we have."

"I don't like the Democrats or the Republicans. I think America is based on being bigger and badder. I think we are getting our nose in a lot of stuff that doesn't pertain to us," Jones said.

However, she plans to vote for McCain, primarily because she feels his views best reflect her Christian beliefs.

"I went to church, and the pastor said not to vote for somebody who is clearly going against God's wishes on abortion and homosexuality," Jones said.

Commentators note that alternative parties like Peace and Freedom provide an outlet for disaffected voters.

And the more people who vote for a third party, the greater influence that party can have on the policy decisions of Democrats and Republicans, said Stephen Graham, political science instructor at West Hills College Lemoore.

And when enough voters go for a third party, it can change the outcome of elections, Graham said.

Graham noted that Ralph Nader's decision to run as a Green Party candidate in 2000 may have siphoned enough votes away from Al Gore to give George W. Bush the victory.

Graham also noted the spoiler role that Ross Perot probably played in the 1992 presidential election.

Running as an Independent, Perot won 19 percent of the popular vote, the highest percentage a third-party presidential candidate has received since Theodore Roosevelt in the 1912 election.

Many of the votes that went to Perot, experts believe, would otherwise have gone to George H. W. Bush.

But even if they don't capture enough votes to sway elections, Graham said, third parties are attractive to people with strong beliefs that don't always fit into the major party platforms -- people like Stiefer and Dallas.

"I think you'll always -- as long as you have a two-party system -- you'll always have minority parties," Graham added.

Sentinel Reporter Joe Johnson contributed to this report. The reporters can be reached 583-2432 and 583-2429.