Jerry Scott running for Congress as a Constitution Party candidate in New Mexico

Matthew Reichbach writes in The New Mexico Independent:

In an interview with Martin Heinrich less than an hour after his acceptance speech on election night, the congressman-elect told the New Mexico Independent, “The campaign’s never over.”

Sunday, a third-party candidate announced his intention to run in 2010 against Heinrich and whatever Republican steps up to challenge the first Democrat to ever hold the seat.

On the Libertarian community blog New Mexico Liberty, which is run by the Rio Grande Foundation, Jerry Scott wrote that he will run as a Constitution Party candidate. Scott says he was a supporter of Ron Paul for Congress, but when Paul chose not to run as a third-party candidate, Scott cast his vote for Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution Party candidate. According to U.S. Election Atlas, 1,597 people voted for Baldwin in New Mexico and 198,637 voted for Baldwin nationwide.

On Scott’s Web site, where he frequently cites the Declaration of Independence, he is critical of a two-party system. He wrote, “Oppressive control will not be broken by voting within the elitist ‘two party’ system. The ‘two party’ system is the problem not the solution.”

But who is Scott? When asked about this by a commenter, he replied:

I really wish I could write that I have some beautiful pedigree of intellect from some prestigious college or that I could pin my name to some specific act of notoriety such as writing a book or commanding a vast army or navy, but alas I am unable. So, when I write about myself, I am at a loss as what to say. I am just an average American, one who is probably more similar to Joe the plumber than many of you.

Scott says he worked at Los Alamos National Labs as an electrician and later at Scotty’s Sales, a mobile home and RV dealer. He eventually went back to work at LANL before an auto accident.

Scott will face an uphill battle — no third-party candidate has ever served in Congress from New Mexico.