When all is said and done after tomorrow's election, State College activist and Libertarian Party candidate for state Attorney General Julian Heicklen is going to visit his grandchildren.

After spending the last few weeks campaigning from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, Heicklen is tired.

"I've been trotting all around the state," he said. "There's so many people you have to reach."

After a failed run for Centre County commissioner last fall, Heicklen, unhappy with what he calls power-hungry Republican and Democratic candidates, decided to offer Pennsylvanians a third-party candidate option.

"People in third parties have things they believe in," Heicklen said. "The Republican and Democratic candidates are completely unfit for this office."

Fellow Libertarian Tom Martin, who is running for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania's fifth district, said though Heicklen's key issues differ from his, they still represent the Libertarian ideal.

"I see (Heicklen's main concerns) as symptoms of a much larger problem where the government is treating you like its property," Martin said. "A just government respects the rights of all people equally and grants special favors to none."

Both Heicklen and Martin said the Libertarian party is becoming more popular not only in Pennsylvania, but across the U.S.

This year, Martin said there are more than 1400 Libertarian candidates nationwide, and there are now more than 300 party members holding elected and appointed positions within the government, including 60 in Pennsylvania.

Heicklen said when he started the Libertarians of Centre County in 1997, there were only 262 registered party members in the county. This year, he said there are about 565.

However, Martin said media bias is an issue for Libertarians. "Trying to break the media bias is a huge problem," he said. "When we get even one-tenth of the coverage (that Democrats and Republicans do), we beat other third party candidates."

Despite the promise of these statistics, getting a third party candidate on the ballot is difficult, because they often must have a specific number of signatures on a petition to even run, which Democrats and Republicans are not required to have, Martin said.

Heicklen said it cost the party about $100,000 to get him on the ballot.

"I find (the process) repulsive and I'm madder than hell about it," he said.

The four planks of Heicklen's political platform promote reform, restoration and reduction in government. He proposes to restore enforcement of the Bill of Rights, stop persecution of mentally competent adults engaging in consensual acts, to reduce prison populations and to reform the prison system.

Heicklen has been in close contact with prisoners around the state and said the conditions in many prisons are unsatisfactory.

"It's known all the way up (the chain of command)," he said. "There's got to be somebody up there who cares and can do something to stop this."

In accordance with his political stance, Heicklen said he believes the drug war only adds to these problems.

"One-third of prisoners are in jail for non-violent narcotic offenses. You've got to stop putting these people in prison," he said. Drug offenses fall under Heicklen's consensual crime stance, as do gambling, fortune telling and prostitution.

Green Party candidate Tom Linzey, also running for state Attorney General said though he does not adhere to many of Heicklen's positions, he said the former Penn State chemistry professor is a man of principle.

"I applaud him for what he does," Linzey said. However, one of Heicklen's biggest problems, he said, is the fact he is not an attorney. He added that though Heicklen advocates prison reform, he has not taken a definitive stance on the issue of the death penalty.