This year's race for Pennsylvania's 77th District will feature not only the Republican and Democratic contenders, but Centre County Libertarian Party candidate Tom Martin as well.

Martin is also running for the 5th U.S. District.

A 1981 Penn State graduate, Martin, who was co-captain of the swim team while he was a student here, said he is frustrated with the way Libertarians and other third parties are perceived by the media.

"The Libertarian Party is the largest third party, except for the amount of exposure we get in the media," Martin said.

He said he criticized cable television for only showing the poll results for President George W. Bush, Sen. John Kerry and Ralph Nader, and excluding everybody else.

Martin said he has a problem with both the Republican and Democratic parties, and said they are both -- even Republicans -- for a bigger government, while Libertarians seek the smallest government as necessary to protect people.

"Democrats say they're for diversity and all, but yet they're purposely trying to keep Nader and all the third-party candidates off the ballots," he said.

Martin said Libertarians are social liberals and economic conservatives.

"A just government respects the rights of all people equally and grants special favor to none," he said.

Paul Ferrante, Martin's campaign manager, said Libertarians are big supporters of individual rights.

"We're for the repeal of victimless crimes," he said. "Like for marijuana where there is no real victim except the user."

Because of its third-party status, the Libertarians have to do a lot of grassroots campaigning.

"We need to get more people involved, more people informed and some dedicated people to show up to the meetings," Martin said. "The sad part is that there are so few people involved it's pathetic."

Ferrante said the people involved with the campaign have been passing out leaflets around campus and the community.

Martin said, for instance, the party brought about 300 leaflets to pass out during Teresa Heinz Kerry's visit in September, but they were surprised to find there were thousands at the event.

Martin faces a challenge from U.S. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., for the U.S. 5th District, while competing against state Rep. Lynn Herman, R-Centre, and Democratic challenger Jon Eich for the 77th District in Pennsylvania.

"I don't think the Libertarian candidate will have a significant role in the election," Eich said. "This is not the main race he's interested in because he's more interested in his bid for the U.S. House."

Martin said if he wins both positions, he'll take the position in the U.S. House.

Herman said he has run against many third-party candidates in the past.

"They have a different platform than the Republicans and Democrats and have alternative perspectives on the issues," he said.

The Centre Country Libertarian Party will meet at 6 p.m. every Monday at Golden Wok, 332 W. College Ave. until Election Day.