ESCONDIDO -- After 11 failed bids for public office since 1978 -- for everything from local school board to governor to president of the United States -- Escondido attorney Diane Beall Templin hasn't given up.

Templin is making her third run for the White House by seeking the nomination of the American Independent Party, a conservative party affiliated with the national Constitution Party, which wants to restore constitutional limits on government.

Republican voters want an alternative, and that's where Templin comes in, she said during an interview Thursday at her central Escondido office.

"I can't let this go," said Templin, a petite, blond, 60-year-old woman whose excitement was evident when talking about her political ideas. "There's just too much history of people wanting to speak out and have a choice."

Templin said she isn't deterred by the fact that in her last presidential bid with the Christian-based American Party in 2004 she wasn't able to get enough signatures to put her name on the ballot in a single state.

"I was trying to speak to the American people about what I believed, so I didn't think it was about how many votes I got," Templin said.

Doing God's work

In her campaigns, Templin was known as a candidate who spoke from her heart, and she has been open about her strong Christian values and her belief that she is doing God's work by running for office.

"She's very down to earth and she tries to say what she feels," Ed Noonan, California state party chairman of the American Independent Party, said Thursday. "I don't think she sneaks around or tries to hide what she believes."

Templin faces three challengers for the party's presidential nomination so far, two from California and one from Minnesota, Noonan said.

Born in Buffalo, N.Y., Templin was the oldest of 10 children and the daughter of a Democratic father and a Republican mother. She moved to California 30 years ago and became an Escondido resident in 1983, now working both as an attorney and a real estate broker.

Templin was married to Robert Templin, who died last December. She has a 31-year-old daughter and she loves "swing" dancing.

Although Templin joined the Republican Party for a time, she became disillusioned by it, she said. She also has been registered as an independent and with several third parties.

The Republican Party is all about big business, she said.

"(Republicans) pay more attention to lobbyists than American workers and small businesses," Templin said. "They don't care about Americans. They don't care about 'We the people.' "

Conservative stance

Templin shares some political views in common with Republicans, such as on fiscal responsibility and social matters, but she also has some Libertarian ideas on domestic and international issues, she said.

Among those are eliminating the federal income tax, creating a debt-free government, removing corporate subsidies and limiting federal power.

However, Templin said she disagrees with some Libertarian ideas such as the legalization of drugs and abortion.

As a member of the American Independent Party, Templin supports a return to constitutional limits on government. She said the president has become a virtual totalitarian ruler and that the country's leader shouldn't be allowed to issue executive orders or to declare war without congressional approval.

Templin said she is against the American military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq and that all U.S. troops should be brought home. She also is against trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and United Nations influence on U.S. policy.

Another hot-button topic, illegal immigration, has made Templin the target of heavy criticism in the past. In her 1994 bid for state Assembly, Templin suggested during an interview that land mines could be a solution to keeping illegal immigrants out of the United States.

She backed off from that statement, clarifying that it only would be a last resort. But local and state Latino leaders still chastised her and called for her to drop out of the race.

"If there was not rancor and ill will -- and she is going to deny that -- then it must be stupidity," Carlsbad activist Gloria Valencia-Cothran said at the time about Templin's comments. "Is that the level of intellect we want in our elected officials?"

Templin reiterated Thursday that such a measure only is an idea for a last-resort measure. She said she supports building a fence and using other resources to close the southern border, though she said the northern border's security is a concern as well.

But illegal immigrants shouldn't be allowed in the United States, she said.

"The reality is, they're illegal aliens, so they need to be here under a guest worker program or they need to be humanely deported," Templin said. "We have to have limits. We can't support the world."

A long shot

Templin said she hopes to not only get the American Independent Party's presidential nomination but also the nominations of the American Party and the Constitution Party in other states in order to form a coalition. None of the parties is on the ballot in every state.

Stephen Nichols, an administrator and former associate professor of political science at Cal State San Marcos, said Friday he applauds Templin's effort to run but that he doubts she or her little-known third party will win.

"Maybe some third party has a chance, but it would be a larger third party," Nichols said.

Just getting on state election ballots can be tough, he said.

"Even Ralph Nader most recently wasn't known enough to even get his name on the ballot in all 50 states," Nichols said, referring to the popular Green Party candidate who ran for president in 1996 and 2000, and as an independent in 2004.

However, third parties can play an important role in elections, he said.

"They have a long history of forcing the major parties to confront issues they would rather not," Nichols said.

Templin said that because voters are unhappy with Republican and Democratic leaders, 2008 may be the year that third parties such as hers gain political ground, or even, just maybe, win the presidency. But she said she realizes chances are slim she'll be sitting in the Oval Office in 2009.

"It would take a miracle, but I believe in miracles," Templin said.

Contact staff writer Paul Eakins at (760) 740-5420 or peakins@nctimes.com.

Diane Beall Templin's political timeline

- 1978 -- Ran for Congress as an independent

- 1981-82 -- Served on San Marcos Planning Commission

- 1982 -- Ran for San Marcos City Council

- 1994 -- Ran as a Republican for state Assembly. Lost in primary.

- 1994 -- Ran for the Escondido Union High School District board

- 1995 -- Challenged Ross Perot for Reform Party presidential nomination, but wasn't able to enter the primary

- 1996 -- Ran for president with the American Party. Name was on ballots in Utah and Colorado

- 1998 -- Ran for state attorney general with American Independent Party

- 2000 -- Ran for U.S. Senate with the American Independent Party

- 2002 -- Ran for state attorney general with the American Independent Party

- 2003 -- Ran for governor in Gray Davis recall election with American Independent Party

- 2004 -- Ran for Congress with the American Independent Party

- 2004 -- Ran for president with the American Party, but didn't get on any state ballot

- 2006 -- Turned down American Independent Party request to run for state attorney general

- 2007 -- Seeking nomination as presidential candidate for the American Independent Party