Yours is an idea that has been brought up many times. A good friend of mine who serves as a Democratic councilman in my area was the first to mention it to me. Just join us, it'll be great! No thanks. As Boucher pointed out, there is a screening process and plenty of heavies at the county and state level to make a new candidate work their way. We should definately look to concentrate our efforts where the establishment is weaker, maybe by supporting libertarian leaning Independants in those local elections.