July 7, 2008 - 2:40pm
How will third party candidates impact presidential election?
By Wally Edge
Category: PresidentTags: Wayne Allyn Root, Ralph Nader, John McCain, John Ensign, Harry Reid, Bob BarrTop Story: Opinion
Ralph Nader recently filed with Nevada's Secretary of State to appear on the presidential ballot as an independent candidate, but will anyone notice?
Past statewide elections confirm the old adage that every vote counts. When Harry Reid (D-Searchlight) first ran for U.S. Senate in 1974, he lost by just 624 votes to Republican Paul Laxalt, who also lost his first U.S. Senate bid by fewer than 100 votes ten years earlier. In 1998, Reid edged out then U.S. Rep. John Ensign (R-Las Vegas) by 428 votes. In both instances, third party candidates drew many times the margin of victory and potentially had a significant impact on the outcome.
Could Nader's candidacy make a similar difference? History suggests it may not.
Running as the Green party candidate in 2000, Nader garnered 15,008 votes -- representing about 2.5% of the vote total -- but less than George W. Bush's 3.5 percent margin of victory over Vice President Al Gore. Despite an even closer race in 2004 in which Bush defeated U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Ill.) by 2.6%, the 4,838 votes cast for Nader represented just 0.6% of the vote -- and one fourth of his impact from the prior election.
Although Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik attracted even fewer votes than Nader in 2004, circumstances are very different this year. The Libertarian party is running a prominent conservative, former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.), and his running mate is Las Vegas native and TV celebrity Wayne Allyn Root. Especially in Nevada, it's possible that U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has more to worry about from third party candidates than his opponent.
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Where's Joseph?
Hey Wally - is Joseph Cooper on vacation? Is Daniel Trudeau an addition to the team or a replacement? Whahappen?
Google Debate
Wally,
I am highly confident the Nader/Gonzalez ticket will be a significant attraction for not just folks in Nevada, but all over the country. Their poll numbers are burgeoning and Nader has a very good shot at being included in the Google Presidential Debate, to be held in September in New Orleans, where millions of viewers could catch the sole Independent candidate unmask the Two Corporate Candidates. Polls would shift and it would be a very tight race (I'm looking forward to it!).
More and more Obama supporters are becoming increasingly fed up with his flip-flopping on key issues (the death penalty, faith-based funding, telecom immunity, etc.) and are joining the Nader/Gonzalez movement.
Although history is a valuable learning tool, future possibilities should not be overlooked or, even worse, ignored.
Best,
Nigel
www.VoteNader.org
How will third party candidates impact presidential election?
Bob Barr will give both McCain and Obama runs for their money this year. It is a symptom of our system that we always think of a third party candidate as a "spoiler". This is about to change. Soon it will be the fourth party candidates who are thought of as spoilers!
Nader
The man's ego is bigger than the universe. If I were him I would have committed suicide knowing that I made sure Bushie won the Presidency the first time. If I were too cowardly to do that, I certainly wouldn't be seen in public again. What an egotistical a-hole he is.
Barr Nader
Barr will beat Nader. First Libertarians will be on the ballot in more states than Nader. Second Nader has to run against another Green. Third Nader gets no straight party vote. Independent is not a party. Fourth Nader is old news. Fifth with gas prices this high environment will unfortunatelly not be a popular issue. Sixth conservatives are less happy with McCain than Liberals are with Obama. Seventh if Romney is not chosen many Mormons will vote third party and they will vote Barr before Nader. If Romney is chosen many Evangelicals will vote Barr. Look for Barr to get religious driven votes. Barr needs to start going to a moderate church like Free Methodist. Blue coller Democrats will also vote for Barr as they will see Obama's religion as strange. This will be the year of religion. God help us.
I’ve said it before, Look,
I’ve said it before,
Look, if you want to see a REAL difference in the ways and direction this country
influences the world at large, then vote a candidate that you can conscientiously support.
I’m tired of the bickering amongst a divided, distracted, and diverted populace. The
present corporate strategy seems to be, “Let the people argue, we’ll do what we want
while they’re distracted.” Our government professes belief in freedom, democracy, a
responsible and responsive constituency as well as a government, and I see no evidence of that. The lack of meaningful participation by the populace shows in the acts of leadership, both parties, the reactionary behavior by this administration, and the lukewarm non-binding behavior by the democratically controlled, (ha, ha), congress. We as a people, should display a society that believes in and promotes fairness and justice in this country as
an example for other governments to emulate. Let us throw the corporate minions out of
THE PEOPLES’ GOVERNMENT, and return POWER to the PEOPLE. After all,isn’t the definition of democracy a government of, by, and for THE PEOPLE?
I seek to blame no one, just my thoughts of what we’ve forgotten, what we’ve neglected.
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