Those third parties

Here's another article about the potential of the Libertarian and Constitution Parties to peel votes away from President Bush. Not a whole lot of new ground covered here, though they do at least talk to an actual Republican (from Ohio! a swing state!) who has abandoned Bush for the third-party siren song. I thought the most interesting bit was at the end here:

But if his candidacy does siphon away enough conservatives from Bush to put Kerry in the White House, Libertarian presidential nominee Michael Badnarik says that is fine with him. There is little difference between the major parties, he said, and playing the spoiler in a presidential election would greatly enhance Libertarians' national profile.

Jim Henley discusses the rationales for genuine libertarians to vote for the big-L Party, in case you wanted something other than Naderesque logic. Not that having the other guy on the receiving end of it will keep me awake at night, mind you.

[Michael] Peroutka, the Constitution nominee, said a Kerry victory could even help the conservative cause by prompting Republicans in Congress, who have approved Bush's spending increases, to oppose similar measures proposed by Kerry.

Mark Schmitt has some useful advice for John Kerry in the hoped-for event that he finds himself needing to push legislation through a recalcitrant Congress. The good news is that if Kerry's smart about it, he can probably neutralize the pushback Peroutka visualizes.

(Reuters story via Alan D. Williams.)

Speaking of Nader, I see he's named a Greenie as his running mate, presumably to win their nomination again so he can get on more state ballots, something he's having a hard time doing even in places where he's claimed to collect enough signatures, like Arizona. As Ezra points out, there's not much else that his choice does for him, and that's assuming he actually does get the Green nod, something which is not exactly assured.

I've been getting emails from the folks at The Nader Factor, whose mission is "dedicated to building a dynamic grassroots community of former Nader voters, Nader supporters, progressive Democrats and others who are uniting to change the destructive White House policies." More power to them and all, but I can't say I have a whole lot of hope that any remaining Nader supporters will truly change their minds between now and November. Still, if they can help to keep the ones they've got now in the Kerry camp, they'll get huzzahs from me.

UPDATE: Liberal Oasis suggests that John Kerry should come out in favor of altering the Commission on Presidential Debates' rules to allow all of these candidates a place at the podium. I doubt Kerry will do that, but LO makes a decent case for it.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on June 21, 2004 to The making of the President | TrackBack