The Nader factor: A question for Kerry supporters

[vulturesrow]

Are those of you that support Kerry worried about Nader eroding support for Kerry in swing states as happened in the last electoral cycle? Im just sort of curious how you feel about it. There was an article at the NYT and The New Republic on this.

[Matty]

Yes, I am worried.

http://www.zogby.com/Soundbites/ReadClips.dbm?ID=9960

[ QUOTE ]
A spokeswoman for Zogby International, Shawnta Walcott, said that Zogby polls showed Mr. Nader drawing far more from Mr. Kerry. She said the polls, aggregated from March through last month, showed that if Mr. Nader was not an option, 41 percent of his supporters went to Mr. Kerry and 15 percent went to Mr. Bush. Thirty percent went elsewhere and 13 percent were undecided.

[/ QUOTE ]

[vulturesrow]

Grey,

Did you see the articles on NYT or The New Republic? I didnt link them because they require a registration(free). Also, I know RealClearPolitics has a nice graphic in tabular form showing the percentage Nader took in swing states in 2000 and how many he is pulling based on polls right now. I cant for the life of me seem to dig it up.

[jokerswild]

it's been obvious for a long time. He got on the ballot in most states because the Republicans had their ground game people getting signatures for him.

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
it's been obvious for a long time. He got on the ballot in most states because the Republicans had their ground game people getting signatures for him.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good, and if another party ever comes out that erodes support away from the republicans, I hope the democrats do the same. We could use more than two choices.

[SinCityGuy]

Third party candidates have always been a factor. Here in Nevada, Nader could draw some votes from Kerry, but the Libertarian candidate could draw votes from Bush.

Ralph Nader did not cost Al Gore the election in 2000. Al Gore cost Al Gore the election. If he hadn't run away from Bill Clinton, and utilized him on the campaign trail (especially in Arkansas and Florida), he probably would have won the election. In the end, Gore was a lousy candidate with nobody to blame but himself.

If John Kerry loses this election, it will be his fault, not Ralph Nader's.

[IrishHand]

[ QUOTE ]
We could use more than two choices.

[/ QUOTE ]

How truly you speak. I got the most pleasant surprise of the week when my brother's absentee ballot arrived in the mail yesterday. The state of Washington has fully nine candidates for the presidency on their ballot.

Of course, this pleasant surprise was quickly crushed by the realization that even though I've lived in WA for the past six months, I was totally unaware that there were going to be any more than 3 alternatives on the ballot. Not much use in being on the ballot if you get no publicity or media coverage.

I would love, absolutely love it if we had a full spectrum of parties and candidates. Maybe then we would actually be able to vote for a candidate or party that we like, as opposed to always being forced to choose between two unappealing options.

I, for one, will be spending the next couple of weeks researching the six alternatives that I didn't know I'd be getting until yesterday. I have the utmost faith that one of them will fit the bill.