Third Parties

[John Dibble]

Seems this was an overall bad year for third parties. I guess people felt there was too much on the line. Still, Badnarik did well, almost beat Nader. Hopefully we'll come in third(or better would be better) in 2008.

[John Dibble]

Current CNN standings...
Nader 389,458
Badnarik 371,600
Peroutka 127,649
Cobb 102,666
others 55,839
Adding errors mine. Figures still subject to minor increases.
Nader came third in 34 states and DC
Badnarik came third in 14 states, most of which didn't have Nader on the ballot
Cobb came third in Hawai'i
Nobody came third in Oklahoma, as there were only two options

Badnarik did pretty well. Indiana gave him 1%. Good show Libertarians!

I disagree.  We were on a lot more states than Nader and still didn't get more votes than him.  If I recall correctly we also got fewer votes than in 2000.  Finally we were promised 1 million votes by the campaign this is result is a complete failure and reinforces the Loosertarian image we already have.  If this time and money had been spent on local campaigns we would be a lot closer to our goal.

I don't ever remember being promised any number of votes. I do remember that they hoped for a million votes. If the atmosphere this election was the same as the 2000 election, we would have done better. Also Nader would have done worse in NH if Badnarik had been on the ballot there.

I do agree we should have spent more on local elections though. Actually, if we want anything to change we need to work for electoral reform. I'm going to do my best to get approval voting legislation in Georgia.

[John Dibble]

I do agree we should have spent more on local elections though. Actually, if we want anything to change we need to work for electoral reform. I'm going to do my best to get approval voting legislation in Georgia.

The electoral system is fine as it is.   In order to win we must be a majority somewhere (or in a 3 way race 33%).  If we cannot be a majority somewhere on the local level then we have no business being in politics.

No. The electoral system WOULD be fine if people would vote for the candidate that actually reflects their views, but they believe they throw away their vote if they vote third party - thusly the current system really only works well with two parties. Also, 33% is not a majority, it's a plurality - another problem, should 33% of the population decide who represents the other 67%?