[Consort]

It's the voters, stupid.

[Indie]

Third parties, the bane of the political establishment, are making things tough on Mr. Bush and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, at least rhetorically.

So?

The election is the candidate's to lose. They..even Bush...can blame nobody but themselves, especially if they lose because they turned away from their core supporters.

When you leave the ones who brung ya' behind, you can't blame third parties for your loss.

[MadIvan]

There is a time and place for everything - and considered opposition will take this into account. I myself am a 3rd party voter in the UK - I voted UKIP. However the time and the place to vote that way was during the European and local elections. When it comes to my MP, I'm going to do everything I can throw the Labour blighter out of office - which will likely mean voting Tory. The voter must remember the ugly truth - idealism is often best served by not slavish adherence to one's ideals, but by nudging the system in the right direction.

Similarly, there was a time to make one's protest heard - it was local elections and state elections and elections to the House and even the Presidential primary. However the voter now has to ask - will the ideals they want to push forward be best served by contributing to a Kerry victory? Unlikely.

Having said that, I hope our left wing friends are more mad than we are in the pursuit of purity over practicality. ;)

Regards, Ivan

[Katya]

Half the people don't bother or care enough to vote...and yet everyone demonizes third party candidates because they attract a small percentage of actual voters.