The Hidden Swing State?

rwiedower writes "What if all the Nader voters lived in a single state? Kerry would have to court them and their electoral votes just like he pursues union workers in Ohio and senior citizens in Florida. Now, in the two weeks before the election, Nader's 1% might well be a deciding factor. And Nader voters, sick of being told that a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush, have formed a loose coalition demanding to be treated for what they are--a swing state."

Comments

Why are Nader voters and his party so cluess?

[Zachary Kessin]

I have been wondering this for a while...

Why is it that Ralph Nader and his supporters are doing thier best to ingore how the US Electoral system acutally works? The chance that Ralph Nader will be elected president is exactly 0. In spending his political capital running for an office he can not posibly win he is insuring a minimal return on investment. Which is to say that the ideals that he stands for will not have someone to actually push them in any sort of elected capacity. If he were to spend his time trying to get elected to lower offices such as a state legislative seat. Then he may be able to make some of his adjenda happen.

If the Green party where to run a number of people for various state level posts and win a few key races they might be in a position to tilt a majority one way or the other here and there. Having that ability will lead to real if limited power. A party that can deliver a enough votes in a legislative body to tilt the ballance to one side or another can negotiate to get some of there ideal implemented. Not all but some.

A party that runs someone for president and gets 2% of the vote in the US has no ability to do anything of use. The mesure of success of a political party is its ability to take the things it stands for and do them. At that level the US green party is a stunning falure.