Third Parties in 08: Can a third party have a good showing?

I personally think that we're at a turnpoint as a country. We need new blood and new ideas because we can't have voters always vote for the lesser of 2 evils. Will a third party do OK in the 08 elections (Congressional and Presidential)? I was thinking that if 1 of the 2 major parties screw up with whom they nominate, they'll be affected. If say Clinton and Giuliani win their nominations, I think we'll see somebody popular run for the Greens and also for the Libertarian and Constitution parties. Another possibility would be to have a third party unity ticket (Libertarian/ Constitution) or alliance. Will 08 be a good election for these parties that are given gerrymandered districts, no media coverage and harsh ballot acess laws or do we wait some years?

Third Parties in 08: Can a third party have a good showing?
I believe a good strong third party candidate, who is a moderate, would do very well in 2008. The Democratic Party will take a more leftist approach to the issues. They will counter GOP proposals with more social programs, and in order to balance the budget and lower the deficit will most likely have to raise taxes on the top 1% of wealthiest Americans. The Republicans will try to defend the policies of the previous 8 years. In doing so, they will be pushed to the right. If they don't defend the Bush administration it will appear as though they will have to admit it was a failure. Perot's Reform Party is still in operation, but needs a viable person to run. If Colin Powell were to be a candidate, he would win outright because he's got all the characteristics of a fair and honest man, intelligent, with great leadership qualities. If he won it wouldn't be politics as usual. He'd have a mandate to do many bold things such as true campaign finance reforms, ethic reforms, illegal immigration, foreign diplomatic missions, and so forth. He wouldn't be attached to either party. I can't think of anyone else that has the qualities to shake up the system like Powell could.
Reply:I'm with you for the most part. Neither major party will even address the private ownership of the Federal Reserve and most of their issues are fluff. However, I understand that no third party can put it together in 2008 and perhaps not even beyond.





People are conditioned to vote for either Demonrats or Republicans. My advice to you is to stick within the two party system and be a thorn for the issues you care about and feel are the most important.





For me, I'm with Congressman Ron Paul for the duration.
Reply:Nice idea, but a bit too optimistic at this time.
Reply:Third parties is a good idea. And let us pray it will work.
Reply:Only if it has good moral values and is moderate.
Reply:If the best the other two parties got is Hillary and McCain, yeah, even Perot could win.
Reply:You make some good points but I don't think a third political party will make any impact until they begin winning local and state elections. And they need to appeal to more than one group.


I think we are too focused on who runs for and wins the Presidential race.
Reply:Not in the presidential election and not in the bulk of the congressional elections. Even if the democrats and republicans both have weak candidates, it's still not likely. The system, the activists, the infrastructure, everything is set up for two parties. There would have to be a rich, or extremely good fundraising candidate, that appealed to a lot of Americans. It's possible, but I wouldn't count on it.