Barr Vs. Nader

thefadd.

Posted to Diary on Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 02:28:35 PM EST. RSS.

Who will figure bigger in the 08 election, Bob Barr or Ralph Nader?

While the LA Times has Obama up 12% straight up versus McCain, USA Today shows Obama with a 15% advantage upon figuring in the Barr/Nader factor, who I'm glad to see pulling 7% between them. Personally, I'd love to see them both in the race significantly and pulling 10-15% of the popular vote between the two of them come November. That would demonstrate significant third party holdings in 3 of the last 5 elections while still playing the role of equal opportunity spoilers. Does the presence of both third party candidates really hurt McCain more?

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5	Re: Is Treesandthings too full of Obamamaniacs? delete me. Thu Jun 26, 2008 at 12:04:18 AM EST 5.00 (astute, funny, informative)

I Support:
Obama     0 votes - 0 %
McCain     0 votes - 0 %
Barr     1 vote - 20 %
Nader     0 votes - 0 %
Shumway     4 votes - 80 %

I mean come on. He's the evil we know. And our guy. ;)

- derumi (del-me)
"Bobby Fischer? Man, that guy is crazy!" - Mike Tyson

2	I'm crushing in the poll Steve Urkel. Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 04:12:02 PM EST 4.00 (interesting)

Both lack a compelling issue and/or a compelling personality for people to rally around. Conservatives upset with McCain are more likely to stay home than vote for Barr since he went quasi-libertarian. Nader is played out among lefties, though I found the things he said today about Obama supporters amusing.

1	Re: Barr Vs. Nader pO157. Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 02:40:14 PM EST none

Well, Nader has the name recognition, but Barr has the Ron Paul contingent behind him, as well as the Libertarian party. It seems like Nader just kind of shows up a few months out of the election, like Dr. Scoda on an episode of Law & Order. So who knows.

Does the presence of both third party candidates really hurt McCain more?

I would figure Nader would pull more from Obama, and the Libertarian wing of the GOP supporting Barr more. But I have heard more and more disenchanted and disillusioned Democrats saying they are considering Barr, so who knows.

Interestingly, I live in a solid blue state and I saw my first ad for the general election the other day. A McCain one. I have not seen a single Obama ad yet. Do you think McCain is going to follow the Obama's primary strategy where he forced Clinton to campaign in her 'safe' states as well?

The only thing I can say is I really don't think the 3rd parties will pull completely from McCain.

4 1	Re: Barr Vs. Nader thefadd. Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 08:12:40 PM EST none

Which ad did you see? This one? It's so bizarre and the way Obama zips around the screen, I feel like it makes you want to vote for him instead of against him. Is this really a 21st Century political ad? In the Presidential race? I mean, wouldn't it be cool to be Dr. No? Then again, as the linked blog opines, I'm not one who fully gets the cultural reference and all.

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

7 4	Re: Barr Vs. Nader pO157. Thu Jun 26, 2008 at 08:15:54 AM EST none

I didn't see that one, but that is one for the archives. Sure, it's not as bad as Hillary for You and Me but she didn't make it to the final round.

One thing McCain has going for him: ABBA. His campaign song is apparently "Take a Chance on Me" which is cool*. If elected, he's going to put "Dancing Queen" as the White House elevator music. That's awesome.

Incidentally, that song was ruined for me during a performance of Mamma Mia!. It is woven into the musical in a scene where some creepy, overweight, tacky spinster chases some young guy around the stage. Of course it fits the lyrics, I guess, but now I see that every time I hear the song on the radio*.

**The best newspaper headline of all time was just after Yasser Arafat was replaced as head of the Palestinian National Authority: "Palestinians Take a Chance on Abbas!"

8 7	Re: Barr Vs. Nader pO157. Thu Jun 26, 2008 at 09:00:36 AM EST none

Daaaaaaaamn. You can't use asterisks to mark footnotes, I guess.

9 8	Re: Barr Vs. Nader port1080. Thu Jun 26, 2008 at 09:44:01 AM EST none

You can, but you can't do it in "Auto Format" mode. You have to either use "plain text" or "html formatted". There are some undocumented "shortcuts" in the Auto Format mode that allow you to use asterisks and some other characters to italicize or bold bits of text, etc. I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time, but I can't imagine why they bothered since it's easy enough to do all that with html (and you can still use html in the Auto Format mode).

3	Barr By A Nose. MayorBob. Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 05:14:09 PM EST none

I don't see either of them having much of an impact on the election. Either Obama continues to march unimpeded on a message of hope and change to November or his campaign comes unglued over some, as yet, unforeseen problem and McCain wins. Nader has become the Harold Stassen of the 21st century. Harold Stassen was the Republican who always showed up to throw his hat in the ring during primary season and always got his head handed to him. Stassen at least had the common sense to know if the larger party ain't buying your message there's no need to show up for the general election. But Nader has what sort of message to offer to any of us? He's Ralph Nader and he's running for president is all I gather. Bob Barr is a fresh face but, other than being a firm First Amendment guy, what sort of Libertarian is he? Remains to be seen I guess.

Illegitimi non carborundum.

6 3	Re: Barr By A Nose. wetkarma. Thu Jun 26, 2008 at 06:02:49 AM EST 4.00 (informative)

I'm voting for Barr.

He has a piss-poor record as a Libertarian, but like all strategic votes, my vote will occur in a non-swing state which will have 0 effect on the actual election result, but will some effect on the vote count for the Libertarian party.

Memory is a strange bell, jubilee and knell.

10 6	Re: Barr By A Nose. gerrymander. Thu Jun 26, 2008 at 10:36:31 AM EST none

That's kind of how I feel about voting for McCain in Chicago.

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thefadd.

Posted to Diary on Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 02:28:35 PM EST. RSS.

Re: Is Treesandthings too full of Obamamaniacs?

delete me.

Thu Jun 26, 2008 at 12:04:18 AM EST

5.00 (astute, funny, informative)

I'm crushing in the poll

Steve Urkel.

Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 04:12:02 PM EST

4.00 (interesting)

Re: Barr Vs. Nader

pO157.

Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 02:40:14 PM EST

1

Re: Barr Vs. Nader

thefadd.

Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 08:12:40 PM EST

4

Re: Barr Vs. Nader

pO157.

Thu Jun 26, 2008 at 08:15:54 AM EST

7

Re: Barr Vs. Nader

pO157.

Thu Jun 26, 2008 at 09:00:36 AM EST

8

Re: Barr Vs. Nader

port1080.

Thu Jun 26, 2008 at 09:44:01 AM EST

Barr By A Nose.

MayorBob.

Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 05:14:09 PM EST

3

Re: Barr By A Nose.

wetkarma.

Thu Jun 26, 2008 at 06:02:49 AM EST

4.00 (informative)

6

Re: Barr By A Nose.

gerrymander.

Thu Jun 26, 2008 at 10:36:31 AM EST