Packed '04 Dem field proves Dems know Nader helped them in 00?

[AP]

Reflecting on '00, and comparing it to '04, one thing is very apparent: more diverse voices among candidtes means more people are drawn to the campaigns.

America used to have much higher turnout for elections. Then the people in power cracked down and made it harder for third parties to get on the ballots. Since then, participation has dropped becaue people in the middle don't see significant differences bewteen parties, and people at the extremes don't see candidates who say what they want to hear.

In 2000, a big problem with the Democratic primary was that there were only two candidates, and neither was very exciting. Nader brought interested people into the game. You know that 90% of people who preferred Nader over all other candidates ended up voting for someone else. If Nader had not been involved, a big chunk of those voters might never have gotten involved.

I think the Democrats have done a great job this year of brining in lots of different voices, representing different wings, and the result: RECORD PARTICIPATION in the primaries. I think many of those voters are sufficiently engaged that they will vote for any Democrat who is nominated.

I think that the fact that there are so many diverse voices is an implicit recognition that Nader might have done a lot of good by making the race interesting.

[THUNDER HANDS]

1. all the same

I'd rather Nader dropped out a week or two prior to the election. He proved his point AND messed the country up tremendously in the process.

[JI7]

3. how come clinton didn't have a problem with nader ?

nader ran both times when clinton was president didn't he? clinton was able to deal with it.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. '92-Perot; 96-Buchanan.

[JI7]

5. without perot clinton would have got more votes

.

[Jackpine Radical]

6. I really don't think so.

Perot provided a libertarian-flavored alternative to Bush I.

[genius]

2. No. These candidates won't run against each other in the GE

Now it's about deciding which can beat Bush. We need to stilck together to beat Bush and Nader wouldn't do that in 00. If Kucinich is the nominee, I understand that Nader won't run so we might want to consider that when we vote.

[Jackpine Radical]

7. This thread officially killed

courtesy Jackpine Radical