Nader is getting his debate tonight, but only he and Chuck Baldwin of the far right constitution party is showing up.
It was a disappointment. There was going to be a debate among third party candidates last Sunday, but it didn?t happen. It was going to be a big event, with coverage on C-SPAN and several large websites. But after initial acceptance by three of four minor candidates invited (McCain and Obama were invited too, but nobody thought they would show up), Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney decided she had better things to do, and apparently the Constitution Party's Chuck Baldwin wasn?t sure he had the time either. So rather than just have Ralph Nader debate himself, the event was postponed to tonight. Barr and McKinney won?t show up, so it?ll be just Nader and Baldwin on stage at the Mayflower Renaissance Hotel in DC at 9:00 PM.
The question is why exactly are McKinney and Barr boycotting this thing. The above answer to the above question is yes, although not many, and groups with microscopic followings like the Libertarian or Green parties need all the publicity they can get. At least Ralph Nader and Chuck Baldwin admit to this.
Barr doesn?t seem to get it. He thinks he?s too big for this sort of thing. He and Nader have been very vocal in trying to crash the big boy?s debates (Palin being a “boy” for our purposes), and his refusal to appear on the same stage with Baldwin and McKinney seems to be really arrogant and self-defeating. However, he does have a bit of a point, after all, he might be able to swing Georgia to Obama, much like Pat Buchanan swung New Mexico to Gore in 2000, but that doesn?t mean that getting one?s message out to a wider audience than one would normally get is a bad idea, which makes McKinney?s boycott all the more puzzling.
McKinney is getting something like 0.05% of the vote in polls. The reason that she even got the nomination was that she had a slight claim to fame as an “oppressed” congressperson. However, she?s intelligent enough to know that it?s worth the trip to DC just to get a soundbite or two on one of the cable news networks. She was in DC last night campaigning. So what gives?
There are two types of third parties: Philosphic and fan clubs. Take the Reform party, which was basically the Ross Perot fan club and collapsed when he decided not to run again in 2000. When they nominated Ralph Nader last time out, after giving the nod to Pat Buchanan four years before, they showed that they were without a reason for being anymore. The remnants of this group are on the ballot in just one state, Mississippi.
The Green and Libertarian parties on the other hand are philosophic They are based on certain principles and mostly stick to them. Then why nominate Barr and McKinney? Well, from here on the sidelines, it appears that even though their congressional careers are over, they still have the smell of sawdust in their noses and long for the adulation they once had, and the parties need someone at least a third the way famous to keep their profile up. The Barr/McKinney boycott of the debate will defeat the purpose of their nominations.
Which brings us to Nader and Baldwin. They agree on practically nothing except for their contempt for Obama and McCain, and thus, we may have some genuine entertainment value on what is an otherwise pointless race for the bronze.
It?s something to think about if you can?t afford a trip to the movies.