(If this has been diaried - apologies - and I will delete)
Political junkies have often blamed Ralph Nader for siphoning votes from Democratic Presidential candidates...and certainly a look at the pure stats seems to confirm this. More over the jump.
For example, many have argued that in the 2000 Presidential Primary Race, Nader's 2% (96,837 votes) arguably tanked Gore in FL. I do not, however, intend to enter the debate regarding the value/validity of 3rd Party Candidates; but like it or not, they can be game-changers. Well this year, Nader is still around (although surely the shine has worn off) and he is joined be a couple of other folks who might just work against the McSame Pain ticket: Ron Paul and Bob Barr.
To that end...we should keep an eye on their relative success in getting on ballots across the nation. Ron Paul is already on the Montana Ballot, along with Barr. The folks up in Montana seem to think it will make a difference.
Perhaps, more significantly, Bob Barr will be on the Ballot in Pennsylvania (via AP):
Judge: Barr will be on Pa.'s presidential ballot Mon Sep 15, 8:22 PM ET
A Pennsylvania judge's ruling that keeps Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr on the ballot will force Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama to take him seriously in a key battleground state, a Barr campaign spokesman said Monday.
The major-party candidates "will have to compete for the votes of Pennsylvania citizens instead of taking them for granted," Russell Verney, Barr's campaign manager said in a statement.
The challenge to Barr, a former Republican congressman from Georgia who some GOP strategists fear might siphon votes from McCain, was filed by Harrisburg lawyer Victor Stabile, who also is chairman of the Cumberland County Republican Party.
Commonwealth Court Judge Johnny Butler rejected arguments that the party tricked voters by gathering signatures under another candidate's name and substituting Barr's name in August, three months after he was nominated at its national convention.
The Libertarians' intent "was to comply with the (state) election code, not to mislead Pennsylvania's voters," Butler wrote.
Butler said the original candidate, Rochelle Etzel, always understood that she would be only a placeholder and that the national party's nominee would eventually be substituted.
"Etzel took no steps to form a committee, to actively seek the office of president or to place her name on the ballot in other states," he said.
Lawyers for both sides did not return telephone messages seeking comment.
As we learned in the primaries, social conservatism has a strong presence in PA and Barr's presence on the ballot is more likely to hurt McCain than Obama...especially as Palin's star begins to fade.