Comments on: Third Parties

By: harry

harry — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 21:26:04 +0000

let Ralph get onto state ballots, even though he clearly has in his hand a petition signed by Donald Duck eighteen thousand times. In Wisconsin, the Dems put a lot of money and effort into getting him off the ballot, despite the fact that doing so will disadvantage Dems in close races, and desptie the fact that it was pretty clear from the beginning that there was nothing untoward about his qualifications; only partisan control of the judiciary would have won it for them. They are displaying an ‘any means necessary’ mentality. In doing so they, ironically, have opened themselves up to reasonable-sounding attacks from Republicans who can paint them as not really interested in wide participation and democracy (as they like to say they are). They have probably lost some votes among moderates. They have not, in the end, succeeded, to the probable relief of some of their candidates who, in close races, will be glad of the voters Nader brings out (who will vote for them as well as Nader). The WFP simply faces the straightforward problem of all third parties in fusion states—once you get influential they’ll try to absorb you. It will not be attacked, but not because its not a real thrid party, but because in fusion states third parties aren’t spoilers unless they try to be. Once they field candidates against Dems they will face exactly the same opposition Nader has. BTW, I’m not pro-Nader. But the Dems can get off their high horse about purity when attacing Republicans.

By: JPed

JPed — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 20:42:16 +0000

Are you saying cartoon characters don’t have a right to vote? Or was your point that he should have been registered in Chicago, where voter fraud is a sacred tradition?

By: Anticorium

Anticorium — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 20:00:24 +0000

the Orwellian hate campaign being mounted against Ralph Nader By this, I can only assume you refer to the Democrats cruelly refusing to let Ralph get onto state ballots, even though he clearly has in his hand a petition signed by Donald Duck eighteen thousand times.

By: R J Keefe

R J Keefe — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 19:18:19 +0000

By sheer chance, I glanced at this post a minute before I walked out the door to vote.Great idea! I was surprised that WFP hadn’t proposed an alternative to Pete Grannis, our Yorkville Assemblyman. I have always voted for him, and I have nothing against him, but Liz Krueger (our State Senator and Joan of Arc) he ain’t.

By: Uncle Kvetch

Uncle Kvetch — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 18:22:34 +0000

The Working Families Party is a gussied up version of the discredited Liberal Party. That’s completely untrue. There’s no relationship between the two. The WFP was formed by various New York state chapters of the now-dormant New Party. It was able to finally displace the Liberal party from the ballot because it has a bona fide grassroots organization, whereas the Liberal “Party” was essentially a patronage machine.

By: Louis Proyect

Louis Proyect — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 18:05:02 +0000

The Working Families Party is a gussied up version of the discredited Liberal Party. It simply exists to provide an alternative ballot line for Democrats. If it were a serious third party challenge, it would be subjected to the Orwellian hate campaign being mounted against Ralph Nader this year.

By: a

Tue, 02 Nov 2004 17:57:12 +0000

You know, at leat in upstate New York, the Independence and Conservative parties have, as far as I’ve seen, split their endorsements between third candidates and the two majors. I remember in Ulster County there was a four month-long negotiatiations as to which slate of candidates the Conservatives’d back

By: poll troll

poll troll — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 17:11:52 +0000

Best Poll for undecided Voters; Since 1956, Weekly Reader students in grades 1-12 have correctly picked the president http://www.weeklyreader.com/election_vote.asp Weekly Reader kids select Bush in Presidential Poll The students who read Weekly Reader’s magazines have made their preference for President known: they want to send President Bush back to the White House. The results of this year’s Weekly Reader poll have just been announced, and the winner is President Bush. Hundreds of thousands of students participated, giving the Republican President more than 60% of the votes cast and making him a decisive choice over Democratic Senator John Kerry. Since 1956, Weekly Reader students in grades 1-12 have correctly picked the president, making the Weekly Reader poll one of the most accurate predictors of presidential outcomes in history.

By: Matt Weiner

Matt Weiner — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 17:08:42 +0000

Fyrelyfe, I think the point is that a vote on the WFP line is a vote for Kerry (and Schumer). New York is one of the few states that allows fusion ticketing, where a candidate can appear on more than one party’s line.

By: fyreflye

fyreflye — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 16:57:06 +0000

If Kerry wins the electoral college but comes up short in the popular vote (not as unlikely as you may think) those WFP votes will have enabled a claim of “illegitimacy” that the Republicans will be flogging for the next four years. Kerry needs every vote everywhere.

By: leppojoove

leppojoove — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 16:56:13 +0000

That is one thing I really miss about voting in NY (I grew up in NY but I’ve lived in Ohio for the last seven years)—there are more than two parties in NY, and it was nice to vote for the Democratic candidates on the Liberal line (now replaced more or less by the Working Families Party). That way I could be an idealist and a realist at the same time, by showing my displeasure with the Democrats, but still voting for the best realistic candidate available. In Ohio, there’s only one party, plus a group that shows up for a few weeks at election time that calls itself the Democratic Party. (Does this Eric Fingerhut guy really exist?)

By: jonathan

jonathan — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 16:37:17 +0000

As a New York resident, I’ve been a strong supporter of WFP since its inception. Thanks for the reminder as I prepare to hike to Brooklyn to cast my ballot.

By: Ken Houghton

Ken Houghton — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 14:29:29 +0000

I think it was Eric Alterman said the same thing in 2000 or 2002. It was correct then, and it’s correct now.