Text 20407, 52 rader
Skriven 2013-11-03 15:31:00 av Bill McGarrity (3526.2fidonews)
  Kommentar till text 11106 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
Ärende: Re: US bashing?
=======================
-=> Ward Dossche wrote to Lee Lofaso <=-
 LL> Until the War of Southern Independence (1861-1865) the USA had
 LL> multi-party elections, including for president.  Only after that
 LL> period of time did Democrats and Republicans conspire to bring
 LL> about a two-party system.  And even then, third-party candidates
 LL> sometimes screw things up by jumping in a presidential race.
 LL> George C. Wallace was the last third-party candidate who upset
 LL> the apple cart by winning electoral votes which otherwise would
 LL> have gone to the Democratic or Republican candidate.  That was
 LL> in 1968.

Actually, even though Wallace was "technically" a Democrat, he certainly
leanded towards the GOP when it came down to actual politics.  I can only
assume it was a play by the GOP to split the Democratic vote to be more
favorable towards Nixon.  Alas, Wallace did carry 46 electroal votes and over
9.9 million votes but would not have made a difference in the actual outcome,
even if all 46 were given to Humphrey. The theory is, where would the US be
today if say 2/3 of the votes cast for Wallace went to Humphrey.  The actual
popular election was decided by a little more than 500,000 votes. Imagine if he
won the popular by over 3 million votes and still lost? Again, in 2000, Gore
won the popular vote by 500,000 but Nadar didn't carry any electoral votes, so
that is moot. Florida was the straw that broke the camels back. In no way
should the SCOTUS have decided that outcome.  A travesty.   

 WD> You obviously forget the role of 3rd party candidates, even when not
 WD> securing electoral votes.

 WD> In 2000 Ralph Nader won 2.882.955 votes which in certain disputed
 WD> states would've made tilt the outcome towards Al Gore.

As I said above, Gore already won the popular vote so Nadar's votes were moot
persay.  If indeed those votes swung a state (I would only think that North
Carolina or New Hampshire would have been the deciding swing states that put
Gore over the top.)   He got screwed when the conservative leaning SCOTUS got
involved.  

 WD> I think the same can be said about Ross Perot who lost the presidency
 WD> because of his assinine conduct towards campaign advisors (not that I
 WD> would have favored him).

 
Bill

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