Just when you thought that the Reform Party couldn't get any more incoherent and lacking in principles of any variety, it endorses Ralph Nader. Recall that their last presidential candidate was Patrick J. Buchanan.

What a joke.

It's good news for Bush, though--it will put Nader on the ballot in a lot of states he wouldn't otherwise get.

OTOH, it does indicate to me that Nader probably will appeal to conservatives better than he did last time around when he was strictly a Green party candidate. I think more generally that if there is a successful third party candidate, this will be the approach they have to use. Namely, picking up endorsements from the larger third parties together with really weak candidates from the two big parties.

Karl, how do you figure? Regardless of party, Nader is still Nader.

The Reform Party label may net him votes of some people right-of-center, but those Buchanan voters are no more likely to turn out for Bush than for Kerry, so it's a wash.

Cant say it speaks well for Bush's prospects that Nader getting onto a few ballots is worth calling good news.

Nathan:

Look at it this way: If Nader DIDN'T get on ballots, the Kerry people (at this point) would be noting that this was "good news".

Unless it's a blow-out (and it's almost certainly too early to tell), American politics is a zero-sum game of percentages. IF you believe that the nation is very polarized, then even a few percent, especially in key states, will make all the difference.

I think Nader is much closer to Pat Buchanan then you think. They are both pseudo-populist, anti-war, ultra-isolationist anti-Semites. I think the only point where they diverge is anti-communism, which in the post-Soviet era is pretty much a dead issue.