King I think if the right 3rd party candidate got involved it just may. Ross Perot wasn't that far off in the general 1992 election. He recieived 19% of the popular vote, even though he didn't win any electoral college votes.

And the only reason a third party can't succeed is because of the defeatist view that it can't. It can succeed, but a lot of folks will have to get involved.

Co-ops do not exist and would take many years just to set up. That's the reason why corporate-whore Democrats and all the Republicans call for co-ops….they know they will have no effect whatsoever in creating competition.
Pure fig leaf.

The Democratic Party, as frank mentions, decided to whore itself for the campaign cash from corporations who are not looking out for anything but their profits.

The reason I am a Democrat is because, in principle, the Democratic Party is the only party that represents the people.

I wish anybody good luck with placing their hopes in a third party. It just ain't gonna' happen.

Very good links Andrea, thanks.

I had to pass this along, from the Rude Pundit's blog:

"Sometimes they are referred to as the 'radical Right.' But the fact is that there is nothing radical about them. They offer no novel solutions to the problems that plague them; indeed, they offer no solutions at all. They are immensely discontented with things as they are and furiously impatient with almost everyone in public office who can in any way be held responsible for their frustrations. But it cannot be said that they hold any clearly stated objectives or have any specific program either in common or individuals. They are fundamentally and temperamentally 'aginners.' And perhaps the commonest characteristic among them is anger. They can fairly be called, if nothing else, the Rampageous Right."

That's from Alan Barth, writing in the New York Times Magazine on November 26, 1961, talking about, among other things, the rise in conservative activist anger about discussions of starting Medicare. Barth continued that to this group of right wingers, "socialism is an epithet applied indiscriminately to almost any form of collective endeavor. Thus, any governmentally operated insurance program to provide medical care for the elderly is denounced as Socialist." To them, welfare and "even the progressive income tax are all looked upon as satanically inspired deviations from capitalism." Also driving this anger were groups like the John Birch Society (which still exists) talking about Communist infiltration into the civil rights movement and the Democratic Party, a trifecta of a conspiracy theory. Barth mentions how well-funded the groups were by wealthy donors and corporations.

And here's one more tidbit: "Most frenetic of the fanatics is the group calling itself the Minutemen…They have actually organized themselves into armed bands of civilian guerrillas." President John F. Kennedy didn't say he understood how they felt. He mocked such extremism for being idiotic.