Nader: The Stealth Threat; Badnarik: Not So Much

At The Daily Standard, Mark Continelli makes a persuasive case that independent candidate Ralph Nader, shibboleth of the "Anyone but Bush" crowd, is doing pretty darn well. I would remind readers that Nader is still polling a pretty steady 6% -- well above his pace in 2000. And that's with the Dems and their friends in the media working against him!

Over on the Libertarian side, it's not looking so good. The party chose Mike Badnarik in a surprise over the two leading candidates. Badnarik isn't looking like an especially strong or appealing candidate. Chris over at Signifying Nothing weighs in with some insights and links.

On Neal Boortz yesterday, he mentioned that during a lull in the convention proceedings on C-SPAN over the weekend, the LP used the opportunity to speak directly with America about who we are and what we offer, to present a film about an American who moved to Canada to grow medical marijuana! Real good PR job, nutwads. I really wish someone would take over the remains of the Reform Party, which may be hijacked by Nader to bolster his ballot access, and infuse it with libertarian values without the purist / absolutist nonsense. Stress individual rights, property rights, reduced government and market it to the voters. Let the Libertarians have the purism and in a few years the relaunched Reform can absorb them the same way the Democrats did with the Socialists some decades ago.

Lastly, things still don't go well for Kerry, despite what the press and media make you think. Look at this poll and this one. You'll see that while GW Bush's numbers move up and down, Kerry's have yet to rise above the mid-40's. He is in a quagmire! No matter Kerry's speeches or Bush's "failures" in Iraq, Kerry is treading water and still not gaining traction. Iraq just successfully installed their provisional government. Bill Clinton's book is coming out soon and will overshadow Kerry, sucking air from his candidacy's mediasphere. Then comes the handover of power in Iraq. Then the conventions, which may get the least amount of network coverage yet from the Big Four.

Reason to hope, for conservative types.