I would rather vote for Al Gore as a write in vote than waste my vote for Steven Colbert. So much money is waste on these campaigns. What kind of message could be sent if we could elect a President who didn't run a campaign?

JOLEE - Okay, I see what you mean.

Hey guys, I hate to break it to you but Colbert in real life is a conservative.
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You could not possibly be more wrong.

Also... you folks on here winning about Nader putting Bush in office- that is a such small percentage there... we're talking 1-2 percent. The best example of an independent screwing with an election was when Ross Peroe got almost 20% of the vote and Bush #1 lost to Clinton as a result. That was a MUCH bigger deal. But guess what, independent canidates have as much right as anyone to run. Our country was not founded on a 2 party system. I realize this is not a political website but people are posting on here as if they know something about politics, which they clearly don't. It's irresponsible because kids read this stuff and need to think for themselves. Lastly, Bush won the election in 00 and by an even bigger margin in 04. Get over it. Nader was running both times had much more impact in 00 than 04. Nader has as much right to run for office as anyone else.

JOLEE!! Long time no talkie! So, what couldn't you believe about what we were saying about the independents? I mean, I don't have anything against independents at all. I totally think we should have 3 viable parties, if not more!

However, I do think that if an independent candidate like Nadar was not in the mix in the elections, many of those votes that went independent would have gone democrat. Who knows, maybe if Nadar weren't in the election his voters just wouldn't have voted. I don't know. I just think that many of the independent votes would have gone to the democrats and may have swung the election to the democrats insead of Bush.

Who knows though...this is just my hypothesis. I wasn't in any way trying to bash independents, and I hope you weren't thinking that. I really wish independents had more of a say in the entire party system!

Sorry KATE, I just read the rest of the posts and now I see what you're saying. Nevermind my last comment to you. :)

6:12 PM Kate Says:

When it comes to the presidential election, there is only ONE candidate from each party. If Colbert was to run, he would have to beat Clinton, or Obama out to become the democratic candidate.

In the last presidential election a lot of liberal votes went to Ralph Nader instead of Kerry, which is why we now have Bush Jr. in office. Now in this election a bunch of liberal votes will go to Colbert which could later end up costing a democrate going into office again. I would have thought that Colbert, being a smart guy, would think about the possible consequences of running for president.

Bust me out? What the hell does that mean? ET what are you some crazy # cruncher?

anybody watch the democratic debate the other night? I wanted to get up there and slap them! Why are they fighting amongst themselves? They should be trashing Guiliani, Romney and Huckleberry Finn instead of going after each other!

What an idiot. Seriously, he makes a mockery of the whole system. I'm not saying the people we have running these days are perfect, but to make a joke out of the whole thing is disgusting. I don't find this moron funny whatsoever.

Amazingly, I have to again agree with MCET that the independents were responsible for turning the election to the conservatives. Many independents would have voted democrat had it just been Gore and Bush. But when Nader was thrown into the mix, votes were taken away from Gore and given to Nadar (who had absolutely no chance in hell at winning!). But hey, that's all fine with me! I'm a conservative and although I haven't been pleased about EVERY aspect of this administration, I think we've faired better with Bush than wwe would have with Gore. I'm happy that we haven't been attacked in 6 years and my taxes aren't through the roof!

Final certified vote for the state of Florida (25 electoral votes) Presidential Candidate Vote Total % Party

George W. Bush (W) 2,912,790 48.850 Republican
Al Gore 2,912,253 48.841 Democratic
Ralph Nader 97,421 1.633 Green
Patrick J. Buchanan 17,412 0.292 Reform
Harry Browne 16,102 0.270 Libertarian
John Hagelin 2,274 0.038 Natural Law/Reform
Howard Phillips 1,378 0.023 Constitution
Other 3,027 0.051 —
Total 5,962,657

The Nader votes would have decidedly given Florida to Gore.

Be realistic. A third party is not there yet. The Nader voters were the difference in the 2000 election.

He really is doin it, huh? And the funny thing is I will probably vote for him.