Academic

Nader - Gonzalez Gift Missouri To McCain

By Dan Filler

The results from the Show Me State are finally in, and it turns out that McCain beat Obama in Missouri by a paltry 3,632 votes. It may be a minor detail, true enough, but it's worth noting that Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez pretty much handed John McCain this victory.  Take a look at the certified results.  Nader nabbed 17,813 votes - and it's hard to believe that many of these voters were chosing between Nader and McCain.  On the other hand, Bob Barr and Wayne Root scored 11,386 votes - votes that might well have gone to the GOP.  Subtract the Barr vote from the Nader vote, and you find over 6400 likely Democratic votes - enough to tilt the state to Obama. 

I haven't checked other close states to see if third parties would have made a difference.  But both Nader and Barr can now claim their candidices made a difference...though hardly a significant one.  It's worth noting that while third party candidates are still unlikely to win a race, their presence always holds the potential to be consequential. 

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on November 20, 2008 (boomark / email).