What if Nader and Buchanan hadn't been excluded from the 2000 presidential debates?

[Street_Disciple]

What impact, if any, would those two candidates have had on both the American political culture and the 2000 election? How might this have affected the election, and public opinion?

 

[Beck Reilly]

They'd both end up leeching off their respective ends of the political spectrum, stealing votes from the major candidates. I suspect, however, that neither would win a single electoral vote. We'd see a Bush victory, with Nader hurting Gore worse than Buchanan would hurt Bush. A split something like:

47% - Bush
45% - Gore
5% - Nader
2% - Buchanan
<1% - Other

 

[MerryPrankster]

Did the Libertarians get excluded too? I bet they did, or decided that they didn't want to impose on taxpayers by participating (!).

 

[Torqumada]

For the most part, Political debates almost always happen between the 2 big parties and no one else is invited to attend. I think the big exception to the rule is Ross Perot. In 1996, 4 3rd party candidates were invited to a debate that didn't include Clinton or Dole. That is where I learned of the Libertarian party. It was an interesting debate. The debate was held on C-Span. 3 of the candidates (Libertarian, Natural Law/Constitution and Green party) spent much of the rest of the election season touring the talk shows as a trio doing mini debates.

THe 2 big parites control the debates. Do you think they might invite someone who may tip things in a direction neither of them want?

Torqumada

 

[Mike Collins]

They'd both end up leeching off their respective ends of the political spectrum, stealing votes from the major candidates. I suspect, however, that neither would win a single electoral vote. We'd see a Bush victory, with Nader hurting Gore worse than Buchanan would hurt Bush. A split something like:

47% - Bush
45% - Gore
5% - Nader
2% - Buchanan
<1% - Other

Dont know about the stats you give but agree with the eventual outcome. Although Pat Buchanan is usually a persuasive speaker, he can get a bit loopy. Given the solid conservative support behind GWB, I dont see him loosing many votes. Ralph Nader is could have done better if he was allow to debate. More because his message would resonate with the Democrat faithful.

One interesting thing you point out is it could give W a small majority of the popular vote. This would rid us of all the stole the election/selected not elected garbage thats been spewed out in the past years......