Contrast pre-Iraq war views of Bob Graham and the Clintons. We need to remember.

[Jim Lane]

69. I already answered your question.

You write, "Why are minor party candidates a terrible idea? Because the media tells you so?"

So you start off with the speculation that anyone with an opinion different from yours might be a brainless sheep who's just obeying the media.

(In my experience, some people who disagree with me are brainless sheep, but I usually don't find that a useful starting point, even if I get there eventually.)

As to the answer to your question, what I wrote was: "A minor-party candidate who actually had widespread popular support could win the primary of the major party that was closer to his or her views."

The other key factor is that there are millions of voters who aren't very political and who will more or less automatically vote for the major party that they identify with. Many of them don't even show up for the primary.

I really can't conceive of a circumstance in which a strongly progressive, antiwar candidate (favoring single payer and taking a host of other progressive stances) would be able to win the presidential election as a minor-party candidate, but would be unable to win the Democratic nomination. The reverse, on the other hand, is very easy to envision.