Politics

One of the chief lessons, for Democrats, of 2000 that's being carried into 2008 is the danger of voting for third parties. Support for third parties can sap support for Democrats and throw the election to Republicans. To solve this, the Democrats appear to have adopted a strategy certain to win: Nominate the candidate least acceptable to those likely to vote third party (viz., Hillary Clinton) and then threaten those third party voters, telling them that if they don't vote for Hillary they're bringing fascism upon themselves.

Now obviously there's still a long way to go, but this seems to be the way things are heading. And I'd just like to say: If you want to move people from third parties into your tent, nominate someone that they would actually like to vote for! Don't threaten them - nominate a better candidate. That is the lesson of 2000. You need something to appeal to the liberals as well as to the moderates.