BY DAN
KENNEDY
Serving the reality-based community since 2002.
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Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Buchanan and Nader: a contrarian
view. Anthony Schinella wrote
recently that exit polling in New Hampshire and Florida in 2000
showed Ralph Nader pulled just as many votes from Republicans as he
did from Democrats. Schinella - a diehard Nader supporter - concludes
that Nader did not cost Al Gore the presidency.
I don't doubt Schinella's numbers,
but sorry, I'm not buying his overall thesis. For instance,
here
is David Rosenbaum in today's New York Times:
Mr. Nader said at the
Press Club that surveys of voters leaving the polls showed he had
received more Republican votes than Democratic votes in New
Hampshire in 2000.
That is true. New Hampshire has
30 percent more registered Republicans than registered Democrats.
But people there did not vote a
straight party line for president in 2000. On the question of whom
they would have voted for with only two candidates on the ballot,
3 percent of those who said they would have voted for Mr. Gore
voted for Mr. Nader, and only 2 percent of voters who said they
would have voted for Mr. Bush voted for Mr. Nader.
Nationally, Rosenbaum adds, Nader
voters preferred Gore over Bush by a margin of 45 percent to 27
percent. Nader voters also supported Democratic congressional
candidates over Republicans by 58 percent to 27 percent. I mean, come
on. Is this clear enough?
Schinella corrects me on the number
of electoral votes that New Hampshire casts: four, not
three.
Declaration of independence.
Erstwhile Bush supporter Andrew Sullivan writes,
"The president launched a war today against the civil rights of gay
citizens and their families."
The text
of Bush's message today in support of a constitutional amendment to
ban gay marriage is astonishing. This borders on hate speech. I may
wind up eating my words, but my first reaction is that Bush is in
full panic mode, and that he's going to end up alienating
middle-of-the-road voters this fall.
posted at 2:31 PM |
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Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
