End of third parties? [View All]

Nader, Barr and McKinney received 1% of the national vote combined, heck our candidate for Soil and Water Commissioner in Mecklenburg County, NC got almost twice as many votes as McKinney got nationally.

Do third parties have a chance here in the US or have they had their place in the sun and are fading away? I have a little history here: I was a national co-chair of the Green Party during the 2004 national elections so I know intimately what they are up against.

Even in states where they have few hurdles to leap to get on the ballot the results were not good for these three.

This thread is not a place to interject your personal feelings concerning the candidates but just simply a question about the viability of third parties in our electoral system.