Caffert y & Crowley talk about 3rd Parties yet don't mention...

the following.

The Electoral System

Repeal the 12th amendment, reforming the electoral college, standardizing party qualifications in the states, qualified and free access to public airwaves.

1.Uniform Ballot Access
2.Loosen Third Party Ballot Restrictions
3.Universal Voter Registration
4.Election Day Holiday
5.Equal Media Access/Debate Inclusion
6.Instant Runoff Voting (IRV)
7.Secure Voting Machines
8.Public Campaign Financing
9.Direct Popular Vote Election of the President
10.DC Congressional Representation

But the Commission on Presidential Debates -- set up 13 years ago by the two major parties and amply funded by large corporations -- knows what's best for its backers. The commission is insisting on a strict 15-percent-in-the-polls threshold for participation, a requirement that seems sure to limit the debates to Bush and Gore.

Despite its civic-minded pose, the commission has always been looking out for the interests of the Democratic and Republican parties. It arrived on the political scene in 1987 to hijack the nation's presidential debates -- while ousting the nonpartisan League of Women Voters, a group viewed by the major parties' hierarchies as insufficiently subservient to their desires. At the outset, a New York Times headline got it right: "Democrats and Republicans Form Panel to Hold Presidential Debates."

how difficult it is to run as a 3rd party, and the hurdles you face. Very daunting and I think that needs to be changed, though as Crowley alluded, where to start?

Reform the electoral college, standardizing party qualifications in the states, qualified and free access to public airwaves.

Clean Elections is gaining ground, as well.

There are several different variations. Too bad Congress will never go for it.

and especially that people might be interested in them.

Send them some ideas with explanations on how they would improve
things.

Very good list.

idea how the Dem and Repub parties had stacked the deck to keep power--pisses me off! I liked Cafferty's show.