Blame Mike Ditka not third party voters!

[crustaceous]

Here's some more canon fodder for you incessant whiners 
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Could-Mike-Ditka-have-derailed-Barack-Obama-s-as?urn=nfl,115837

Barack Obama's easy win in the 2004 Illinois Senate race catapulted him to national fame and set him on his current path toward the White House. It was a convincing victory that is now but a footnote in the career of the Democratic presidential nominee. But that victory wasn't as assured as it appears in retrospect. For a few days in the summer of '04 there was the very real possibility that the Republican opponent in Obama's first major election battle race would be Chicago Bears coaching legend Mike Ditka.

Jack Ryan had won the Republican primary that year, but dropped out of the race after the release of embarrassing papers from his high-profile divorce with actress Jeri Ryan. The vacancy left GOP leaders in the state scrambling to find a replacement. With fears that the election was all but lost, Republicans wanted a major name to turn the tide. Ditka was that name.

For days the press played up the "will he or won't he" stories about Ditka's possible candidacy. The Drudge Report even said that Ditka would declare his entry into the race. But, in the end, Ditka rebuffed the offer, saying he didn't want to go through the rigors of a campaign or give up his lucrative jobs as an NFL analyst at ESPN or as an endorser of a casino and car dealership.

There's no way to know whether Ditka would have won but, remember, Obama was still a virtual unknown in Illinois in June of '04. Had Ditka run and won, Obama most-assuredly wouldn't be running for president today. Either way, the Hall of Famer almost certainly would have received more than the 27% of votes that eventual nominee Alan Keyes garnered in November. And you know he'd have locked up the endorsements of these three potential voters.

[TribReady]

As a life-long Packer fan, I have no trouble blaming Ditka   

[crustaceous]

So, you're also implicating coach Landry, The Dallas Cowboys and the whole state of Texas!

[Troyboy]

Makes no difference today. Hindsight is always 20/20





                                                Troy

[ironglow]

  Ditka bears responsibility for 2004..3rd party stubborn some of the responsibility if we become an Obamanation...could be all the responsibility if the election is very close..

[Heather]

I thought you guys thought that one person couldn't make a difference? 

Heather

[Graybeard]

Basically I don't Heather but that's IN THE VOTING BOOTH not when that person is or could be a candidate for office. In that case one person can and does make a drastic difference at times. Take for instance Ross Perot or however the clown's name is spelled. He put Bill Klinton in office twice.

[Dee]

Ross Perot, as I recall had only one opportunity to vote. So, it would seem the voters put Klinton in office twice. Even with two elections Ross only got to vote twice.
Regardless of how you cut it, the voters decided. Split or not.

[Graybeard]

While I do understand that point of view I can't agree with it completely. Had Ross not run for office Klinton would never have been elected. That he ran knowing he could not be elected shifted the dynamics of the election in a manner that caused folks who would other wise have voted for Bush to vote for Ross instead. That gave the election to Klinton even without a majority of votes. Most who went for Ross would not have voted for Klinton and that would have defeated him.

To me at least that means Ross by his decision to run single handedly put Klinton in office just as effectively as if he had been the one to cast those votes.

I expect the same is gonna happen this time and put Obama in.