Third party could tilt Nevada to Kerry

Third party could tilt Nevada to Kerry
By Thomas Oliphant
Boston Globe
September 28, 2004
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/09/28/third_party_could_tilt_nevada_to_kerry/
LAS VEGAS
FOR THOSE who adore the oddities of politics, this place may be ground zero.
In this quirky polity wrestling with the consequences of explosive population growth, it is the Libertarian Party candidate, Mike Bednarik, who is causing the trouble, much more than Ralph Nader.
As the state mirrors the nation in advance of this week's first debate between George Bush and John Kerry, with the president's advantage shrinking to the barely detectable as the chaos in Iraq continues, every vote may count.
For folks on the right who don't like the Bush administration's big government conservatism, be it federal spending or the Patriot Act, Bednarik is a credible, if marginal player in a state where "Leave Me Alone" is a slogan with resonance. With the presidential race either dead even (Democratic view) or showing a tiny Bush lead (Republican view), Bednarik's 3 percent in recent surveys comes into play more than Nader's even smaller numbers....