QotD: Non-mainstream candidates

I doubt anything concrete will come out of this press conference (other than the damage to Bob Barr among what ought to be his strongest supporters). But the event reflects something interesting and valuable that's happening out there in the ideological long tail, a collection of conversations that cross the ordinary political lines. In essence, two leftists and a paleocon just held a press conference to say, "We're listening to the libertarian." They did this because actual leftists and actual paleocons are listening to libertarians. And even third-party candidates — or some of them, anyway — have sharp enough political instincts to respond to their constituencies.

Jesse Walker, "The Radical Center", Hit and Run, 2008-09-10