3rd Party 'Spoilers' Could Tip Balance

The presidential election could well turn on a factor that has gotten virtually no discussion this year -- the votes drawn by Libertarian Bob Barr, Green Cynthia McKinney and independent Ralph Nader.

Recent polls show a race too tight to call: Gallup tracking from Sept. 23 showed Barack Obama up only three points with 47 percent to John McCain's 44 percent. More interesting is a CNN/Opinion Research poll released Sept. 22 that includes all five candidates for president. McCain is at 45 percent, Obama is at 48 percent, and Barr, McKinney and Nader are polling a combined 6 percent of the vote. (Nader captured 4 percent and Barr and McKinney each got 1 percent.) In a close contest, the support for any of these three could well decide which major party comes out ahead nationally and in key swing states...

There's also a wild card: Libertarian Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who sought the GOP nomination and has continued to attract fervent supporters to his ''Campaign for Liberty'' attacking big government and the two-party system. After months of bickering with the Libertarian Barr, last week he threw his support behind yet another alternative party candidate, Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party. - The Miami Herald

Ron Paul Endorses Baldwin

Pensacola's Chuck Baldwin, Constitution Party presidential nominee, has picked up his biggest endorsement yet.

Former Republican candidate U.S. Rep. Ron Paul announced his support of the pastor's candidacy on Tuesday.

Paul had campaigned for the Republican nomination and created a small political sensation with his vocal, grassroots supporters and hefty online fundraising abilities.

In January's presidential preference primaries, Paul won about 5 percent of the vote in Santa Rosa and Escambia counties, finishing fifth in both counties out of nine Republicans on the ballot. He withdrew from the campaign on June 12.

"I'm pretty much overwhelmed," Baldwin said of the endorsement. "He and I have been friends for some time, and he knows I share his fundamental principles." - PNJ.com

Ron Paul and Ralph Nader

Now that Ron Paul, the rejected Republican candidate for president and longtime congressman from Texas, is calling on the forces of the "Ron Paul Revolution'' to rise up and vote for a third-party candidate in November, he's refraining from personally endorsing the best-known of those third-party contenders yet rallyng votes for him.

Appearing alongside Ralph Nader in CNN's Situation Room, Paul maintained that no one should read any personal endorsement into this.

"No. Ralph is a good friend, but we agree on tactics and what we're doing -- we agree on these very important issues, but quite frankly, he probably wouldn't have joined my campaign and I probably won't join his,'' Paul told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. - Tribune's Washington Bureau