[EM] Nader v. Gore (RE: Let's found an organization to oppose IRV)

[Rob Lanphier]

This is completely offtopic, but....

On Tue, 14 Nov 2000, MIKE OSSIPOFF wrote:
> I've never found someone who was voting for Gore because he/she
> considered Gore as good as Nader. Every Gore voter I found told me
> that Nader is better, but can't win. Apparently Nader is favorite to
> more people than Gore is. Nader would eliminate Gore under sincere
> voting in IRV.

I would imagine that's a sampling error on your part.  I know a lot of
"New Democrat" types who consider Nader to be too much of a loose cannon
to ever be president, and even though they aren't thrilled with Gore, the
ideal of a non-thrilling prez is just fine by them.  The fact that Gore so
thoroughly trounced Nader in polls leading up to the election (where
nothing much was at stake) would confirm that viewpoint.

The reason why I point that out is that's a dubious point to bring up when
debating with others, and your stronger points on Condorcet/IRV would
suffer collateral damage. I could imagine a scenario where your assertion
would have been true (such as the scenario where Nader got into the
debates and did spectacularly well) and a good one to bring up as a
hypothetical situation, but I think it's a tough one to argue for as an
actuality when you aren't among friends. 

Rob