I take the opposite view. In response to Nader, in the last 4 weeks of the 2000 campaign, Gore moved significantly to the left, making him slightly less dull and slightly more electable. Without a threat from well-publicized Greens, the dems subsided into their well-paid court lackey role.
Jeb's re-election is a good example. McBride, head of a huge law firm, had one issue, education, and he tamely flogged it just enough to keep money rolling in from the teachers union. Jeb has dismantled the university system, state worker civil service protections, affirmative action, the Department of Children and Families, environmental protections, and eliminated the intangibles tax (this in a state with no income tax). However, McBride didn't mention all this cause he didn't want to be 'negative.' Fuck these people.
Jenny Brown