Presidential Debate: Chuck Baldwin vs. Ralph Nader

10:45 PM: Personally, I think Ralph Nader won tonight’s debate, but I’m in favor of his stances much more than any other candidate. Chuck Baldwin showed up strong today and certainly improved my opinion of him, while Bob Barr and Cynthia McKinney lost some of my respect.

At least Bob Barr had a conflict of schedule, while Cynthia McKinney released a crazy video denouncing the debate because Ralph Nader helped organize it. Well, in my opinion at least Mr. Nader showed some leadership and got a debate going, whereas Cynthia just ranted about why she’s not showing up. If Cynthia offered an alternative I’d understand but as is Mr. Nader looks to get a nice boost from this debate.

Good night everyone!

10:33 PM: There’s the end of the debate. I believe both candidates made strong passionate showings and introduced a lot of ideas that simply do not get discussed by the mainstream parties. Both candidates are in agreement that ending wars, reducing corporate power and focusing our attention on ourselves is a huge start to making America better.

10:31 PM: Chuck states he’s pro-life, believes in bringing US troops home and securing our borders and in following the constitution.

10:29 PM: Ralph’s big, big focus is that corporate crime is hurting the heart of America, open debates and politics are crucial to energizing America and taxing negative things like pollution, speculation, and addictive products rather than income. Ralph believes third parties are the source of innovation and should no longer be shunned but rather encouraged.

10:26 PM: Both candidates agree there should be a separation between church and state…closing statements coming up.

10:24 PM: Both candidates are asked about Roe v Wade. Baldwin believes it should be illegal, Ralph believes it’s not a matter for government involvement. Ralph also makes a joke about how it’s funny how on this one stance Chuck is for more government involvement while Ralph is for less government involvement. On this one stance I agree with Chuck that once a baby is conceived some form of life starts, though I also agree with Ralph that to a certain extent it’s the individual’s choice.

10:20 PM: Chuck is skeptical of global warming, and states that he thinks it is cyclical and we’re now looking at a global cooling phase. Ralph takes the stance that pollution is not good and that sustainable energies are simply better for us and our environment than polluting energies. Must agree with Ralph here, though I’ll also state that Chuck has a point that the warming/cooling is not the real issue, rather it’s pollution.

10:16 PM: Thought Chuck dodged Ralph’s question a little bit but he did in a roundabout way agree that corporations should not be viewed as people, which currently they are.

10:14 PM: Got to agree with Ralph on how to secure our borders, by discouraging dictators and encouraging economic growth abroad less people will try to smuggle themselves into our country. We should also look to fight corporations who hire illegal workers and pay them illegal wages.

10:11 PM: Chuck dodges how he’d ensure that private corporations would keep costs low and provide health care to everyone. Personally, I believe a national single payer health care system would be cheaper and better, as it would introduce economies of scale into the health care system and capture everyone who is sick, thus making sure we know about all sicknesses and possible cures.

10:05 PM: Chuck says we should have a full free market medical system. Ralph says we should have a full national health system.

10:02 PM: Chris Hedges says that Harvard Medical School and the Physicians for a National Health Program state that we could save $300 billion with a national health care program and asks the candidates what their health plans are.

9:55 PM: Both Baldwin and Nader make strong points about the hurdles they both had to get over just to get on the ballots and how being able to theoretically win should be enough to gain access to national debates and the mainstream media. I agree with both of them, we should not discredit candidates right off the bat simply because they are not the mainstream media’s choice. We the people vote and we should be shown all our choices.

9:46 PM: Chuck Baldwin states that the Patriot Act was first introduced under the Clinton administration but was not called the Patriot Act and was rejected because the specter of 9/11 was not present.

9:44 PM: Ralph states we need to impeach the Bush administration. Ralph also states that we need a way for citizens to be able to sue politicians if they violate laws and the constitution. Ralph drops a huge bombshell of a bill that if Congress or the President sends the USA to war, all able bodied children of age of politicians would be immediately drafted.

9:40 PM: Chuck Baldwin responds to the question from Nick Morgan by stating that he’d probably roll back 95% of Bush’s signing statements. He fears that we’re progressing towards a police state and he’s restore Habeas Corpus and the 4th amendment.

9:38 PM: Chris Hedges informs us that the next question comes from an Iraq War veteran and member of the peace group Iraq Veterans Against War, Sergeant Nick Morgan, who was recently trampled by a police horse while protesting outside the last presidential debate. The question was about the effect of the Patriot Act and similar legislation and whether it’s even possible to roll back these unconstitutional laws.

9:36 PM: When asked if he favors immediate withdrawal Nader responds that he favors withdrawal within six months from Iran. Our second gaffe! Though note Mr. Baldwin did not correct Mr. Nader. When asked the same question, Mr. Baldwin again states that pre-emptive war does not work and is unconstitutional. Also states that we should have responded with small elite forces rather than wars.

9:32 PM: Chuck Baldwin states he’d recall all foreign aid and instead focus that money inside the borders of the USA.

9:30 PM: Nader calls McCain and Obama anti-semitic for favoring Israel over Palestine and paying much less attention to the troubles of Arabs than Jews.

9:24 PM: Ron Paul as Secretary of the Treasury, elimination of the Federal Reserve, IRS and fiat currency…I think Mr. Baldwin just gained some votes.

9:23 PM: Ralph Nader mentions that a .1% derivative tax would pay for the bailout while the recently passed out bailout bill makes no mention of how to pay the $700 billion tab and is the worst kind of bailout for not offering protection to homeowners, shareholders, or citizens nor punishing those responsible for the crisis.

9:20 PM: Our first Ron Paul shout-out by Chuck Baldwin. Chuck makes a great point that many of the people behind the Federal Reserve are not even American citizens.

9:18 PM: Chuck Baldwin reads USA Today…that’s one more newspaper than Sarah Palin!

9:15 PM: WHOA, our first gaffe! Chuck mispoke and said the Whig party went out of existence in 1960, and Ralph jumped in and corrected him and said 1860. Chuck went on to make an amazing point that in Iraq the USA is encouraging many, many political parties (around 20 or so), while in the USA tries to restrict the political process to two parties.

9:11 PM: Chuck Baldwin: “A wasted vote in 2008 is a vote for John McCain”. I agree with Chuck, McCain has little chance of winning this year. By the way, the question was for the candidates to respond to Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky, two people historically against the mainstream political parties, supporting Barack Obama.

9:09 PM: Ralph makes a great point that if one is voting for Obama on the lesser of two evils tactics a mandate should be demanded that he follow through on progressive ideals.

9:06 PM: Ralph on other hand really looks and talks like he’s been fighting his whole life. I love his stance on the issues but Matt Gonzalez is certainly the future of those issues and ideas.

9:03 PM: Chuck speaks well. It’s my first time hearing him talk and he’s certainly more charismatic and photogenic than Ralph. I agree with Chuck that veering from the constitution is a big reason for the decline of America over the past decade.

9:00 PM: We’re live!

8:59 PM: C-SPAN2 poll shows Nader polling at 2.3%, up from 1.1% yesterday, and 1.8% on Tuesday. Richard Benedetto makes a great point that if Ralph was looking to be a spoiler he would not be campaigning in Massachusetts this weekend.

8:54 PM: C-SPAN2 tunes in to the Mayflower hotel and then shows the latest poll showing only Obama and McCain. Polls show Obama up 12%…the wider that margin gets the better for third parties. Hopefully McCain keeps dropping and third parties keep rising.

8:45 PM: 15 minutes to go, anyone else secretly hoping Ron Paul comes out and tells Chuck Baldwin to step aside?

8:35 PM: In the interests of full disclosure, it should be noted that I plan on voting for Ralph Nader, though I will try to remain as un-biased as humanly possible in my coverage.

8:19 PM: Welcome to our live coverage of tonight’s third party debate. The format of our live-blogging will feature a time-stamp and the latest comment at the top of this post.