Which political party do you think will emerge as the principal challenger to the Democratic and Republican nominees for President?

The libertarians have a good chance to make inroads because of John McCains's past behaviors. McCain is running more as a Democrat. And speaking of Democrats this year the Republican party has shown they can be just as sleazy and slimy as the Democrats. This was a real shocker to me. Every comment against Rev Wright is a distortion of facts when McCain sought out Parsley and Hagee for political purposes. When you look at the entire context Parsley and Hagee are worse than Wright. I wish people would stick to the facts instead of slime and sleaze. You get more votes that way.

First, let me say that I am a reformed Republican (after being a Republican since 1968) who is now a registered, dues-paying member of the Constitution Party. I re-registered in 2006 following the Republican's 2000-2006 debacle in running the Federal government, when it was impossible to differentiate them from the liberals. Before the Constitution and Libertarian Parties picked their present candidates, I would have said that the Constitution Party stood the better chance of overtaking the Republicans as the main opponent for the Democrats. I believe the Libertarians are routinely thought of by many voters as having some really strange ideas, such as abolishing international borders, making hard narcotics such as heroin and cocaine legal as a "personal choice," supporting the Pro-Choice agenda, etc. Personally, I believe that drug laws, abortion laws, marriage laws, prostitution laws, and similar social laws are a States Rights matter according to the Constitution, and should be left up to the State Legislatures and voters to decide, but they are not a Federal matter. On the other hand, I have heard a good many fellow voters say that they fear the Constitution Party is too dominated by Christians, and would make members of non-Christian religions or non-religious voters feel unwelcomed. I disregard those who say the Constitution Party would turn the Federal government into a theocracy, but it is clear that the Party's platform is very oriented toward Christians. As a Southern Baptist myself, that does not bother me particularly, but I can see that it could bother other prospective members. I believe that Bob Barr is an excellent choice for the Libertarian Party because he already has name recognition due to his prior service in the U.S. House, and his credentials as a conservative have already been established, although he has voted for some Big Government ideas while serving in the House. He has recently stated that his views on Big Government have changed since those votes were made, and I take him at his word. If Bob Barr, or candidates like him, is able to redefine the platform of the Libertarian Party into something more palitable to most conservatives, as he is doing now, I think the Libertarian Party would have an excellent chance of taking over as the replacement for the Republican Party as a Constitution-oriented home for conservatives. I think it is unfortunate that Bob Barr and Ron Paul had a recent falling out, because Bob Barr's political stance is very similar to that of Dr. Paul. I believe the Constitution Party made a real mistake selecting Chuck Baldwin as its presidential candidate. As a person, I am very fond of Chuck Baldwin, but he has neither name recognition (which is important in recruiting members), nor does he have any political experience. He has never held public office at any level of government. In addition, as a Baptist minister, he will lend some credence to the fears of those who believe the Constitution Party is a party made up of Christians who want Christian principles to dominate the government. While Bob Barr may be very electable as a candidate, the fact that it is so difficult for political parties other than the Republicans or Democrats to gain ballot access in all 50 states is well-known. As long as Federal election laws continue to create a "playing field" tilted toward the Republicans and Democrats, "third parties" will find it very difficult to be competetive. In addition, the election laws permit the presidential candidate debates to exclude all the candidates other than the Republican or the Democrat from presenting their cases before the electorate for consideration. Under the present Federal election laws, George Washington could not be elected President if he ran on a "third party" ticket! Most American voters who are not political fanatics would not even know that he was running for office due to the lack of media coverage he would receive.