Here are a few observations from an independent voter (who despises both Bush & Ashcroft). The real problem is: 1) A minority of people vote. 2) A lot of intelligent, educated people - especially young people - find politics either distasteful or irrelevant. When there's a small turnout extreme groups on the right or left tend to dominate - these days, it's the extreme right. Fact: about 50% (maybe less) of registered voters actually voted. Of those, about 5% voted for a 3rd party candidate (I doubt many thought that Nader or Buchanan actually had a chance to win. I REALLY doubt that many agreed with either one or thought that either could really govern if elected; they just wanted to send a message.) What Bush should be reminded of: He still lost the popular vote! He won in the electoral college because he carried Florida by an incredibly small margin - a small fraction of 1%. Some of us had vain hopes he might remember that and try to seek bipartisan answers and govern from the center. Yeah, I know; fat chance! The upshot of this is simply: Whatever your feelings about politics as it's practiced today, or about the two major parties - you've got to eventually hold your nose and vote. Personally, my criteria is: Which of these clowns will do the least damage to the Constitution in 4 years? I think you can guess I didn't vote Bush/Chaney!