The Race For Third: Ralph Nader, Chuck Baldwin and Bob Barr

[Politics] The Obama and McCain debate is over. The third party presidential candidates are escalating their campaigns to fight exclusion and garner mainstream attention. A common thread within these candidates is their opposition to the Wall Street bailout package.

Ralph Nader, Independent candidate, has been particularly busy. Before the debate, supporters were encouraged to “hack” the debate with online comments questioning Nader’s exclusion. Following the debate, supporters were directed to Thirdpartyticket.com. Trevor Lyman, who was behind Ron Paul’s multi-million dollar money bomb fundraisers, wants to organize a debate among all six of the major presidential candidates. The catch is that Lyman wants 10,000 donation pledges by Oct. 8. The website is just a day old and 5,578 people have already pledged.

Constitution Party Candidate, Chuck Baldwin, is picking a fight with “misleading” voters' guides. The Baldwin campaign urges supporters to contact the American Family Association questioning McCain’s conservative credentials. Included in the Baldwin Insider is a sample letter to the AFA stating, “Christians are being deceived by your blackout on a viable candidate for president. To make matters worse, you're asking them to send you money to help you deceive them.” Baldwin is also struggling to be included in Opensecrets.org voters’ guide.

Libertarian Party Candidate, Bob Barr, held a counter debate on Friday night which highlighted Barr’s opposition to the Wall Street bailout package in contrast to McCain and Obama’s position. Thousands of new supporters have joined, according to the campaign, because, “[Americans] are angry, confused and unable to understand why our government wants to give away $1 trillion dollars of our money.” Shortly before the debate, Barr was removed from the Louisiana ballot. But the campaign is fighting the decision with an appeal to the Supreme Court. (Joseph Bateman)