It's the habit, after an election race, to throw out third parties when boiling it down to percentages.  IE:  If the D gets 6 votes, the R gets 4 votes and the G gets 1 vote, after a while, we say that the race was D: 60% / R: 40%.

Before we do that this time around, let me point out that there is more than one state in which the third party votes are higher in number than the difference between the two major party votes,

For instance:

In Indiana, we currently have

Barack Obama -- 1,354,759
John McCain  -- 1,331,199
Bobby Barr  -- 29,013

I think a case could be made that Bobby Barr cost McCain the state of Indiana.  I think he pulled more votes that would have gone to McCain otherwise, than from Obama.  (I admit, after spending a couple years paying attention to Barr's antics in the House, I can't imagine any Democrat voter voting for him.)

North Carolina has similar numbers.

And then there's Missouri, still not called, but whose current numbers are

John McCain -- 1,442,527
Barack Obama -- 1,436,724
Ralph Nader -- 17,767
Bobby Barr -- 11,355

I bring this all up in the hopes that, if/when the Republicans talk about what changes they should make, somebody will pipe up with, "Why don't we look at the good parts of the Libertarian position?  Like dismantling the Surveillance State?"   After all, they've already tried the bad parts, like lax regulation of business.