It's aimed at those people who habitually latch on to a candidate who continues to poll at 1 percent (with a margin of error of 1 or in rare cases 2%) and spend all their time attacking the candidate(s) that everyone else favors. Then when their candidate doesn't get the nomination, as inevitably always happens, they start campaigning third party.
You've been around long enough to know who I'm referring to.
We've only been through one primary election since Free Republic's been around. And I don't recall any serious support for that Buchanan/Lola Falana ticket in 2000.
But I was new and a lurker, so maybe I missed some of the fringe activity.