[Vigilanteman]

One of Reagan's greatest moves was to insist on including 3rd Party Candidate John Anderson in the first debate. Carter boycotted and was represented in the debate by an empty chair.

Having displayed that sense of fair play, Reagan went on to clean Carter's clock in the remaining two debates.

Of course, John Anderson was actually able to convince 1 in 20 voters that he was a viable choice. It is a pretty modest standard and a case could be made to include someone polling the support of 1 in 25, 1 in 30 or even 1 in 50. But, so far as I can tell, none of these guys are polling even 1 in 100.

[kabar]

Reagan got about 51% of the vote, Anderson 7%, and Carter 41%.

[Revenge of Sith]

What happened was that Anderson’s poll numbers declined when it became closer to Election Day which was why the second debate was just Reagan and Carter.