I believe the previous post was correct in the essence of the two party system, Follow the money. People are reluctant to give money to any group they know doesn't have a chance in an election. The dems and reps are so entrenched and organized, I can't imagine any outside group winning against them. I personally would rather see a system rather like Canadas, or even Britians where there are 4-6 different partys all exerting influence on the congress, or parliment, in fact I believe a parlimentary system to be superior as more different factions get a voice, and it is harder to corrupt. The two party system as we have now is basically a one party system with some name calling at election time! Can you see Bush trying to do prime minister questions`LOL~? Sometime watch C-span and the British parliment in action. When the members get to question Tony Blair for an Hour. It's called prime ministers questions. It gets pretty heated and Blair is a quick responder. He must have an astronomical IQ.