True independents hold true power

My mother has voted for Nader and Bush over the prior two presidential elections, she also has voted for Walter Mondale (after intending to vote Coleman up until Wellstones death) and she has voted for both Jesse Ventura and Tim Penny.

My mom is not a confused voter, she knows exactly what she is doing. My mom is a true independent voter. Independent voters are hard to define. They very clearly are not going to vote Independence Party all the time, nor are they going to limit themselves to the Democrat and Republican party. True independents instead start by rejecting candidates, and accepting candidates based upon issues integrity, and perceived ability to get the job done.

Polls, the media, and those who are perceived to have a strong political sense often discount true independents by suggesting they lean Democrat or Republican, and overall are only a minor factor, but the reality is true Independents have control of every election not only for Democrats and Republicans, but any other credible candidate that makes it's way onto the ballot.

The real reality is that about 25% of voters are true Republicans 25% are true Democrats 20% are Independents leaning either Democrat or Republican, 5% are totally clueless voters who have no meaningful basis for there vote, and the remaining 25% are true independents.
Clearly in the case of Jesse Ventura he won the clueless voter vote, but the opposition wants to pretend that’s the only reason he won, the reality is that true independents as well as leaning independents went his way and created the base for him to win off of

For an independence party candidate to win they must convince the true independents they are the candidate for the job, and then get the majority of leaning independents and clueless voters. It can very easily happen again. The sadder reality is when true independents don't sway an election the Clueless voters hold all the power.