Well, ne@nderthal, you won't find me arguing about the desirability of IRV. I don't know how active Greens up here have been in pushing it, as they are generally less publicly visible than they appear to be in CA. It's something I need to look into.

I wasn't so much arguing that Chomsky is wrong about the comparitive importance of elections. (I love the term Sam Smith at The Scoop uses for those who surface only in big election years and then disappear again for four years: Season Ticket Holders.) I wonder more about why he would be so vehement about claiming that it would be out of bounds for him to regard Kerry as his "audience." If I noticed this deference and avoidance in only one or two "big name" Lefties, it wouldn't disturb me so much. However, that seemed to be the universal opinion on the organized Left in this last election. You could circulate four million columns, petitions and open letters berating Nader and the handful of die-hards on his team, but you couldn't do the same to urge Kerry to court his supposed true base, or even acknowledge that base's existence, for that matter. Like I said, it's a sad and disturbing phenomenon, even if you don't think Nader is anything close to a serious candidate.

BTW, beware the argument consisting solely of "he can't win." People are bound to say the same thing when they explain that they won't push for IRV. It's a great euphemism for "I fear the unknown, no matter how unhappy I am with what I know." :p