Fringe Candidates

The DC ballot posted on Daily Kos leads me to wonder -- how does the media decide where to draw the line between "fringe, but real" candidates like Dennis Kucinich and Carol Moseley-Braun, and "so fringe we pretend they don't exist" candidates like Lyndon LaRouche and Vermin Supreme? The line is pretty undisputed, as I've yet to see anyone using a different list than the canonical 9/10 (the number shifted as Clark joined the race and Graham dropped out, but at any point in time it was consistent).

All in all, I'm sad to see that Edward T. O'Donnell, Colgate class of '70, hasn't made another run. He got something like 12 votes last time (1988? I'd have to go to the Maroon-News office to check), and he sounded pretty satisfied with his contribution to the race. Maybe he figured Supreme was doing enough to draw attention to the epidemic of Satanic wife-swapping cults.

UPDATE: Aha! It looks like Ed O'Donnell ran in '84, '92, and 2000 as well. It's a failure in our editorial duty that the Maroon-News didn't cover his candidacy in 2000, when I was on staff. His campaign emphasis on mental health is quite appropriate.

FURTHER IMPORTANT UPDATE: Ed O'Donnell is in fact running! Go here and scroll down to November 21.