All this talk about Kshama Sawant, a smart socialist running for the state house in the 43rd District, has elicited some vitriol and ridicule in the comments. The Socialist candidate can't win, people snicker, and some folks dismiss any candidate outside the partisan binary as a joker.

But lots of people claim to resent always being forced to choose between a Democrat and a Republican (not to mention that lots of issues are ignored by politicians on both sides).

So do folks want third-party candidates to run? If so, what sort of candidates? And what races should they be running in?