"Traditional media ignore her, but she might exceed expectations.

"Some progressives support her because they view President Obama and former Gov. Mitt Romney as “Republicrats” — establishment pols serving special interests [THE DUOLOPY].

"Most voters will opt for one of the two major party candidates, but many are turned off by “politics as usual” — dishonest attack ads, trivialized issues, corruption and gridlock. Given the increasingly destructive nature of this presidential race, perhaps a surprising number of voters will end up expressing dissatisfaction by voting for an independent....

"To consider why Stein might do surprisingly well, let’s look at Obama from a progressive/left-wing perspective.  How has Obama disappointed progressives?

"OBAMA CONTINUED THE BUSH FOREIGN POLICY....

"OBAMA FAILED TO LEAD ON GLOBAL WARMING....

"OBAMA FAILED TO CHALLENGE THE LOBBYIST-DRIVEN SYSTEM....

"OBAMA CRACKED DOWN ON WHISTLEBLOWERS....

"OBAMA FAILED TO STIMULATE THE ECONOMY

"Many progressives fault Obama for not fighting harder for more stimulus spending. And they were not amused when he admitted that his first stimulus didn’t produce many jobs:

'“Shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected,” he joked.

"When the new economic stats came out last week, Stein criticized Obama and Romney:

'"Our economy is indeed floundering. It’s not delivering for the American people. Mitt Romney is right on that. But we need to start a serious discussion that goes beyond whether this gives an edge to Mitt Romney in attacking the President. The sickness of our economy is directly attributable to misguided economic policies pursued by Republican George Bush and Democrat Barack Obama, who both consistently favored an economic system that is driving America into poverty."

"OBAMA DISAPPOINTED ON OTHER ISSUES

"Some liberals were disillusioned by Obama’s refusal to propose new gun control laws. Some felt dejected because he failed to fight for the single-payer approach on health care reform, and failed to provide true transparency in government....

"But Stein is not sitting idle....  She basically says, “We are the change we are still waiting for.” It’ll be interesting to see how many progressives agree.