"McCarthy handily defeated Johnson in Wisconsin"

"I don't understand why you can't agree that a reasonable person couldn't consider those facts as being consistent with the words 'handily defeated'."

Because Johnson had already pulled out of the race. Using your logic you could also say that McCarthy "handily defeated" Thomas Dewey and Millard Fillmore in the Wisconsin primary.

Guest, the reason some of us are taking exception to these "fine points" is because you are playing spin doctor with the facts to fit your case.   If I were to play spin doctor, I could use the fact that the out-of-the running LBJ managed to get 35% of the votes in Wisconsin, which shows that not everyone was comfortable with McCarthy as a candidate.

Also, I think most of us agree with your statement of 08:30am. Many of us have been saying that it is important to work for other interests and to keep the ideals alive. However, many of us although think that Nader is not being productive in this race since his own webpage doesn't even paint a clear picture of why he is running. Having a third party is not a compelling reason to vote for a presidential candidate in the minds of most Americans. There are more important issues to fight for.