Although the focus in this year's presidential race has been on Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, at least five independent or minor-party candidates are trying to get on Ohio's Nov. 4 ballot.

Few analysts think they can win, but they can help decide who does. Many Democrats blame Ralph Nader, running as a Green Party candidate in 2000, for taking enough votes from Al Gore to swing Florida and the presidency to George W. Bush, for example.

But supporters of third-party candidates bristle at such talk, saying that with the myriad problems facing the nation, voters deserve to have a choice of candidates with political philosophies beyond those of the two major parties.

"There seems to be a constant undercurrent of dissatisfaction with politics and the political status quo, and both Democrats and Republicans are part of that status quo," said Anita Rios, who helped organize the Green Party in Ohio.

"There are some serious credibility problems with both major parties," said Robert M. Owens, chairman of the Constitution Party of Ohio and an independent candidate this fall for the unexpired term of former Attorney General Marc Dann.

If the presidential race in Ohio is close, the unsettled economic conditions in the state and dissatisfaction with the major-party candidates among some party faithful present an opportunity for minor-party candidates to garner enough votes collectively or individually to have a major impact in determining who wins, said John Green, a University of Akron political scientist.

"There does seem to be a lot of flux in Ohio this year," Green said

The filing deadline for independent presidential candidates in Ohio is Aug. 21. Petitions to gather the required 5,000 valid signatures of registered voters are being circulated or have been submitted for the Constitution, Green, Libertarian and Socialist parties and Nader, running this year as an independent.

The Libertarian Party of Ohio also was handed a victory last week when a federal judge in Columbus ruled that, pending a possible appeal, Libertarian candidates can appear on the ballot under their party's label instead of appearing as independents or with no party designation. Other parties might try to follow suit.

That's important because it helps voters associate a "brand" with a candidate, said Russ Verney, national campaign chairman for Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr. Verney also managed Texas billionaire Ross Perot's presidential campaigns.

"When you're selling a product nationwide like Coke, you don't want to have to sell it under different name in different states," Verney said, adding that Barr hopes to be on the ballot in 49 states and Washington, D.C.

Some analysts say Barr, a former Republican congressman from Georgia, could peel votes away from McCain in Georgia and other key states. Others point to polls showing Barr with limited support.

Verney said Barr will campaign in Ohio and sees the state as competitive because the sour economy makes Barr an alternative to the "big-government candidate" (McCain) and the "bigger- government candidate" (Obama).

Kevin Knedler, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Ohio, said it also would help get Libertarians elected to state and local offices in the future if Barr got at least 5 percent of the vote, thus qualifying the Libertarians as an official minor party in Ohio under state law.

Independent or third-party candidates have had mixed results in recent Ohio presidential elections. Perot captured 21 percent of the Ohio vote in 1992 and 11 percent in 1996, while Nader won 2.5 percent of the state vote in 2000.

But in 2004, two independent candidates on the ballot combined for only 26,615 votes statewide, or less than 1 percent, while six write-in candidates got a total of 385 votes.

A spokesman for McCain, a senator from Arizona, downplayed the potential impact of other candidates on the Ohio ballot this year, saying, "Ultimately, this election comes down to a choice between two candidates and their clear differences on the issues that matter most to Ohio families."

An Obama spokesman said the Illinois senator "will be successful this fall no matter who is on the ballot."

mniquette@dispatch.com