>  In my view, which probably is not shared by any of the people who have contributed to this thread so far, it would be a good idea to tighten the eligibility standards for independent and minor party candidates a bit.

That is certainly an old theme.  The states have been doing that with ballot access laws for the last 25 years.  I can think of plenty of bi-partisan candidates (the R's & D's) that have views I wouldn't want funded but the solution is never to "tighten" things for the ruling parties.

Michael Richardson