Just being on the ballot in a two-person race does not automatically mean that a minor party candidate will get a fairly respectable share of the vote. This is evident when one looks at the race for Delaware State Representative, 20th district, from the November 2008 election. The only two candidates on the ballot were Republican Nick Manolakos, and the nominee of the Blue Enigma Party, Daniel D. Rappa, Jr.
The vote was 8,045 for Manolakos, and only 24 votes for Rappa. The Blue Enigma Party stood for increasing the salaries of Delaware public school teachers. It ran one candidate for Governor and three for the legislature.
A staggering blow for the Blue Enigma Party! I thought the “Blue Enigma” was a superhero from the movie, “Mystery Men.” I guess that was the “Blue Rajah.” Anyway, not a particularly auspicious start for the BEP.
All I can say is: OUCH!
and yet again, he did drop out of the race. but it seems that he did not take his name off the ballot.
Here in California, the party that wants to raise treacher’s salaries always gets a big vote. Of course it’s the Democrats.
It works out that Rappa got 0.29743% and Manolakos took the other 99.70257% of the vote. Must be some sort of record.
It can’t hurt to go one-on-one. That’s the way most third party races should be, just because of the fact that there’s less major competition.