Steve Kornacki, Salon’s news editor, has this commentary on the chances of a powerful third force presidential candidate next year.
The column, and similar commentary, usually say that minor party and independent candidates for important office never win. These articles should acknowledge that in the period starting in 1970, there have been seven gubernatorial elections and six U.S. Senate elections in which someone won who was not a major party nominee.
Just for scale, there have been over 1100 gubernatorial and senatorial elections since 1970. 13 out of 1100 is about 1.2%.
For the period 1900 through 2006, in the average congressional election (every two years), two people were elected to the US House even though they weren’t nominees of the Democratic or Republican Parties. One can pooh-pooh that, because two victories out of 435 members every election year is only one-half of 1%. But just a handful of members of Congress who aren’t major party nominees can make a profound change in the dialogue.
Interesting that they don’t mention Americans Elect…again.
P.R. and App.V.
Sorry – NO plurality MORONS needed or wanted in major offices — Prez, Guvs, Mayors, etc.
The U.S.A. has a STONE AGE ANTI-Democracy gerrymander regime — way too difficult for the New Age media MORONS to detect.
What if voters in 92 could vote for a third party and a major party in the Presidential Election?
Remember Fusion Voting? What I propose is similar to Fusion Voting, the sort called “Fusion-lite”.
Perot vs Clinton vs Bush vs Perot/Clinton vs Perot/Bush vs Clinton/Bush vs Perot/Clinton/Bush
The line with the most votes wins!
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