The Billings Gazette has this story, that almost 2/3rds of Wyoming state legislative races have only one person running. Thanks to Mike Fellows for the link. Ironically, the Billings Gazette is a Montana newspaper, not a Wyoming newspaper.
The Billings Gazette has this story, that almost 2/3rds of Wyoming state legislative races have only one person running. Thanks to Mike Fellows for the link. Ironically, the Billings Gazette is a Montana newspaper, not a Wyoming newspaper.
When I lived outside Sheridan and Buffalo, the Billings Gazette was the best “local” paper. We also listened to the NPR station from Billings. And when you needed to see a doctor or go to a shopping mall, you had to drive the 120 miles up I-90 to Billings.
The Democrats are only running 3 candidates for wyoming senate, one of whome is unopposed. The Country Party is running 3 more candidates against republicans in other wyoming senate seats. These seats should be prime targets for the Constituion and Libertarian Parties.
There are opportunities if we take them. 3rd parties have to grow and take those opportunities.
The only way a third party stops being a third party and starts being a second party is if it takes advantage of competing in areas which lean strongly towards the GOP or Democrats.
At the Presidential level, Greens, Libertarians and Constitutionalists should aim at strong pro-GOP or pro-Dem states and have voters vote for them instead, since it seems that either the Democrat or Republican could win.
This sounds like a good opportunity for the Country Party, the Libertarian Party, and the Constitution Party, and any other minor party or wanna be independent candidates in Wyoming to run for office and get a one-on-one contest against a major party candidate.
A couple of big factors in Wyoming. Only 37% of the people there are registered voters, and they have election day voter registration, which a lot of the people there d0n’t even know they can do.
If an enterprising minor party or independent candidate could tap into the huge (by Wyoming standards) segment of the population that doesn’t vote in Wyoming and some how get them motivated and mobilize them to get to the polls on election day they could really shake things up in that state, and who knows, they may even stand a chance at getting elected. Easier said than done of course.
The original article was in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, the main Cheyenne newspaper. The original article is slightly more extensive than the AP wire story which also was distributed in Sheridan, Laramie, Riverton, Gillette.
Ironically, it was also reported in the Scottsbluff and Denver media, which are not in Wyoming. No word from Rapid City and Pocatello.
This seems to be just another example of America’s antiquated system of representative democracy. Don’t blame the Founders. They designed the system for a limited-franchise population to elect nonpartisan aristocratic statesmen. But the world is too complex (and too democratic) for that now. That’s why most, if not all, new democracies adopt a parliamentary system with some type of proportional representation. Goodbye districts and the gerrymandering that goes with that. And political parties are not evil. They are a form of branding for people who do not have time to spend on politics.