On October 16, Public Policy Polling released a poll for many Idaho races. For Governor, where there are six candidates on the poll, each candidate was included in the poll. The results: Republican incumbent Butch Otter 39%; Democrat a. J. Balukoff 35%; Libertarian John Bujak 4%; Constitution Party nominee Steve Pankey 2%; independent Pro Life 3%; independent Jill Humble 3%; undecided 14%.
For Lieutenant Governor, a three-party race, the results are: Republican Brad Little 42%; Democrat Bert Marley 25%; Constitution Party nominee 12%; undecided 20%. Scroll down to Question 9 for that race.
Neither the Libertarian Party nor the Constitution Party has ever before polled as much as 2% for Governor of Idaho.
Not too surprised the Constitution(al) Party nominee is pulling 12%. 3rd parties of the ultra-conservative stripe have always had a base of supporters in Idaho. Wallace did fairly well in the Presidential election of ’68, Schmitz in ’72 and one or two more may have pulled a surprisingly high vote.
I have suggested in past years, that each 3rd party ought to find a state where their base is, and “move” to that base and attempt to build up a strong 3rd party in that state. They just might win.
The late Wisconsin Senator Robert “Fighting Bob” Lafollette’s sons, Phillip and Robert, Jr., took their father’s Progressive Party of 1924 and made it a state Progressive Party solely based in Wisconsin. They respectively won the governor’s race and the U.S. Senate Seat, adding a majority of the congressional delegation, in addition to controlling the Legislature for a number of years.
In fact, the last Progressive nominee for Governor, Orland Loomis was elected Governor of Wisconsin, in 1942 election but died, however, before his inauguration as governor. Robert La Follette Jr. held on to his Senate seat until 1946 when the La Follettes apparently decided to disband the party.
The Democratic Party in Wisconsin was basically dysfunctional during the Progressive Party reign. The Progressive Party should have done what the Farmer-Labor Party of Minnesota did, and that was merge with the Democrats as happened in the late 1940’s under the leadership of Herbert Humphrey. This is why official the Democratic Party in Minnesota is the DEMOCRATIC-FARMER-LABOR or DFL. Had the Progressives and Democrats merged into a Democratic-Progressive Party, or at least changed he election laws where the Progressive Party could co-nominate the Democrats (or a Republican when necessary) the old party of “Fighting Bob” made have still lived on to this day.
I encourage the Libertarian Party to fight for such laws in those states where they do consistently win over 5% of the vote. Of course the Constitution(al) Party would never do such. Political “compromise” is a bad word in their vocabulary.