Aaron Blake and Sean Sullivan have this article about the Libertarian Party’s success in this month’s election, although the story ought to simply focus on the Libertarian Party. Instead it tries to focus on a perceived threat to the Republican Party, even though the article acknowledges that voters who vote Libertarian might vote Democratic instead of Republican if the Libertarian Party didn’t exist.
The story misses several key points. One is that Libertarian registration (in states in which voters register into parties on voter registration forms) has increased 20% nationwide in the last eight months. Another is that the Libertarian Party again polled over 1,000,000 votes for its U.S. House candidates, even though it had no nominees in California, which is usually the party’s best source of votes for U.S. House. Of course the party was kept off the ballot in California congressional races this year because of the top-two system. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.