A CNN/TIME poll of the Nevada U.S. Senate race shows that Scott Ashjian’s presence on the ballot as the Tea Party candidate does not injure the Republican nominee, Sharron Angle.  See it here.  Scroll down to Nevada.

The pollster first got these results:  Sharron Angle, Republican, 42%; Harry Reid, Democrat, 40%; Scott Ashjian, 7%; None of the Above or Other, 10%.

Then the pollster asked respondents to imagine that Angle and Reid are the only two names on the ballot, and asked how they would vote.  The results:  Sharron Angle 47%; Harry Reid 45%; would refuse to vote for either 8%.

This evidence corroborates survey research and election returns research showing that Ralph Nader did not injure John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election.  It confirms the findings of the research done by Samuel Lubell about the 1948 presidential election, showing that Henry Wallace helped, and did not injure, Harry Truman.  It matches the findings of the social psychology research about three-cornered choices generally, presented in the book “Predictably Irrational.”  Yet it completely contradicts the perceived wisdom that a minor party of the “right” injures Republicans, and a minor party of the “left” injures Democrats.  Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.

A Florida trial court will hold a trial on October 12 to determine if the winner of the Republican primary for one particular State Senate seat should be Jim Norman or Kevin Ambler.  The Florida primary was on August 24, and Norman defeated Ambler.  However, Ambler sued to set aside the results, on the grounds that Norman broke campaign finance laws.  See this story.  There are no Democratic, minor party or independent candidates in this race.

Randy Credico is the U.S. Senate nominee (full term) for the Libertarian Party of New York, and also the U.S. Senate nominee for the Anti-Prohibition Party.  On October 6 he, along with both political parties,  filed a federal lawsuit against a New York election law that doesn’t permit his name to be listed twice, even though both the parties that nominated him are on the ballot and even though New York permits fusion for qualified parties.  Neither the Libertarian Party, nor the Anti-Prohibition Party, is a qualified party in New York.  The case is Credico v New York State Board of Elections, eastern district, cv10-4555.  Here is the brief.

The judge obligingly has already held a hearing and is promising a quick decision.  The New York law says when a qualified party and an unqualified party jointly nominate a candidate for statewide office, that candidate is printed on the ballot twice, and a voter can choose which label to support.  But when two unqualified parties jointly nominate someone, the candidate’s name can be printed only once (although both party labels are next to the candidate’s name, in small print).