A third choice for voters could be what state needsBy Paul O'ConnorJOURNAL COLUMNISTSunday, December 3, 2006
RALEIGH - About this time in every election cycle, talk starts about a possible alternative to Democrats and Republicans for the next presidential race.
The two parties deserve that talk. They have increasingly become identified with special interests and the extreme wings of their constituencies. Their candidates have just spent the past three months slinging mud at each other and ruining every family's enjoyment of evening TV hours. No wonder many of us would like a third choice.
This cycle, the prospects of an independent candidate for president are predicated on the following scenario in 2008: The Democrats nominate Sen. Hillary Clinton. There are a lot of Hillary-haters who would normally turn toward the Republicans, but they won't because America in 2008 will still be stuck in Iraq and President Bush will be as unpopular as he is now. Under those circumstances, America might turn toward a third option.
That kind of independent talk seldom filters down to the state level, but it has this year. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Rep. Rick Eddins, a Wake County Republican who was defeated in the spring primary, told me and several legislators that he had been approached by people who want to create a third political force in the state. Eddins says he's thinking of joining them.
Under what scenario would an independent candidate, or a third party, do well in state elections in 2008? Let's lay out a few:
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Hat Tip: Carolina Journal Online
Commentary
I really don't think a third party has a real chance in North Carolina because there was no response to them being denied ballot access recently unless they could come up with a few thousand signatures. There is no groundswell of such support, and the author of the piece is a victim of wishful thinking.
I enjoy referring people to Duverger's Law as proof that under our current electoral system, Third Parties are always temporary, and if they do not gain enough support to replace one of the other parties, they will fade back into obscurity. This is doubly so in North Carolina, where the Democrat Party Machine holds all levers of government, with a few exceptions since the Civil War.
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