Independents? What on earth (when it comes to voting) is an independent in today's polarized political climate other than someone who simply doesn't want to REVEAL their political leanings. Independent they are not, they just purport to be. (I am speaking statistically here, I suppose there are a few).
So, in a state which has been traditionally liberal, we have a race in which there are obviously more conservatives than anyone thought. I realize this is state politics, but some of the reason has to point to recent events on the national stage, in other words, the dems' irrational, emotional opposition to the Iraq war, and the exposure of both democrats and the main stream media as untrustworthy.
That's what I suspect as well. Here in New Zealand I don't join any political party but I vote National Party or ACT in elections (which are conservative parties, a bit like the GOP but a little more to the left). Using the strict definition I should be an "Independent" but apparently the American MSMs think otherwise when it comes to people like me.
I posted the same question on a vanity thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1496079/posts