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Third-party candidacies should be a last resort
Politico ^ | 11-9-09 | Gary Bauer

Posted on 11/09/2009 7:01:39 AM PST by Wolf13

Doug Hoffman’s narrow defeat in New York’s 23rd Congressional District special election was one of few blemishes in a nearly flawless Election Day for Republicans. But Hoffman’s strong showing — coupled with the successful uprising against Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava’s candidacy — will embolden some conservatives to consider abandoning the GOP and initiating a broader third-party movement.

As a staunch conservative Republican whose political action committee invested much in Hoffman’s campaign, I believe nothing would hurt the conservative movement, or the GOP, more. National Democrats would love nothing more than for conservatives to start looking for third-party candidates all across the country, because third-party candidates almost always lose.

Third-party talk has become a perennial post-election pastime among some conservatives. Republicans faced a similar scenario during the 2008 campaign, when many values conservatives were dissatisfied with the field of Republican candidates and threatened to leave the party and vote for a third-party candidate. Today, Hoffman’s success and the deep sense of political alienation felt by many Americans might make it seem like the right time for another third-party revolt.

At the national level, while third-party candidacies can be an important way to draw attention to issues that the two major parties are ignoring, they always fail. In 1992, Reform Party presidential candidate Ross Perot focused his campaign on the out-of-control federal deficit. And within a few years, the budget was balanced. But no third-party presidential candidate has won a plurality or a majority of the popular vote in a single state since 1968.

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: elections; gop; hoffman; independent; obama; thirdparty
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1 posted on 11/09/2009 7:01:44 AM PST by Wolf13
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To: Wolf13

....no third party candidates....not now, not ever....they lose.


2 posted on 11/09/2009 7:02:58 AM PST by STONEWALLS
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To: Wolf13

This guy needs to listen to Rush. Hoffman wasn’t a third party candidate. There was no primary.


3 posted on 11/09/2009 7:03:19 AM PST by synbad600
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To: Wolf13

I wrote EXACTLY the same thing last Thursday in a post entitled The Folly and Futility of Third Parties and caught a lot of flak and ridicule for saying pretty much the same thing.


4 posted on 11/09/2009 7:04:17 AM PST by Welcome2thejungle
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To: Wolf13

No third party presidential candidate has won a single state since George Wallace won five of them in 1968.


5 posted on 11/09/2009 7:04:46 AM PST by GoldStandard
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To: STONEWALLS

GO 3RD PARTY SARAH, WE’RE WITH YOU ...


6 posted on 11/09/2009 7:04:51 AM PST by Scythian
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To: Wolf13

..the Tea Party demonstrations and last Tuesday tell me that retaking the Republican Party is doable—I didn’t think so last November...


7 posted on 11/09/2009 7:05:33 AM PST by WalterSkinner ( In Memory of My Father--WWII Vet and Patriot 1926-2007)
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To: STONEWALLS

>> ....no third party candidates....not now, not ever....they lose.

If the party chooses conservative candidates, it won’t be necessary.

If they don’t choose conservative candidates, it will be necessary.

Principle above party. It’s as simple as that.


8 posted on 11/09/2009 7:06:42 AM PST by Nervous Tick (Stop dissing drunken sailors! At least they spend their OWN money.)
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To: Wolf13

If Republicans ‘deal’ or ‘compromise’ and allow Obamacare or Cap&Tax to pass in any form, then we’ll be at the ‘last resort’ stage....


9 posted on 11/09/2009 7:08:22 AM PST by Uncle Ike (Rope is cheap, and there are lots of trees...)
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To: STONEWALLS

So, you’re saying NY voters should have voted for Scuzzifalfa regardless of her political views?


10 posted on 11/09/2009 7:10:24 AM PST by bcsco (Hey, GOP: The Little Engine that Could is coming to New York ...)
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Third-party talk has become a perennial post-election pastime among some conservatives.


Pre-election also.


11 posted on 11/09/2009 7:13:37 AM PST by deport
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To: bcsco

“So, you’re saying NY voters should have voted for Scuzzifalfa regardless of her political views?”

...no, I feel the GOP must be reformed from within to get back to it’s roots....the old school GOP that I used to know would never have permitted candidates like Scuzzifalfa or similar RINOs....and BTW the GOP should sue her for the $800k they gave her for her campaign.


12 posted on 11/09/2009 7:15:57 AM PST by STONEWALLS
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To: Nervous Tick
If they don’t choose conservative candidates, it will be necessary. - Exactly talk about third parties causing damage to the conservative movement is drivel and used by liberals to keep the political centre moving further and further to the left.
13 posted on 11/09/2009 7:16:04 AM PST by Free_at_last_-2001 (A country can survive its fools, but it cannot survive treason from within.)
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To: synbad600

Thank RINO party hacks, Dede and Newt. Stinking Newt. Pelosi’s friend Newt.


14 posted on 11/09/2009 7:16:21 AM PST by Frantzie (Judge David Carter - democrat & dishonorable Marine like John Murtha.)
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To: Nervous Tick
I agree and certainly the status quo cannot survive...a true shake up is needed.

We have to come to the reality that the R’s are just as guilty as the D’s in putting our country on the brink of collapse and get over party loyalty. We have an unpayable debt in front of us and all I hear is the typical rearranging of the chairs on the Titanic from the R’s; “Give us back power and we’ll sink the good ship America slower than the democrats.” Is that really the solution...really?

We’d better get used to thinking outside the box for that is where the solution lays. The political elite, wheter R or D want us thinking INSIDE the box. Not me, I’m considering a whole range of ideas and only shooting down the ones that do not really fix the mess we’re in.

15 posted on 11/09/2009 7:17:19 AM PST by mek1959
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To: STONEWALLS

They provide veto power over rinos. Better a democrat than a RINO. Eventually the GOP will get the message.


16 posted on 11/09/2009 7:18:34 AM PST by DManA
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To: Welcome2thejungle

I think it’s the Baraqqis strategy for 2012.
They can deliver 40% of the vote no matter what.
Watch Soros fund RINOs to attempt to split the right and win with a Clintonian plurality.


17 posted on 11/09/2009 7:19:11 AM PST by nascarnation
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To: Wolf13
As a staunch conservative Republican I believe nothing would hurt the conservative movement, or the GOP, more than a RINO infestation. If a candidate like Scozzafava is on the ballet, a conservative is duty bound to vote for a different candidate, even if that candidate is third party.
18 posted on 11/09/2009 7:22:11 AM PST by DaveyB (A government's ability to give is proportionate to their power to take away!)
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To: bcsco

“So, you’re saying NY voters should have voted for Scuzzifalfa regardless of her political views?”

NY23 was such a whackadoodle anomaly that the regular rules do not apply. Hoffman was a Republican that went Conservative because Dede was a disastarous lib. there was no primary at all Ded dropped out and endorsed the Dem some people already voted for Dede with absentee ballots etc.
in this case i would have voted for Hoffman in a heartbeat but in most cases third parties do nothing but play spoilers.


19 posted on 11/09/2009 7:23:05 AM PST by DM1
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To: synbad600
You are correct, Scozzafava was the "annointed" GOP candidate, a practice that needs to end here and now, we should never let the GOP determine our candidates, it should be done via the primary mechanism.

That being said...we do not need third parties, we need to clean house in the GOP and get rid of all of the people who are pushing it to the left of center. Just as was done in this race, we need to stand up and make our voices heard.

It is also interesting to note that the Dem who did win, broke 4 campaign promises within one hour of taking office. The Dems may have won this battle, but if they continue to show their arrogance and deceive people like this, it is going to come back and bite them in the butt.

20 posted on 11/09/2009 7:23:46 AM PST by ravingnutter
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