Peter Hutchinson for Governor
Independence party candidate, Peter Hutchinson, officially declared his candidacy for Minnesota Governor this morning.
http://www.openupmn.com/
It is interesting to read the GOP and DFL opinions on his running, and publicly it seems they are hopeful he'll be a spoiler for the other major party. Tim Penny got 16% of the vote in 2002, and blocked a majority victory for the winner Tim Pawlenty, but it seems likely he didn't change the winner with Roger Moe a fairly distant second.
I would accept the opinion that 3-way races generally support the incumbent, splitting his opposition, even if there can be some protest votes against the incumbent as well.
If I had my way, we'd have a top-two primary in September (or October if you like), and that would allow voters to make a real decision on our choices, rather than being forced into artificially limited choices of a party primary followed by spoiler fears in the general election.
Being we can't have this, can't all vote freely for fear of our least liked candidate winning by minority support, all we have is to hope OUR candidate is the one who benefits from a plurality victory, like Jesse Ventura in 1998.
The Greens can be seen as legitimate spoilers for the Democrats, and perhaps the Libertarians can be spoilers for the republicans, but I think the Independence party is capable of benefitting from an imagine of "the middle way" and seek to gain respect and recognition from all sides as freeing ourselves to facing real issues that make a difference over polarizing word games.
Well, I can hope. I can support Hutchinson, but hope the democrats can also put forth a bold candidates or two as well. The republicans must raly around their leader, so we'll just have to feel sorry for them.
It'll be interesting, and this is a happy day!
http://www.openupmn.com/
It is interesting to read the GOP and DFL opinions on his running, and publicly it seems they are hopeful he'll be a spoiler for the other major party. Tim Penny got 16% of the vote in 2002, and blocked a majority victory for the winner Tim Pawlenty, but it seems likely he didn't change the winner with Roger Moe a fairly distant second.
I would accept the opinion that 3-way races generally support the incumbent, splitting his opposition, even if there can be some protest votes against the incumbent as well.
If I had my way, we'd have a top-two primary in September (or October if you like), and that would allow voters to make a real decision on our choices, rather than being forced into artificially limited choices of a party primary followed by spoiler fears in the general election.
Being we can't have this, can't all vote freely for fear of our least liked candidate winning by minority support, all we have is to hope OUR candidate is the one who benefits from a plurality victory, like Jesse Ventura in 1998.
The Greens can be seen as legitimate spoilers for the Democrats, and perhaps the Libertarians can be spoilers for the republicans, but I think the Independence party is capable of benefitting from an imagine of "the middle way" and seek to gain respect and recognition from all sides as freeing ourselves to facing real issues that make a difference over polarizing word games.
Well, I can hope. I can support Hutchinson, but hope the democrats can also put forth a bold candidates or two as well. The republicans must raly around their leader, so we'll just have to feel sorry for them.
It'll be interesting, and this is a happy day!
posted by Ares Olympus at 3:22 PM
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