Could third parties take advantage of next year's US Congressional elections?

[Padfoot]

I think that focusing on districts where that particular third party has a lot of ideological allies in a great idea for third parties.  One of the reasons they are so insignificant is because they waste millions of dollars on presidential and statewide races that they have no chance of winning and they sometimes end up throwing the election to the major party they agree with the least (Greens in 2000 for example).  Third parties are foolish to believe they can compete with the big two on a national or statewide level.  They need to think locally first if they ever want to be major players.

Having said all that, I also have to agree with memphis in that most third parties are so concerned with being "pure" and "principled" that they end up as fringe groups that are unable to attract enough people to win anything at all.  If you want to win elections you have to be willing to bend a little when it comes to your party platform.  You can't tell people they aren't one of you just because they disagree with the party line on 1 of your 100 positions.