Libertarian influence on gubernatorial elections

[SPC]

1998:
Because of Bill Owens's semi-libertarian positions, the Libertarian party candidate does not draw enough voters to cost Owens the election. Had the GOP put up a more socially conservative candidate, Schoettler would have surely won.

2002:
The Democratic margin of victory is less than the percent of the vote received by Libertarians in AZ, OR, WI, and WY. Napolitano, Kulongoski, Doyle, and Freudenthal owe their poltical lives to the Libertarian Party.

2004:
The Democratic margin of victory is less than the percent of the vote received by Libertarians in WA. Gregoire owes his political life to the LP.

[Verily]

You make the almost certainly fallacious assumptions that:

a) All people who vote Libertarian would otherwise vote Republican. It's probably more like 60-65%.
b) All people who vote Libertarian would bother to vote at all. Votes for minor parties tend to be drawn at least half from thin air rather than from one party or the other unless it is obvious that the minor candidate has momentum.

[RBH]

3) Christine Gregiore is a woman.

4) Freudenthal got 49.96% of the vote in 2002.

[ottermax]

In Washington, Gregoire was hurt more by the Libertarian Party than helped. In fact, I believe more Libertarians in Washington have Democratic tendancies than Republican leanings.

[adam]

Gregoire owes her political life to the LP.

Unlikely, considering that the LP candidate in that race openly admitted to running for the specific reason of drawing votes from Gregorie. She ran on the single issue of gay marriage (pro, of course).

[Kevin]

This is something that I REALLY, REALLY hate of the two-party system, using this example of assuming that all Libertarian voters would automatically go for a Republican and that these voters are nothing more than "spoilers".

There have been several instences were third party canidates have been able to break the two-party system i.e. Angus King, Jesse Ventura, and Perot came very close to doing so in 1992 and may have done so in my opinion had he stayed in the race consently.     

[bgwah]

As others have already states, the Libertarian candidate in Washington was an anti-war lesbian who mentioned that she wanted to show Libertarians stole votes from Democrats, too.

Luckily Gregoire won anyway.

[MaC]

as much as I appreciate the libertarians entering a race and getting attention, I do have to say Libertarians need to get over themselves (with many cases).  It's not like were pulling a solid 10% or anything-that would be worthy of bragging over.