Although many pundits expected him to do better, or worse, Dean Barkley managed to capture 15.16% in the US Senate race in Minnesota as the Independence Party candidate. Dean Barkley recieved the endorsement of former Gov. Jesse Ventura and Ventura even helped record radio ads for him. However, he also managed to score as much as 23.18% in Waseca County and as well as at least 20% in 3-4 others.
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Barkley’s support pretty much held firm, a few percentage points might have been shaved off but not much.
The IP can take comfort in these results for now, but for the IP become a legitimate third force in Minnesota politics it has to answer these questions: 1). What does it stand for, 2). What is its base, either regional, economic, and culture.
Major parties have bases and people they can count on to do the dirty work of party organizing and money raising. DFL has the Iron Range for example and the GOP has the northern exurbs. The IP needs something like that in the state to compete with the majors. I sure there were people who voted for Barkley because they knew what the party stood for and supported it and the candidate. But I’m sure there were many other who said “A pox on both your houses!” after all the negative TV ads in the U.S. Senate and several Congressional races.
You can only be a spoiler for so long…
That’s why I wanted him to win!
Silvarticus, yeah, but Penny was leading in the polls when he first jumped into the race. His 15% finish represented a major falling off of his support at the eleventh hour. That didn’t happen with Barkley.
Joseph, your mileage may vary. I saw Barkley in the debates and was very impressed. He was one of only two third-party candidates I would have voted for nationwide, the other being Anthony Pollina.
I watched Barkley in the debates. He sucked. Wasn’t libertarian at all, but I would have most-likely voted for him, unless the LP put someone up.
I think the existing Barkley support was firmer than the pollsters and two parties wanted to admit. There was no last minute “break” from Barkley voters to Coleman or Franken. Independents stood their ground with this guy. Based on previous elections involving strong Independence Party candidates, this is a reasonable assumption. Barkley got about the same percentage Penny did for Governor in 2002. And, of course, there are still some old holdouts in Minnesota from Ventura’s days who will get behind an independent or nominally libertarian candidate if they know about them.
It’s also worth noting several Independence Party candidates for the House got into the double digits this year. If the IPMN finds away to capitalize on their gains this year, they could truly stand a chance at running a competitive race for state or federal offices in a couple years.
I’m too lazy to check on the numbers, but here’s one theory for why Barkley held steady at 15-20%: I remember reading before the election that Barkley was taking more votes from Coleman than from Franken. However, on election day, he took more votes from Franken than from Coleman. What happened in the mean time? Coleman’s popularity went up a bit, and Franken’s tanked after a bunch of people made a stink about what an idiot he was and what a disgrace he’d be as a Senator.
Presuming all the items above are true — could it be that Barkley lost GOP support a couple weeks before the election, but gained some Democratic support at the eleventh hour?