Posted on 09/13/2013 5:38:57 AM PDT by markomalley
Spoiler candidate alert: Libertarian Robert Sarvis is a third-party candidate in the 2013 Virginia governor’s race. Although polling reveals that it is unlikely for him to win, will he split votes away from Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli in the process?
Election day is less than 60 days away, and Republican Ken Cuccinelli and Democrat Terry McAuliffe are in crunch time. However, neither candidate option fully satisfies voters. According to a recent poll of likely voters, only 34% of likely voters hold McAuliffe in a “favorable” opinion, and only 35% hold Cuccinelli in this regard.
Reflecting the mood of the Virginia race, Barton Hinkle likened the choice to “choosing between Sauron and SpongeBob Squarepants.”
For Virginia voters torn by this dilemma, Robert Sarvis may be an exciting prospect. Born and raised in the Northern Virginia area, he possesses a background prime for Virginia politics. Impressively, he received his undergraduate degree from Harvard, went on to receive a degree in mathematics from the University of Cambridge, a J.D. from N.Y.U School of Law, and a Master’s in economics from George Mason University.
Sarvis champions the campaign slogan, “Virginia: Open-minded, and Open for Business.” According to his campaign website, he espouses ideals of personal and economic freedoms. Having a mixed race heritage, he promises to bring diversity to the position.
However, despite his impressive background, it is unlikely that Sarvis offers Virginians a plausible alternative winner.
Notably, his greatest obstacle is that as a third party candidate, he does not command the same media spotlight or campaign spending dollars as McAuliffe or Cuccinelli. For example, he was not invited to a recent Virginia gubernatorial candidate debate.
But, will Sarvis be to blame if Cuccinelli loses the election?
At this time, Cuccinelli seems likely to lose whether Sarvis runs or not. For evidence, compare polling data that pairs only Cuccinelli and McAuliffe against each other, to data that includes all three candidates. When only Cuccinelli and McAuliffe are paired, McAuliffe is in the lead at 48%-42%. Meanwhile, data that includes all three candidates depicts McAuliffe at 45.2%, Cuccinelli at 37.3%, and Sarvis is a distant third at 9.5%.
Judging by this criteria, it appears that McAuliffe is the front-runner, with or without Sarvis, for the time being. However, as the momentum of his campaign picks up, this may change in the future.
I’d take Ken C over this liberaltarian who wants homosexual marriage, open borders and the rest of the communist crap.
mmmmmmmmm, Wonder who the liberaltarain backers are, I;m sure that would be interesting to see and why they are going to siphon votes away from the right.
wrong Johnny IMO, if Ken is there but the college fools and liberals who hate paying taxes don’t like normal marriage and closed borders then they will vote for their more liberal guy like the liberataran
/johnny
If this state allows McAwful to slither into the Governor's mansion it sure as hell is.
yea that will show VA, they can have their iopen borders, homosexual , abortion loving , make drugs legal etc crap, yep that would show VA
SARC
Whining about people not voting the way you think they should isn't going to get you anywhere.
/johnny
There's a nice fascist notion.
And I'm not even a Libertarian.
Who are backing this liberaltarian and his liberal policies like open borders, homosexual marriage, make all drugs legal?
Hell is he a full fledged liberaltarian who wants to get rid of the FBI, CIA, get rid if incest laws and sex age laws too?
And another old myth raises its ugly head...
This is just another example of how stupid the GOP-E is. When they run a liberal, they lose conservative votes but don't gain any liberal votes.
Unfortunately, I think that's the wave of the future, at least in Republican presidential primaries. That's because the conservative candidates split the vote, allowing the GOP-E to squeak through. I fear we're doomed to a long line of Romneys in our future.
Unless, well, see my tagline.
That splitting the republican’t vote will probably ensure that MacAuliffe wins is irrelevant.
BS. It’s entirely relevant if McAuliffe wins. That POS is as corrupt as they come.
think you missed my point.
If a guy runs wanting open borders he gets the illegals and their family to vote for him.
They come out on mass.
If like liberaltarians want their homosexual marriage, cross dressing and teach it in the schools then they will vote for the liberaltarian.
Now if they hate paying taxes and fall for the usual clap trap of freedom but never think about how no laws would bring anarachy then they will vote liberaltarian .
Think of the dumb college kids
Most of the Sarvis support is drawn from Cuccinelli. Likely, as the election approaches, people will wake up and realize the disaster that awaits if McAuliffe wins in November. This race will tighten up considerably in coming weeks.
/johnny
to say it does not matter is stunning, of course if MacAulliffe wins would greatly affect VA and for future elections.
Hopefully the voters of VA wise up and put at least leaning right guy in and get rid of the other two lefty fools
well at least this pro open borders, pro cross dressing, pro get rid of incest laws, get rid of no sex age law, no FBI, CIA, allow public sex and in front of kids liberaltarian is actually using their own platform unlike nutty Ron Paul.
Question is will he tell the voters all of his radical left wing views before the vote.
Virginia is infested with transplanted liberals from the north, and the usual suspects in the large cities: welfare rats and other dependant types. sadly its not a condition that is likely to improve.
All I know is this. Perot ran on a smaller government platform. He emphasized fiscal responsibility. Those are conservative principles, and it attracted conservative votes.
As I said, if you have to worry about 3rd party spoilers, your candidate sucks.
What is your plan to get more conservative GOP candidates?
/johnny
I’m curious why you guys think Cuccinelli is a GOP-e candidate. He’s pretty conservative.
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