[MinnesotaLibertarian]

a conservative leaning third party so I assume that most of those votes would have gone to Coleman....

Not sure where you got that idea from. The Independence Party is a liberal leaning third party. Without Barkley, it would have probably been a clear Franken victory. Sad but true.

[mwl8787]

You are wrong. The Independence Party is only liberal on social issues. Barkley took more votes from Coleman than from Franken. RATS always vote for RATS. Your Libertarian candidate additionally cost Coleman 16,000 votes.