BTW, sometimes it's not even a party vs. party issue. Here in Illinois' 18th Senate District, the Chicago machine in the 19th ward almost got Mary Nolan, a fellow DEMOCRAT, kicked off the primary ballot. They wanted a Chicago machine loyalist to AUTOMATICALLY "inherit" O'Malley's seat and vote the way Mike Madigan tells him too. But the local Dems wanted someone who would be loyal to the suburbs first, so they ran a regional candidate from Oak Lawn. Much to our dismay, the local Democrat "leaders" put the loyality of the big city bosses over loyality to their towns, and backed Maloney. But Nolan managed to withstand a huge party beating, got back on the ballot by election day...but lost to Maloney.
So what do you think of Carla Howell? I know it's not a state issue but she's very popular within the LP and likely to be their candidate for President in 2004 (ideologically, she's aligned with Harry Browne) There's no disputing that Howell was out gloating and holding pep rallies after the MA election boards did what the LP CLAIMS to be against (use bureaucratic laws to restrict ballot choices) Not only that, she tried to INSIST she was the ONLY alternative to Ted Kennedy and wanted to undermine other actively campaigning 3rd party candidates (which the LP also CLAIMS they are against)