A recent Michael Medved column underlines something important -- every vote counts. Many voters claim that they are disgusted with the two major parties, and vote for a third party candidate. That's exactly what happened in Minnesota. Let's look at the consequences.
* Nearly 500,000 Minnesota voters cast their votes for third-party candidates in the 2008 US Senate Race.
* Republican Norm Coleman won the initial count by 215 votes (out of three million votes cast.) The small margin of victory triggered an automatic recount. In the recount, Democrat Al Franken won by just over 300 votes.
* Al Franken's election gave Democrats 60 Senators -- enough to override Republican filibusters.
* Obama's massive healthcare plan passed the Senate by a count of 60-40, a strict partyline vote.
Essentially, a difference of 500 Minnesota voters in the 2008 US Senate election -- .1% of those who threw away their votes on third-party candidates -- could have stopped the Democrat healthcare legislation. Elections -- and your vote -- count. And the two major parties are demonstrably not the same.
1 comment:
I learned that lesson the hard way with Ross Perot. But, I can certainly understand why they voted for a third party. I want another choice, too.
mary
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