This year, there are at least four and possibly five Independent candidacies that might affect election results!
The most likely to succeed is Independent Senate candidate Charlie Crist, Governor of Florida, who broke with the GOP and is running against Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek!
A second strong possibility is Independent Lincoln Chafee, former Republican Senator from Rhode Island, running for Governor!
Additionally, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is running a write in campaign for her seat after losing the primary to Tea Party backed Joe Miller!
Congressman Mike Castle of Delaware is considering a similar write in campaign against the person who defeated him in the GOP primary, Christine O’Donnell!
Finally, former GOP Congressman Tom Tancredo is mounting an independent bid for Governor in Colorado!
The most recent prominent Independents in office have been Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut!
Further back, Jesse Ventura was Independent Governor of Minnesota; Senator Lowell Weicker was Independent Governor of Connecticut; and Angus King was Independent Governor of Maine!
These cases of Independents running for, and some winning, office are fascinating, but the odds this year, as always, are daunting!
IF both Charlie Crist and Lincoln Chafee win, it will be considered a major coup for the movement toward independent candidacies, but it is also very possible NO Independent will win, as the two party system is well entrenched!
Um, Murkowski and Chaffee won.
Matthew, if you read the entry again, I did NOT say that it was impossible for independents to win, just difficult. The fact that Chafee and Murkowski won is due to their long history of accomplishment, but both were originally Republicans. Only Bernie Sanders has won office without being originally identifiable as a Republican or a Democrat.