A Democrat and an Independent run together against a Republican
September 3, 2014 5:48 PM   Subscribe

Democrat and Independent merge campaigns in Alaska governor’s race The Democratic nominee for governor of Alaska and an independent candidate announced Tuesday that they have merged their campaigns, marking the beginning of an unprecedented political alliance in the state that could put a Republican-held seat in play this fall.
posted by dfm500 (9 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Along similar lines, the Democratic candidate for the Senate seat in Kansas, Chad Taylor, just dropped out so as not to split the non-GOP vote with an independent (former Democrat), Greg Orman, who is polling over the GOP incumbent, Pat Roberts.
posted by longdaysjourney at 5:57 PM on September 3, 2014 [3 favorites]


Looks like the Democrats have a fighting chance to keep control of the Senate.
posted by octothorpe at 6:38 PM on September 3, 2014


Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of defeating the Republican Party.
posted by uosuaq at 6:51 PM on September 3, 2014 [17 favorites]


I can see collaboration from my house.
posted by arcticseal at 6:51 PM on September 3, 2014 [7 favorites]


Another reminder that the spoiler system needs to be reworked. The easiest fix for America, avoiding a runoff system, would be to allow votes for an entire party on a straight ticket, with personal choices allowed in each office as well, essentially voting for two candidates if we want.
posted by Brian B. at 7:35 PM on September 3, 2014


I suppose Walker gets my vote, as the "anybody but Parnell" candidate, but I'm not happy about voting for someone who is explicitly anti-same-sex marriage and anti-choice (even if he says that while he's personally against abortion, he won't allow new restrictions. We'll see.)

The commentary from the Parnell campaign was pretty awesome, by which I mean really frustrating: In as many words, Walker-Mallott = Obama. (which would be fine with me, if it were true! But it's not.)

Timeline from Alaska Dispatch --- nice rundown on what's been happening with the various campaigns.
posted by leahwrenn at 7:35 PM on September 3, 2014


Walker --- in his own words
posted by leahwrenn at 7:40 PM on September 3, 2014


I guess I'm not really understanding what all the fuss is about here. This isn't some kind of bipartisan victory, and it's not some kind of insurgent victory against the two party system. It's really just a tactical decision by someone who would have been an also-ran to get something other than a third place finish out of his campaign.

The Kansas situation seems to be the same thing, though it's a little more interesting because it's the maybe-sorta-Democratic-leaning independent who's staying in the race. People are talking about him like he'll be an Angus King, but my hunch is he'll be more like a Joe Lieberman.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:57 AM on September 4, 2014


Oops. Just realized that I posted an article about Kanasas and not Alaska.
posted by octothorpe at 1:51 PM on September 4, 2014


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