Indie revolution or a lull between storms?
Russell Sadler over at Blue Oregon has an interesting post up called When independents run for governor. He examines the poltical forces and conditions which led to the last Indie Governor of Oregon in 1930 and the current forces and conditions affecting Ben Westlund's Independent bid for the Governor's Mansion.
The most recent stats available on voter registration in Oregon comes from the hyper-partisan 2004 election cycle. Then Independents made up a little less than 20% of the electorate. Anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that here in Oregon as well as across the nation there has been a backlash to the hyper-partisaness of the 2004 elections and Indie ranks seem to have swelled. To what extent is unknown, though.
As Donald notes, Texans have a serious Indie insurgency to consider too. And of course there's always that stalwart of Independence, Vermont, which has demonstrated over and over that an Indie can win major office over and over against the Big Two.
The open question seems to be whether this current spat of serious Indie contenders is an omen of things to come or just a lull between hyper-partisan storms.
2 Comments:
I have a feeling the current trend may be short lived. Only because of the past history of one of the major parties co-opting the ideas of an independent movement and then making the movement lose it's relevence. The only thing I can think of that would change this pattern and make Indies a permenant part of the process is the overhaul of election laws and financing.
Important dialogue - the major parties can't co-opt a demand for election reform that would open the process to independent voters and candidates because that reform is not in their interest and might well put one or both out of business. We have to work overtime to fight for that overhaul, and it's the fight for democracy....
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