Comments on: Steve Kornacki of the NY Observer comments on fusion and third parties in New York http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/04/steve-kornacki-of-the-ny-observer-comments-on-fusion-and-third-parties-in-new-york/ Covering America's third parties and independent candidates since May 2008 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 04:42:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Eric Sundwall http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/04/steve-kornacki-of-the-ny-observer-comments-on-fusion-and-third-parties-in-new-york/comment-page-1/#comment-54538 Eric Sundwall Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:04:36 +0000 http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/?p=7868#comment-54538 This is one of the reasons the LP has so much trouble in NY. Next year we'll be faced with the prospect of producing a candidate for governor who represents either a compromise of party values (spare me the compromise for success cliches/associations/assertions) in order to get the magic number to qualify as a 'party' (50K - even then it's a crap shoot . . . most voters invest in their heart strings and pocket books before long term strategic value) or we'll run one of our faithful, who will be buried in obscurity, no money or name recognition. The ballot qualified parties (WFP, Conservative & Independence) will gladly squander their opportunity to produce an independent candidate who speaks to their party's 'ideas/interests'. This in order to gain a little influence for some of the key party members, usually in the form of some patronage for delivering the votes. The one glimmer of hope is that two Senate seats will be available, this might provide an interesting case for the Greens and Libertarians to cross endorse with each other. Not only would that allow for an opportunity to challenge some of the fusion assumptions (ie small fuses with big), but it would also allow each party to maintain their identity in each candidate without compromise core issues (ie Greens - Universal health care, Libertarians - not Universal health care, etc). This is one of the reasons the LP has so much trouble in NY. Next year we’ll be faced with the prospect of producing a candidate for governor who represents either a compromise of party values (spare me the compromise for success cliches/associations/assertions) in order to get the magic number to qualify as a ‘party’ (50K – even then it’s a crap shoot . . . most voters invest in their heart strings and pocket books before long term strategic value) or we’ll run one of our faithful, who will be buried in obscurity, no money or name recognition.

The ballot qualified parties (WFP, Conservative & Independence) will gladly squander their opportunity to produce an independent candidate who speaks to their party’s ‘ideas/interests’. This in order to gain a little influence for some of the key party members, usually in the form of some patronage for delivering the votes.

The one glimmer of hope is that two Senate seats will be available, this might provide an interesting case for the Greens and Libertarians to cross endorse with each other. Not only would that allow for an opportunity to challenge some of the fusion assumptions (ie small fuses with big), but it would also allow each party to maintain their identity in each candidate without compromise core issues (ie Greens – Universal health care, Libertarians – not Universal health care, etc).

]]>