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Florida: The Republican is leading and we're cheering on the ex-Republican to split the vote, but it's failing.
Alaska: The Republican is slipping with the latest scandal, but the Republican Write-In candidate may have a shot against the Dem.
Rhode Island: Dems split their support between the Dem and Ex-Republican Lincoln Chafee
In these individual races, I've heard perfectly good explanations for why this is happening. But I have to point out that when there's even a whisper of a third-party challenge coming from the left, it's soundly shot down as political suicide. These races are a direct challenge to the conventional wisdom that a third party candidate will split the vote in favor of the outlier.
It also challenges the conventional wisdom about partisanship in America. It's the Right that's running these challenges. It's the Left that seems to be the ones struggling with who to throw their support to, and in 2 of 3 cases, they're leaning towards the ex-republican.
Is running a third party really all that damaging? Why doesn't the minority right seem to have problems with this strategy?
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