I don't generally blame the libertarians for our losses. South Dakota 2002 was a bit over the top, since the LP candidate withdrew and endorsed Thune, but still drew enough votes to have made the difference.

Most of the time, though, the libertarians wouldn't have voted for the GOP candidate any sooner than they would have voted for the Democrat, so it is usually a wash.

Burns doesn't need the libertarians. He needs the average Montanans. He has to make them realize that it is better for them to have a doofus who votes the way they would than to have a moonbat voting against their will at every turn.

I wouldnt puch much into the Mason Dixon poll. They did another one re Allen in Virginia which was quickly debunked by Hugh Hewitt. AS always polls are not indicators of who will win but simply designed to be news stories. Best All

I don't generally blame the libertarians for our losses.

Well, they are hardly responsible for everything, but it's more then just Thune. In 2000, Slade Gorton lost in Washington State by about 2200 votes, and the L won over 10,000. Sure, some of them wouldn't have come out, lets say 1/4. That leaves 7500. Let's say 3/4ths of those 7500 would have voted for Gorton. I'm not going to do the math, but Gorton wins then.

Ensign in 1998 (Yes, I know he's a Senator now, but he was elected to the other seat 2 years later) lost by 428. The L took 3000 votes. Had that not happened, we wouldn't be whining about Harry Reid nowadays.

I find it difficult to believe that we would have lost any of these 3 races had they not been in the race.

I have yet to see a single shred of evidence that libertarian voters would vote for Republican candidates in any substantive number.

Libertarians tend to be very much against both major parties, and most of them have views on social issues which are more common among Democrats. It is only on fiscal issues they tend to agree with Republicans - but only as Republicans speak, not as they govern.

Nationally, the LP vote has been very consistent for 30-odd years. They draw between 0.3% and 1.0% of the vote. This is a sign of a dedicated party, too small to matter in most elections, but true to their philosophy.

While it is true that IF libertarians in close races voted for Republicans, the GOP would win most of those, I'm waiting for any concrete evidence it would actually happen. I strongly suspect the overwhelming majority of LP voters would just stay home.

Re: Mason-Dixon. The record needs to be corrected on Mason-Dixon. They are one of the best pollsters out there. They not only call the outcome of most races correctly, but they also predict the margin between the two candidates with striking precision. Just go back and check their record from 2002 and 2004.

Re: Libertarians. I think the point Alexander is making is that in the West, the Libertarian share of the vote is growing, and that those new Libertarian voters aren't from that 1 percent of voters nationwide who want to privatize the sidewalks and legalize pot, but instead are small-"l" libertarians who would be inclined to vote for a less socially intrusive, more fiscally prudent Republican Party.

Also, after meeting with many LPs in WA, ID, MT, OR and the Dakotas, I have discovered that many of the LPs in the west are more along the lines of a mix of Buchanan/Malkin of immigration, Freepers on guns, with a dash of support for legalized pot, and a George Will/Mark Tapscott/NRO desire to reduce spending and sink the GOP at the same time. When asked about their constant underminung of the GOP in the West, they just state the obvious line about not caring about helping the GOP, so long as they "act like Democrats".

In general, many of the Western LPs do indeed strike me as the kind who do indeed want to sink the GOP.

In re In re Mason Dixon.. yes they are respected so is Gallup so are a number of pollsters BUT if you bother to look at when they did their polling as I indicated with the Virginia poll you will find that these polls are extremely inaccurate and are designed for news value only.. see you at the polls but I wont see you celebrating Best All !

In regards to people attacking this poll, it is in line with what Rasmussen showed in his last two polls.

As far as libertarians go, I fall in that camp a lot. Many libertarians in the west are VERY upset at the influence the religious right has in politics and would not vote republican.