Scotty Boman shows up in Michigan polls

As we move closer to Election Day, Libertarian candidates are starting to show up in the polls. This is not necessarily because they are suddenly gaining adherents from zero, but because the pollsters have started to include them.

Michigan's Libertarian Senatorial candidate Scotty Boman, for example, has been working away, but only recently has his name been included in polling in the State's 7th and 9th Congressional Districts, where he is pulling down 2% and 3% respectively.

Statewide polls still have not included Boman, but are consistently showing a 5% vote for Other, a category including Boman, Green Party candidate Harley Mikkelson, Taxpayer Party candidate Mike Nikitin, and Natural Law Party candidate Douglas Dern. Mikkelson, Nikitin, and Dern, however, only score a combined 1-point-something in the 7th District and a combined 3-point-something in the 9th, which suggests that Boman's numbers are probably running in the 2-3% range across the State.

Bob Barr, on the other hand, appears to be tanking. In June, Zogby had him at 6%; in July Greenberg-Quinlin-Rosner put him at 3%; and in August Epic-MRA dropped him to 1%. This is possibly not so much due to anything Barr is or is not doing, but represents a break away from third-party candidates in a tightening Obama-McCain race [several polls suggest Obama's strong 7-point lead has dropped to 2 points; this equates with the 5 points Barr has lost].