I have been suggesting for some time that the Libertarian Party of Delaware is gaining ground to replace the Delaware Republican Party as the second "Major" party in the State.
The poor showing in filling candidate slots by the DE GOP this year is so obvious that David Anderson is suggesting that the GOP take out ads and waive filing fees to get people involved.
When you are a putative major party and you are down to holding fire sales to get people to engage under your banner, then your party is disintegrating.
The numbers don't lie:
This year the Dems have had 132 candidates file. About 36 of those will go out in the primaries, leaving roughly 96 candidates on the November ballot. This is way up from the 81 candidates filed in 2010.
This year the GOP has had 63 candidates file, of whom at least eleven will bite the dust in primaries, leaving about 52 candidates on the November ballot if they don't find any fresh meat. This is down from 67 candidates in 2010.
Libertarians are not finished filing (because we use a convention system and have no primary, the state gives us a different timetable), but we have the paperwork on 23 candidates running for local or statewide office in preparation. In 2010 we had only 10 candidates file.
So the percentages tell an interesting story:
Democrats up 63% in terms of total number of candidates.
Republicans down 6% in terms of total number of candidates.
Libertarians up 130% in terms of total number of candidates.
(Oh, and I should mention--just to keep Will McVay happy--not all of those Republicans are really Republicans, anyway.)
The poor showing in filling candidate slots by the DE GOP this year is so obvious that David Anderson is suggesting that the GOP take out ads and waive filing fees to get people involved.
When you are a putative major party and you are down to holding fire sales to get people to engage under your banner, then your party is disintegrating.
The numbers don't lie:
This year the Dems have had 132 candidates file. About 36 of those will go out in the primaries, leaving roughly 96 candidates on the November ballot. This is way up from the 81 candidates filed in 2010.
This year the GOP has had 63 candidates file, of whom at least eleven will bite the dust in primaries, leaving about 52 candidates on the November ballot if they don't find any fresh meat. This is down from 67 candidates in 2010.
Libertarians are not finished filing (because we use a convention system and have no primary, the state gives us a different timetable), but we have the paperwork on 23 candidates running for local or statewide office in preparation. In 2010 we had only 10 candidates file.
So the percentages tell an interesting story:
Democrats up 63% in terms of total number of candidates.
Republicans down 6% in terms of total number of candidates.
Libertarians up 130% in terms of total number of candidates.
(Oh, and I should mention--just to keep Will McVay happy--not all of those Republicans are really Republicans, anyway.)
Comments
So, Will needs to lighten up.