I was glancing over the FEC's reported election results for the 2012 presidential election and noted some the things that have been reported already, such as the facts that Obama got fewer votes in 2012 than in 2008, Romney got more voted in 2012 than McCain got in 2008, and that overall there were fewer votes cast in 2012 than in 2008. See the tables for 2008 here and for 2012 here.
But note all the also-rans in the 2012 election. There were a total of 29 candidates including Obama, Romney, and “None of These Candidates.” The biggest winners among the also-rans were these:
Stewart Alexander, Socialist Party, who got 43,011 votes;
Roseanne Barr, Peace and Freedom Party, who got 67,278 votes;
Virgil H. Goode, Jr., Constitution Party and Independent, who got 122,001 votes;
Jill Stein, various Green Parties, who got 469,501 votes; and
Gary Johnson, Libertarian, who got 1,275,804 votes (0.99%%).
Clearly Gary Johnson was the winning loser. And while “None of These Candidates” got 5,770 votes, a vote for any of the also-rans was a wasted vote with the only hope being that it would send a message. In that regard it was impressive that over a million voters wanted a libertarian for president. Of the two front runners, Romney would have been closer to libertarianism than Obama, but even with Johnson's votes Romney still would have lost.
Then there's Rossanne Barr with over 67 thousand votes. Wow! If she had that many viewers she might still be on TV.
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