American electoral history is mainly a story of two parties. But every now and then, a third party or independent candidate makes a significant imprint on an election. In recent years, the main impact of third-party candidacies has been to play the role of spoiler, hurting one major-party candidate more than another. …
In 2012, there are a handful of states where a third-party candidate could hinder either Mitt Romney or Barack Obama’s electoral hopes — or cause havoc down the ballot in a few key Senate contests. [cont.]
Geoffrey Skelley, U.Va. Center for Politics