As Seth McKee and I note, the rise of moderate independent candidates such as Crist, Murkowski, and Chafee (whom I suspect are predominantly driving Richard's observation), are nothing new to American politics. We have seen this activity before when the political parties polarize and drive out their moderate members. We published an op-ed in Politico on this topic prior to the election:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43872.html

And presented a paper at the Southern Political Science Association conference last weekend.

Of course, these candidates could not enjoy their electoral successes if voters could not vote for them.

============

Dr. Michael P. McDonald

Associate Professor, George Mason University

Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

                             Mailing address:

(o) 703-993-4191             George Mason University

(f) 703-993-1399             Dept. of Public and International Affairs

mmcdon@gmu.edu               4400 University Drive - 3F4

http://elections.gmu.edu     Fairfax, VA 22030-4444