FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 8, 2012
Kansas City, MO
Cisse W. Spragins, Ph.D.
Missouri LP Breaks Several State Party Records in Tuesday's Election
Despite
media blackouts and debate exclusions, the Libertarian Party nationally
and in Missouri shattered several of its previous records Tuesday. The
Johnson/Gray ticket garnered over 1.1 million votes, just shy of 1%,
breaking the previous record of 921,158 set by the Clark/Koch ticket in
1980. Missouri delivered 1.6% for the Johnson/Gray ticket, breaking the
previous record going back to 1980 of 0.7%, and four times the
2008 result of 0.4%.
The party ran candidates for all six statewide races,
all congressional races and a number of lower level races. The party
broke its previous records in four of the six statewide races, including
US Senate, Governor, Lt. Governor and Secretary of State. In the hotly
contested US Senate race, Jonathan Dine garnered 164,991 votes (6.1%), a
party record for number of votes in a single race, as well as the
percentage record for that race. Sean O'Toole, the candidate for
Treasurer garnered 108,780 votes for 4.1%, the party's second best
showing for that particular race. The party had only broken the 100k
mark once before, back in the 1992 race for Treasurer, the year the
party first earned ballot status. In the 4-way race for Secretary of
State race, Cisse Spragins garnered 70,539 votes, which was more than
twice the difference between the top two finishers. The party's
averages for congressional candidates has been trending upward the last
three elections, with the high mark going to Kevin Craig in the 7th
district.
This election, Missourians heard the first attack ad
against a Libertarian candidate. In a desperate attempt to pick up last
minute votes, the Akin campaign launched an attack ad via radio and
robocalls against Jonathan Dine. "I was both surprised and amused when I
first heard it,” said Jim Higgins, the party's candidate for Governor,
and a former state chair of the party. “It shows we've become a factor
in Missouri politics.”
In the federal and statewide races, a total of 665,616
votes were cast for Libertarians. "I used to think that the number of
votes cast for Libertarians was a measure of our discontent as a
nation," said the party's chair, Dr. Cisse Spragins, "but I now realize
it's a measure of our courage." "Discontent is high - congressional
approval ratings are in the toilet, yet virtually everyone was
re-elected. And yet while millions of alleged fiscal conservatives
wasted their votes on Romney and millions of alleged anti-war, pro-civil
liberties voters wasted their votes on Obama, over a million people
were willing to step up and vote their conscience for Gary Johnson, and
millions more cast Libertarian votes down ticket," Spragins said. "That
gives me hope. I'm really proud of our candidates and our voters."
Voters who recognize that the two-party duopoly has
jointly led the country to the brink of economic disaster and who are
tired of never-ending foreign wars and a ballooning Big Brother police
state will find common ground with the Libertarian Party. The LP is
America’s third-largest political party and has been working for smaller
government since 1971. The Missouri Libertarian Party has been a
recognized party in the state, with continuous ballot access, since
1992.
--
Cisse W. Spragins, Ph.D.
Chair, Missouri Libertarian Party
LPMO.org
FedUpinMO.com
Cell: 612 309 9232
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants, it is the creed of slaves." --William Pitt, speech to the House of Commons.
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