E Pluribus Unum

Apparently, the Libertarian vote in Montana and Missouri was greater than the Democratic margin of victory in both states:

Missouri Senate

McCaskill (D) 1,047,049
Talent (R) 1,001,238
Gilmour (L) 47,504

Montana Senate

Tester (D) 198,302
Burns (R) 195,455
Jones (L) 10,324

I'm tempted to say that Republicans finally paid the price for wanting to shrink government small enough so that it'll fit into your bedroom. However that would be a generalization that probably doesn't apply to either state's voters.

Maybe a more accurate observation would be that mingling religion into policy decisions on stem-cell research was a bad idea. That's closer to the truth of what happened in Missouri, where Claire McCaskill campaigned heavily in favor of the state's stem-cell initiative.

As for Montana, I'm not sure why the Libertarians turned on incumbent Repulbican Sen. Burns. After all, he was a gun-totin, horseback-ridin cowboy, right? Maybe they just saw him as another corrupt member of the big-spending-Washington-insiders' club.

Whatever it is, it shows (again -- remember Florida 2000?) that 3rd parties can still make a big difference in a close election, even when their candidates lose.

(HT to Kos)