Libertarian Party Candidates: 7 Who Might Shape the Senate

The Washington Post looks at seven Senate races in which a Libertarian Party candidate has some chance of enough traction, according to the Post's headline, to beat the spread between the major party winner and loser, thus affecting the shape of the Senate majority.

While the evidence the Post presents in all these cases doesn't convince me they are correct in every case that the L.P. candidate will be a player—though they mention Alaska, Kentucky, Montana, and Arkansas in the story they lack a likely case for those states—here's some examples of how that might shape up:

•North Carolina's Sean Haugh "has pulled between 8 and 11 percentage points, enough to make a big difference in the race between Sen. Kay Hagan (D) and state House Speaker Thom Tillis (R)."

•West Virginia's John Buckley, who was actually a former state legislator from neighboring Virginia, and although Republican Shelly Capito is favored, "Buckley could tap into conservative anger over Capito's voting record," saith the Post.

• Virginia's surprisingly high-polling gubernatorial candidate from last year, Robert Sarvis; polls "show Sarvis attracting 6 percent of the vote, including 11 percent among crucial independent voters." See my recent interview with Sarvis.

I blogged last month about some L.P. candidates polling unexpectedly well in the south.