Could Libertarian Schansberg be lured to GOP?

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November 8, 2008

By DAVID A. MANN The News and Tribune Sat Nov 08, 2008, 06:56 PM EST

While Republican Mike Sodrel lost to Democratic Rep. Baron Hill by nearly 42,000 votes during last week's election, Libertarian Eric Schansberg managed to gain the overall number of votes he received.

Schansberg, still a distant third to his major party counterparts, said the difference was in the amount of campaigning he did this time.

“I campaigned a lot harder this year,” he said, noting that he walked business districts, ran radio and TV ads and participated in more parades.

The campaign did everything it could do with the resources it had, he said.

Sodrel and Hill have faced each other four times now. Schansberg entered the race for the first time in 2006.

That year, he received 9,893 votes, according to the Indiana Secretary of State's Office. The votes are not completely counted yet, but he's received 10,090 this year, according to the office.

Schansberg expects that number to rise as totals trickle in, saying he’s heard that he’s gotten 12,000 votes.

Historically, the third-party candidate rarely does well enough to win.

There’s much talk about change, Schansberg said, but it seems that change is narrowly defined within the two-party system.

But the Libertarian says he’s not opposed to running as a major party candidate.

“I’ve had people approach me on both sides, saying ‘wow I wish you were our candidate,’” he said.

He’s not sure there’d be room for him to run in the Democratic Party — because of Hill's incumbency — but would consider the Republican Party.

“I think he would probably be a viable candidate if he ran as a Republican,” said Linda Gugin, professor of political science at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany.

Libertarians often lack the name recognition that Republicans and Democrats have, she said. She also noted that voters often have a hard time voting for them because they feel like it would be throwing their vote away.

“The two parties are so well-ingrained in the voters mind that there's this automatic impulse to vote Democrat or Republican.”

Schansberg said he's not a party insider, so would likely not be even considered as a candidate.

“I don't know whether I would be welcomed in either major party,” he said.

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