Mark Grannis, 2010 Libertarian candidate and Maryland LP executive board member, recently wrote an op-ed column for the Baltimore Sun about gerrymandering in Maryland. Grannis writes:
In 2010, I was the Libertarian challenger to U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen in Maryland’s 8th District. Our district was custom-designed to go Democratic back in 2002, so reporters had every reason to consider the race uncompetitive. Indeed, The New York Times estimated Mr. Van Hollen’s "probability" of re-election at 100 percent. (It’s a good thing the statisticians at the Times don’t make their living underwriting life insurance.) Even I expected to lose by a wide margin, and the voters validated that prediction.
I also expected to receive less press coverage than Mr. Van Hollen’s Republican challenger. But there I was wrong. I received just as much coverage as the Republican candidate, because neither of us received any. I was not on the outside of a two-party race looking in; I was in a non-race, a race of which the press took almost no notice whatsoever.
