Two unknown minor party conservative candidates - independent Glenda Parker in Virgina and Libertarian Stan Jones in Montanta only received about 36,000 votes between them (as of tonight), but they still each polled two or more times more than the existing winning margins polled by the Democratic candiates for each senate seat. So very likely if they had not been running, both of the Republican candidates would tonight be leading and the Senate might still be in Republican hands when all the votes are counted.
Also, the Green party did not field a candidate in either, which even further influenced the projected results.
But no matter what the eventual outcome of either of these races in the days to come, it makes you realize how much a just single individual with limited resources can still make a difference in our society and how just a comparative handful of voters can dramatically change national policy.
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I always get annoyed when someone tries to argue that if a certain third party candidate hadn't been running then those votes would "automatically" go to the candidate who ended up losing. The assumption by Gore's people in 2000 that Nader voters "took votes away" from Gore assumes that those voters would have bothered to turn out and vote at all. I voted for Parker in Virginia and I know others who did who otherwise would not have voted at all or would have cast ballots for Webb, so it is not automatic that all her votes would have gone to Allen. She tapped into crunchy con sentiment but Webb was also able to appeal to disaffected moderate conservatives too. If Webb had lost I am sure there would be Democrats blaming an "Independent Green" for being on the ballot and as late as this past weekend there were reports that Democrats were trying to get Parker to withdraw.
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