All candidates are equal... but some more equal than others

Here is a copy of NJ ballot for 2010 local elections:

The first row is for candidates for the post of governor (sorry, the whole ballot would not fit into my scanner).

Both Democrat Corzine (NJ current governor) and Republican Christie occupy a rather large spot on the ballot. The rest of candidates - third party and independents - are shuffled into smaller squares. It is no exaggeration to call it a shuffle, as there seems to be no rule for the order of names in the list.

Somewhere buried among the rest is Christopher Daggett - an Independent candidates who was endorsed by "The Stat-Ledger" - NJ largest newspaper - and who consistently gets 20+% in polls.

I don't remember another election with so many independent and populist candidates. Parties include "People Not Politics", "Fair Elections Party", "For The People", and "Middle Class Empowerment". This is a major indication that people are fed-up with the current system, feel unrepresented and oppressed.

However, while these may all be very worthwhile candidates, everybody who wants to challenge the two major parties' grip on power will need to vote for Daggett, as he is the only third-party candidate who has a little bit of a chance of winning.

It is also quite unfortunate that these parties are not challenged in other races - except for positions of Freeholders.