The Working Families and Independent Parties made their first appearance on my 2008 ballot. Both parties ran relatively few candidates but opted instead to endorse major party candidates in the Voters' Pamphlet. According to the Working Families Party statement, this was done deliberately to avoid placing "spoiler candidates" on the ballot. We will never know for sure whether this really was deliberate or whether these start-up parties just had difficulty finding more candidates.

Overall, I found it interesting that with the exception of the Independent Party, which seems like it is designed to be a competitor to the Libertarian Party, and of course the Constitution Party, that the others--the Working Families Party, the Pacific Green Party, and the Peace Party--all express points of view that I would consider to be left-leaning both socially and fiscally. In my opinion, these parties' positions are to the left of most of the Democrats on the ballot.