Coordination failure

From dKosopedia

Coordination failure occurs in single member district elections when two candidates (Candidate A and Candidate B) occupying the same ideological space divide the available vote in that space and allow a competing candidate (Candidate X) to win office with fewer votes than A and B receive in combination.

Real World Example

In 2005, Vermont Democrats debated whether to run a candidate for the United States Senate seat held by the retiring independent Jim Jeffords rather than support Congressman Bernie Sanders. Source: Ross Sneyd. "Vt. Governor Opts Out of U.S. Senate Bid." Associated Press. May 6, 2005.

Fictional Example

In "Setting A President," Episode 37 of Foster's Home for Imagainary Friends, candodates Mr. Herriman and Bloo discover they are locked into a coordination failure against Frankie as president of the House. They attempt to solve the problem by having Bloo become the campaign manager for Mr. Herriman. Episode Index

Retrieved from "http://localhost../../../c/o/o/Coordination_failure.html"

This page was last modified 18:24, 25 August 2008 by Chad Lupkes. Based on work by dKosopedia user(s) Despot. Content is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.