In your example of 3 main rival candidates (A, B, C) and one dark horse candidate (D), you said that range voting prevented the dark horse from winning. Graphically speaking, there would be a triangle formed by the three main candidates , while the dark horse would lie somewhere outside of it.
My question is, what if the dark horse candidate is in fact a compromise candidate (i.e. his position D is inside the triangle formed by ABC)? In this case, he might truly be second choice on all the ballots without being first choice on any of them. Michael Rouse [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---- election-methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
