While Godfrey placed third, General McNaughton was upset in the by-election by the Progressive Conservative candidate with Godfrey, whose vote total was less than the difference between McNaughton and the Conservative candidate, acting as spoiler.
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The University of Oregon Oregon Daily Emerald noted that people disturbed by the spoiler effect in elections, particularly with respect to the close 2000 presidential election were singling out Ralph Nader for blame, but not "criticizing Cathy Gordon Brown" or other third party and independent candidates.
The group also came under criticism by political commentators such as David Harsanyi of The Denver Post, who contends that the Unity08 ticket would have served as a "spoiler" for one party's ticket, siphoning off enough votes from one candidate and delivering the election to the other (while failing to win the election itself).