In Politics
In politics, a sacrificial lamb candidate is a candidate chosen to contest an election despite the fact that he or she has little chance of victory. The political party thus appoints the person as a sort of "sacrifice" to the stronger opponent.
In some cases fielding a sacrificial lamb candidate can serve as an opportunity for the party to be more creative in choosing a candidate than would normally be considered acceptable in a closely contested race. For instance, Alan Keyes or Geraldine A. Ferraro. In 2004 Howard Mills was considered a sacrificial lamb candidate for the U.S. Senate from New York against Chuck Schumer.
Read more about this topic: Sacrificial Lamb
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