CANDIDATES SEEK INDEPENDENCE.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: TRACEY TULLY Staff writer

Candidates for statewide office auditioned Saturday before the Independence Party with an eye on winning a nomination from the emerging third party.

A dozen political hopefuls, including Democratic front-runners for governor, attorney general and the U.S. Senate, addressed party faithful in a political version of show-and-tell.

No votes were taken and no decisions were made. Party leaders said the meeting at the Steuben Club was instead designed to measure candidates against a two-pronged yardstick:

Which candidates best match the philosophy of the party, which formed in 1994 and has 107,000 enrolled …