For the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), defeat has never looked this much like victory.
After a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Commons was jailed on criminal charges, this struggling railroad town near the English Channel held a special election to pick his successor. The anti-immigrant Independence party took up the challenge, setting up offices next to a Turkish kebab shop and narrowly losing its bid to win its first elected seat in the British Parliament.
Its best-yet showing in a national race has, nevertheless, thrust into the national limelight a political movement that is part of a wave of anti-immigrant populism surging across Europe. The outcome of the Feb. 28 vote, coupled with national polls showing UKIP support at an all-time high, seemed to terrify Britain's three traditional parties. In response, the Conservatives, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats are suddenly tripping over each other in a race to see who can more closely echo the Independence party's hardline pledge to get tougher on immigration.