Though their candidates registered nary a blip at the polls, the Missouri Constitution Party is all smiles this week.

That’s because a blip was all that was required to come back next time.

Under Missouri law, the Constitution Party needed at least one of their statewide nominees to garner at least 2 percent of the vote to guarantee ballot access in 2010 and 2012.

Otherwise, the party would need, as they did this year, a labor-intensive petition drive to gain ballot access.

While their candidates for governor, lieutenant governor and secretary of state fell short of the threshold, the Constitution candidate for treasurer — Rodney D. Farthing of Salem, Mo.– came through, peeling off about 66,000 votes — good for 2.4 percent.

Formed in 1992 as the U.S. Taxpayer’s Party, the Constitution Party embraces a limited-government philosophy, with a platform that includes withdrawing from NATO and phasing out Social Security.

As the Associated Press suggests, the party’s success in Missouri probably came at the expense of its third-party brethren, the Libertarians, which failed to reach the 2-percent mark for the first time in 16 years.