In Connecticut, as in most states, an independent candidate is free to choose a partisan label (if it is short and doesn’t mimic the name of a qualified party). U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman’s independent petition will use the label “Connecticut for Lieberman”. If Lieberman loses the primary on August 8, he will submit his petition on August 9 and would then be on the November ballot under that label. Since it is certain that he would then poll at least 1% of the vote, that would establish the “Connecticut for Lieberman Party” after November 2006. The state would keep a tally of how many voters became registered members of this “party”, and it would have automatic ballot status for the U.S. Senate election in 2010 (it would nominate by convention). Of course it wouldn’t be a bona fide party, just a pro forma party.
Ballot Access News
Edited By Richard Winger
Hold your paw up, if you still have lingering doubts that ‘Democrat’ and ‘Republican’ are not much more than mere super ficial ‘Brand Names’ (GE and Hotpoint; Buick and Chevy; Budwieser and Bud Lite) for the one and only shaddowy establishment cabal………
If this happens, it would be funny to see someone with the last name Lieberman try to run for something on this new party line. 🙂
Actually, it is an interesting question of how the delegates to this convention would be selected. It might be possible for some fringe group to inflitrate it. This is what happened to the Solidarity Party, which was formed by mainstream Democrats in Illinous and was intended to exist only for the 1986 election. Two years later, the Democrats had lost interest and it was taken over by the New Alliance Party. But Lieberman has added his own name to his ballot label, which could produce the bizarre result of some Stalinist Party type running for Senate as the “Connecticut for Lieberman” candidate.