Professor Laurence J. Kotlikoff has this essay about himself and his ideas for tax reform at Huffington Post. Kotlikoff is a professor at Boston University and a specialist in public finance. He is actively seeking the Americans Elect presidential nomination, and in his Huffington Post piece, he asks readers to vote for him in the Americans Elect primary.
Kotlikoff has written the book, “The Coming Generational Storm” and other publications as well. Here is the wiki article about him.
The Tennesseean, Nashville’s daily newspaper, has this story in its February 7 issue, telling readers that on Friday, February 3, a U.S. District Court Judge struck down the law on how new and minor parties get on the ballot. The story is accurate, but incomplete, because it fails to say that the judge put the two plaintiff political parties, the Green Party and the Constitution Party, on the 2012 ballot.
On February 5, a physician in Brookfield, Wisconsin, Hari Trivedi, announced his independent candidacy for Governor of Wisconsin via television ads. The ads were before and after the televised Superbowl football game, and cost him $17,000. See this story.
The next Wisconsin gubernatorial election is expected to be this year. Normally Wisconsin only elects its Governors in mid-term years. But in Wisconsin, when a recall petition is submitted, the result is to hold a special election for that office. The official being recalled runs, and parties (other than the party of the person being recalled) each also nominate a candidate. Independent candidates are free to join the race as well. Wisconsin only required 2,000 signatures for a statewide independent candidate. Most observers expect that the gubernatorial recall petition has enough signatures to cause the recall, although that is not yet a certainty.
Here is the final brief in the Massachusetts Supreme Court, in the Libertarian case over whether Massachusetts law authorizes an unqualified party to use a stand-in presidential candidate on its ballot access petition. The hearing is February 9.
On February 6, the California Secretary of State determined which presidential candidates will be listed on the various presidential primary ballots. Ever since 1976, it has been a California tradition that the Secretary of State lists any presidential candidates in minor party presidential primaries who have been suggested by party leaders. The law itself, however, tells the Secretary of State to list candidates who are discussed in the news media.
For 2012, for the first time, a California Secretary of State has made her own independent evaluation of which minor party candidates are discussed in the news media. She has therefore listed some candidates who were not suggested by minor party leaders, and deleted some candidates who were suggested.
The Libertarian Party’s list of nine candidates was not altered. The Green Party had suggested only Jill Stein and Kent Mesplay, but the Secretary of State added Roseanne Barr.
The Peace & Freedom Party had listed four candidates, but the Secretary of State only listed two of them, Rocky Anderson and Stewart Alexander. She deleted the presidential candidate of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Peta Lindsay, and the presidential candidate of the Freedom Socialist Party, Stephen Durham, probably because neither one of them has filed with the FEC or otherwise obtained much publicity.
The American Independent Party had listed fourteen candidates, but the Secretary of State will list only Ed Noonan, Max Riekse, and Laurie Roth.
The Republican Party ballot will include Newt Gingrich, Fred Karger, Ron Paul, Buddy Roemer, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum. The Democratic ballot will only include President Obama.
Candidates may still withdraw, and there is a possibility that Rocky Anderson will withdraw from the Peace & Freedom primary ballot, because he is more interested in promoting his Justice Party. The California law provides a petition procedure for candidates who were not listed to obtain a place on the presidential primary ballot, which requires a petition of 1% of any party’s registered voters. Thanks to Mark Seidenberg for this news. UPDATE: here is the list, from the Secretary of State’s web page. It includes addresses for each candidate.
On February 4, Nevada’s Republican Party held caucuses to choose delegates to the national convention. All four leading contenders won some delegates. Mitt Romney won 14, Newt Gingrich won 6, Ron Paul won 5, and Rick Santorum won 3. Thanks to Frontloading HQ for this information.