On August 22, Jack Kimball, Republican Party state chair in New Hampshire, refused requests from Republican members of Congress that he resign. The latest calls for his resignation are because a few weeks ago he signed the petition to put the Libertarian Party on the ballot. According to this story, even some members of the Republican National Committee are opposed to Kimball for having signed the petition. There are other complaints about Kimball, however.
On August 22, Jack Layton, leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party, died at the age of 61 from cancer. As leader of his party, he had guided it from winning 19 seats in Parliament in 2004, to 29 in 2006, to 37 in 2008, and to 103 in May 2011. The 2011 election gave the New Democratic Party the second highest number of seats in Parliament, displacing the Liberal Party as the official opposition to the Conservative government. See this obituary. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
On August 22, Gallup released a poll for the 2012 general presidential election. Whether the Republican nominee is Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Ron Paul, or Michele Bachmann, the race is close. See this summary of the results. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
Mississippi is one of the four states in which the Reform Party is still ballot-qualified. There are two factions of the Reform Party in Mississippi, and each faction is running some candidates for statewide office in the November 8, 2011 election. On September 9, Mississippi election officials will hear from both sides, and decide which faction’s nominees to list on the general election ballot.
On August 21, the Libertarian Party national committee voted to donate $50,000 to the campaign of Ed Coleman, who is running for re-election to the Indianapolis city council in a partisan election on November 8, 2011. Coleman was last elected as a Republican in 2007, but shortly afterwards he switched to the Libertarian Party. Although he was elected to one of the four at-large seats in 2007, in 2011 he is running to represent the 24th district, in the southeast corner of the city. Indianapolis has 25 city council districts plus its four at-large members.
The 24th district race will be between Coleman and a Republican. Democrats are not running anyone for that seat.
On July 25, the Montana Attorney General ruled that the Secretary of State is free to accept electronic signatures on petitions if she wishes, or she is free not to accept them. The Attorney General says the state law gives her that discretion. The Secretary of State, Linda McCulloch, had sought a ruling from the Attorney General on February 7 on whether electronic signatures on petitions for inititives and candidates are valid. She is a Democrat. If she decides in favor of allowing electronic signatures, Montana will be the first state to have taken this step. Thanks to Steve Kelly for this news.