Intelligence Squared Sponsors Debate: "The Two-Party System is Making America Ungovernable"

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Intelligence Squared is a forum that gathers together experts to debate public policy, every month. The moderator is usually John Donvan, an ABC News correspondent who was once ABC’s White House Correspondent. The debates are held in New York city and can be heard on National Public Radio and seen on Bloomberg TV. Also they can be seen at www.iq2oz.com, and are archived there.

The February 15 debate is titled “The Two-Party System is Making America Ungovernable.” Speaking in the affirmative are David Brooks, columnist for the New York Times, and Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post. Speaking in the negative are author Zev Chafets and satirist P. J. O’Rourke. Attendance costs $40, and the debate runs from 6:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The location is NYU Skirball Center, 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South, Manhattan. Thanks to Michael Edelstein for this news.

West Virginia Bill Sets Forth Schedule, Ballot Access Rules for Special Gubernatorial Election

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On January 19, eleven West Virginia Delegates, all Republicans, introduced HB 2552. It sets forth detailed rules for the special gubernatorial election this year. It provides that the three qualified parties should nominate by primary, held on May 14. It sets the general election for August 6. Independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, must submit a petition of 1,766 signatures by April 28. Candidates who do not wish to pay the filing fee need a petition in lieu of filing fee that must be signed by 1,740 signatures. Here is the text of the bill.

Green Nominee for Massachusetts Legislature Last November Polled Over 45%

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At the November 2010 election, Mark C. Miller, Green Party nominee for the Massachusetts state house, polled 45.02% of the vote in a two-person race. The district was the 3rd Berkshire district, centered on Pittsfield in the western end of the state.

This is the closest that a minor party nominee has come to being elected to the Massachusetts legislature since at least 1932, and probably since 1917, when the Socialist Party last elected a state legislator in Massachusetts. The previous best Green Party showing for the Massachusetts legislature had been in 2002, when a Green received 37.28% in a two-person race. The best Libertarian showing for the Massachusetts legislature had also bee in 2002, and was 25.26% in a two-person race. The best Socialist Party showing in the last 75 years had been in 1934, and was 16.70%. Records are not at hand for years before 1934.

Miller, 64, is a former editor of the Berkshire Eagle. His only opponent, Democratic incumbent Christopher Speranzo, had agreed to debate Miller but then had not shown up at the debate. Speranzo has been in the legislature since 2005.

Arkansas Libertarian Party Raising Money for 2012 Petition

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Arkansas is the only state in which no Libertarian Party nominee has ever been on the ballot for any partisan office (except President). The state requires 10,000 signatures to place a new, or previously unqualified party, on the ballot. The Arkansas Libertarian Party is raising money to pay for a petition drive for 2012 and says it now is one-fourth of the way toward its goal. See the party web page here.

Parties in Arkansas must complete the petition in 90 days, but they choose their own 90-day period. The only parties that have qualified in Arkansas (for office other than President) in the last 40 years have been the Reform Party and the Green Party. Arkansas lets parties on the ballot for President only with a petition of 1,000 names, and many parties have qualified for presidential-only status.

Before 1971, Arkansas let any party on the ballot for all office, just by request. No petition was needed.

Another Illinois Candidate Removed from Ballot for not Fastening Petition Sheets Together

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On January 18, Jon Kubricht, a candidate for local office in Forest Park, Illinois, was removed from the upcoming election ballot because he didn’t fasten his petition sheets together when he turned them in. See this story. He submitted them in a manila envelope. The same thing happened earlier this month in another election in Cook County, Illinois, in the School Board race in the Lemont-Bromberek Combined School District.