Unity08 decided not to file the form that Texas law requires, giving notice that it intends to qualify as a party during 2008. Unity08 says it will have a major announcement about itself in a week or so.
Some months ago, Unity08 had hired an experienced ballot access director to research and coordinate the details of ballot access petitioning for the whole nation. However, that individual was laid off on December 19. These actions suggest that Unity08 has decided not to pursue its original mission of qualifying itself as a political party in as many states as possible before choosing a presidential nominee.
As an active supporter of ballot access efforts here in Texas and a supporter/delegate of Unity08 this is disappointing news. To not go ahead and submit the notice, which apparently is not difficult and requires no money, does not bode well in my opinion. Understandably, the uncertainty of who will be the presumptive Dem and Rep nominees (after Super Tuesday) hasn’t allowed Unity08 to gather enough steam/media presence with all the oxygen getting sucked out of the room by the fantastically close races for those two major parties. But the notice should have been made in case Unity08 picked up a notable and viable declared candidate(s) for the U08 nomination. And save the extra legwork & cost of petition drive associated with an independent candidate, i.e. 30,000 more petition signatures.
Unity08 has been a big disappointment so far.
Yes, Unity08 has been disappointing so far. The organization started out not seeming to be cognizant of the enormity of the task that it was taking on and it had a very user-unfriendly website to boot!
However, the group has picked up some experience by now and it could operate a little better if it truly wants to do so. We can only wait and see what happens.