The Daily Voice, a print/web daily newspaper in New York city which describes itself as a news source for black Americans, carries this op-ed by Lenora Fulani. The op-ed, which ran May 5, makes a case that black voters in New York city should support Mayor Mike Bloomberg for re-election, on the Independence Party line. The op-ed discusses the term limits issue. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.
Lenora Fulani was the presidential candidate of the New Alliance Party in 1988 and 1992. The New Alliance Party placed her on the ballot in all 50 states in 1988. The only other minor parties that ever placed a presidential nominee on the ballot in all the jurisdictions with electoral votes (in the last 90 years) were the Libertarian Party and the Reform Party.
She may recommend them to vote for Bloomberg, but I bet most African-Americans are going to vote for the Democratic Party as always.
In 1968, Gov. George C. Wallace and the American Independent Party got on the ballot in all fifty state, missing only in D.C. They needed 6,500 signatures and got 6,000.
Thanks, Michael. I did just now amend the post. But also I would argue that George Wallace was not the presidential candidate of any nationally-organized political party. He was an independent candidate for president in 1968. There was no national organization of any political party that nominated Wallace, no national chair, not even a national party name. There was no national convention. The party he somewhat accidentally created wasn’t organized until after the November 1968 election. Wallace was on the ballot in 17 states as “American”, in 12 states as “American Independent”, in 8 states as “George Wallace Party”, in 9 states with the label “independent”, in one state with “Independent American”, in one state with “Courage”, and in Kansas was the nominee of the ballot-qualified Conservative Party. In Alabama he was the Democratic Party nominee.
When she ran for president, Fulani railed against “rich white men.” A few years later, she allied herself with Ross Perot, one of the richest white men in the nation.
And now she supports Mayor Bloomberg…
Richard: Do you consider the AIP to have been nationally-organized in 1972 and 1976, when it nominated, respectively, John Schmitz and Lester Maddox for president? I recall that the party had a convention in Louisville, Kentucky in ’72.
Steve, after the 1972 election the AIP split into the AIP and the American Party for 1976. I would consider both of them to be nationally-organized. Also, in Autumn of 1992, there was a story about Fulani in the black women’s magazine “Sister 2 Sister”. It reported that while she was running for president to represent women and minorities, most of her campaign staff was white and male. I beleieve there was also something in the article about some of her campaign contributions being questionable.
Sure, the party accidentally formed by George Wallace had national officers even before the 1972 election. I think they were chosen in 1969.