Ken Blevens, who has been a Libertarian Party candidate in New Hampshire in many elections in the past, will run for the U.S. Senate in 2010. Blevens has name recognition, because of his past runs. In 2008 he polled 3.10% for U.S. Senate.
New Hampshire parties must poll 4% for either Governor or U.S. Senate to attain qualified status. New Hampshire required 3%, until 1997, when the legislature raised the requirement to 4%. New Hampshire and Pennsylvania are the only states in the last 25 years that have made it more difficult for a party to remain on the ballot. Meanwhile, in the last 25 years, twenty four states have made it easier for a party to remain on: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, and Wyoming.
New Hampshire is the only New England state in which only the Democratic and Republican Parties are qualified parties. In Connecticut, although the Working Families Party, the Green Party, and the Libertarian Party are not ballot-qualified for every partisan office, they are all ballot-qualified for at least some offices throughout the entire state. Connecticut is difficult to characterize because the vote test refers separately to each office.
Success, TR/ Bull Moose in 1912, Thurmon in 1948, Wallace [INCLUDING ELECTORAL VOTES] in 1968, National Unity Anderson and Lacey in 1980, Perot, Perot, Nader, Nader, Nader, brings the Establishment Duopoly ‘bar’ that much higher the next time!
If a major third party candidate steps forward in 2010, Cullen said, he or she [ken blevens] will have to weigh whether the benefits of being viewed as an Independent outweigh having the political infrastructure provided by Democrats or Republicans.
“Everyone likes to think of themselves as independent minded, so there is a certain intrinsic appeal to it.” Cullen said.
“It’s got political appeal primarily,” Cullen said. “It has the political benefit, potentially, to be able to short circuit the extreme activists in either party. Ironically, the more people declare themselves
He should run as a Republican, channeling Peter Schiff and Rand Paul.
If he lost the Republican primary would have be able to run as an Independent or Libertarian? I’m not familiar with NH’s law.
No, if he ran in the Republican primary and lost, he could not be on the general election ballot under any other label.