Joe Schwarz says he will decide by March 1 whether to be an independent candidate for Governor of Michigan. See this story. He was a Republican State Senator 1987-2002, and he only left the legislature because of term limits. He was elected to Congress in the 7th district in 2004. He was defeated for re-election in the Republican primary in 2006. Schwarz is pro-choice and his primary opponent, Tim Walberg, is pro-life. Democrats won the 7th district in 2008.
Michigan has never had an independent candidate for Governor on a government-printed ballot. Michigan did not permit independent candidates to get on the ballot for any office until 1988. Other states that have never had an independent candidate for Governor on a government-printed ballot are Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
If Schwarz runs, he will be disadvantaged by Michigan’s straight-ticket device and ballot format. Independent candidates do not get a party column of their own, or a logo, and they can’t take advantage of the straight-ticket device that parties enjoy. All independent candidates are squeezed into the same column. Thanks to Peter Gemma for this news.
Schwarz could theoretically try to work with one or more of the other parties with ballot status in Michigan, if he can find one which is palatable to him (and vice versa). In their order on the 2010 ballot, they are: Green, US Taxpayers (a/k/a Constitution), Libertarian, and Natural Law.
OTOH, such a party must also be ready for the possible mixed blessing of being bootstrapped into the regular primary in 2012 if Schwarz gets over 5% of the vote. (Well, technically 5% of the total vote for Secretary of State, which is another open race this year.) It’s possibly a mixed blessing because the party would then need to meet a lot of organizational requirements, and doing so might take up a bunch of the energy it would otherwise want to use on securing its gained position and moving forward from there.
jalp (of, but not speaking for, GPMI)