On December 1, Gatewood Galbraith announced that he will be an independent candidate in November 2011 for Governor of Kentucky. He was the Reform Party candidate for Kentucky Governor in 1999, and he polled 15.33% of the vote in a 4-person race. This article says he was an independent in 1999, but that is not accurate.
The only three states with gubernatorial elections in 2011 are Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
Is he the only independent or third party on the ballot for Kentucky?
Even though he ran “Reform Party” in 1999, but where does he stand on the major issues?
Some people consider independents and minor parties to be synonymous, which, of course, they are not.
I’m wondering what relation Galbraith is to the Galbraith who served as KY governor in the 1960s. In 1963, Galbraith beat A. B. “Happy” Chandler in the Democratic primary for governor. Chandler was the former governor, US senator, and commissioner of major league baseball.
Chandler endorsed the Republican Louie B. Nunn in the general election. Nunn came close in ’63 and was elected in 1967.
Chandler was high on George Wallace’s list of potential running mates in 1968. The story was that Chandler was nixed because he was baseball commissioner in 1947, when Jackie Robinson became the first black player.
It’s way too early to know who will be on the ballot for Kentucky Governor in November 2011. The 5,000 signatures needed for independent and minor party candidates are not due until early August 2011. Galbraith is just getting an early start. It is legal for him and others to be circulating the petition, right now.
Governor Wallace should have selected Chandler, or his next option, Louisiana Governor Jimmie Davis, instead of General Curtis LeMay. He listened too much to his staff on the VP selection on saying “no” to Chandler and Davis and “yes” to LeMay. It was Wallace’s biggest mistake that year.
“Bombs Away” LeMay!
Hubert Humphrey called Wallace and LeMay the “Bombsey Twins.”
Alabama Independent,
Are your initials DW? Otherwise, although you claim I should know who you are, I haven’t got a clue.
On LeMay, Wallace later acknowledged to Bill Shearer (probably sometime in 1971) and no doubt to many others, that LeMay was a huge mistake in ’68. If nothing else he could easily have just carried on with his stand-in, Marvin Griffin, the former governor of Georgia who was on the ballot in California and many other states. At least Marvin didn’t give the impression of being anxious for nuclear war with the Soviet Union.
Unfortunately, General LeMay was not a politician – alot like many 3rd party candidates – who don’t know when to keep they mouth shut. Alof of these 3rd party candidates think they can “educate” the “dumb” voters by telling them in the short period of an election campaign what the Constitution says or does not say. Don’t work this way.
Yes, Wallace should have selected former Governor A.B. “Happy” Chandler, although I think former U.S. Senator Harry Byrd, Jr. of Virginia, might have helped Wallace carry Virginia and 2 or 3 other border states which could have thrown the election into the US.House of Representatives, which was the only accomplishment Wallace could have made in the 1968 election. But again, “doctrinal purists” nixed Chandler and Wallace was stuck with LeMay, though LeMay was a patriot and would have made a great Secretary of Defense – had Wallace pulled out a miracle and won.
I’ve got Gatewood’s autobiography on the shelf. Highly recommend it.
I sat down and met with him when I was in Lexington a couple of years ago. Honestly, based on his book, I think he’s too green to be embraced by Libertarians, and too libertarian to be embraced by Greens, which is really too bad for both parties, because he’s extremely intelligent and he understands Kentucky very, very well. But he definitely does things his own way, and it’s hard to imagine a larger movement building around him because of that.
#8: Sen. Harry Byrd Jr. had been elected as a Democrat in 1966. If he had run with Wallace in ’68, the Democrats likely would have stripped him of his seniority. He was re-elected as an independent in 1970 and 1976, but he continued to caucus with the Democrats.
Byrd is now age 96. Last I heard, he was still healthy and active.
Steve Rankin: Yes, we’ve discussed this before about what would have happened to Senator Byrd had he joined Wallace in 1968. I was just pointing out how he might have helped Wallace throw the Election into the US House of Representatives. Too many politicians in this country care more about their senority than they do the country. That’s one reason why this nation is “headed to hell in a handbasket.”
Phil Huckelberry (#9)”hits the nail on the head” when he writes, “…I think he’s (Gatewood Galbraith) too green to be embraced by Libertarians, and too libertarian to be embraced by Greens which is really too bad for both parties…” This is why most 3rd parties will never succeed. It’ the old “if you don’t cross those “t’s” and dot those “i’s” just the way our doctrinnal purity requires, we “ain’t going to support you.” Both Greens and Libertarians deserve to lose!