Matt Miller, a Washington Post columnist who has already written supportedly about Americans Elect, has this new column. He says Americans Elect ought to run candidates for Congress as well as President. His column also reveals some interesting details about the Americans Elect presidential nomination process.
If they do so, picking local candidates who may have a wide range of views, they run the risk of tainting the one national candidate to a much greater degree than is found in the established parties.
Bad idea. However, I don’t believe anyone will be prohibited from deciding to run locally.
For example, in California, once the party is official, won’t anyone be allowed to sign up and run locally?
The petition in California said…
“Americans Elect petition to participate in the primary election”
That’s it! Seems to include congress and all state legislative seats. Remember now, in California, we’ll have the new “top two” rule for the general election.
People can run for Congress and partisan state office in California as “My party preference is the Americans Elect Party”, but chances are they will all fail to place first or second in June 2012. If only California didn’t have top-two, the Americans Elect nominees for Congress could run in November, no matter what the AE leadership thinks about that idea.
I will be interested to see how other states laws/rules for non-presidential candidates will play out. I.e. how will AE be able to restrict candidates running for down ballot races? Especially if the majority parties try to run bogus candidates…and you know it will happen.
I doubt Americans Elect will try to prevent candidates running for Congress on its line. They just don’t encourage it, so far at least.
#3 In Texas, you can file with the state chairman. All political parties are required to comply with Section 163.002 of the Election Code which are the fundamental conditions for being a “political party” in any meaningful sense of the word.
#5
Which part of 163.002 states that a candidate can file with a state chairman to become a party’s candidate for a non-presidential office? Can’t AE simply have in its rules submitted to the Sec of State that there are no non-presidential candidates allowed? Or can’t the state chair simply refuse to accept a person seeking AE’s nomination in a non-prez race?
Which comes first the egg or the chicken.
Maybe a successful run by the 2012 AE ticket excites worthy congressional/senatorial candidates to run in 2014 to try and help continue the momentum, but does that fall short without a notable peron(s) to gravitate around at the top of the ticket? Or is now the time to strike while the iron is (hopefully) hot with (hopefully) an AE ticket garnering media attention and (hopefully) presidential debate access and (hopefully)funding/support to support a national campaign.
Gee – do the AE folks want a TYRANT Prez — no need for any bothersome Congress and Fed courts ???
#6 The point is that $163.002 provides that political parties can’t be sham organizations simply to control placement of a label on the ballot.
The provisions for filing for candidacy with a convention-nominating party are in $181.031-$181.034. It is implicit that the rules provided for in $163.002 would include how the chairmen transmit the filed names to the nominating conventions.