This story says Roger Stone has expressed an intent to be the Florida Libertarian Party’s U.S. Senate candidate in 2016. The story includes Stone’s announcement.
This story says Roger Stone has expressed an intent to be the Florida Libertarian Party’s U.S. Senate candidate in 2016. The story includes Stone’s announcement.
Dirty trickster-turned-conspiracy theorist Roger Stone for the U.S. Senate?
Are they serious?
It would be really strange if the Libertarian Party of Florida turned to the dark side after Adrian Wyllie’s relatively impressive showing in last year’s hotly-contested gubernatorial race.
Even for folks determined to cast a protest vote, by nominating a CREEP (the acronym of Nixon’s re-election campaign) like Mr. Stone, the Libertarian Party of Florida seems intent on encouraging decent folks to say home on Election Day.
Well, Florida requires all parties to nominate by primary, and if Roger Stone enters the Libertarian primary, and no one else does, then he gets the nomination by default. You live in Florida and you already know all that. Maybe you would do something wild and crazy and seek the nomination yourself? Or recruit someone?
That’s an interesting suggestion, Richard.
As a matter of fact, I am looking at the race, but if I decide to run it will be on the Independence Party ticket.
(I switched my party affiliation to the Independence Party in April, incidentally, to fully comply with the Florida statute requiring that a candidate must not have been a registered member of any other political party for 365 days before the beginning of the qualifying period.)
If I decide to enter the fray, Stone’s candidacy will give me three juicy targets in 2016, each one more appalling than the other. My likely opponents would include a Republican-turned-Democrat drowning in Wall Street money; a Tea Party reactionary Republican; and a deceitful and narcissistic dirty trickster and half-cocked conspiracy theorist who has made a comfortable living brazenly exploiting the worst features of American politics — a career dating all the way back to Watergate.
Also, if I decide to give it a whirl, I’ll fight for the support of every civil libertarian in the Sunshine State.
After all, I’ll be running against three men who spent almost their entire lives in the GOP, in recent years one of the most authoritarian parties in American history. Two of my likely opponents, of course, decided to stray from that party only for political expediency — something that won’t be lost on most Floridians.
By contrast, I’ve spent my entire adult life in the trenches of independent and third-party politics.
Woo Hoo! Go Darcy!
There is another candidate for the LPF Senate nomination: Augustus Invictus: http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/05/augustus-invictus-announces-libertarian-candidacy-for-florida-u-s-senate-being-vacated-by-marco-rubio/
Unfortunately, he may be even worse than Stone.
If either is the candidate and Darcy enters the race, Darcy will almost certainly have my full endorsement. I don’t agree with him on everything, but he’s a good man & a great ambassador for the opposition.
That fairly new Florida law saying one must have not been a member of another party an entire year before filing in the primary of the newer party choice is unconstitutional and could be overturned in court. In 1986 the US Supreme Court said in Tashjian v Republican Party of Ct. that parties have a right to nominate non-members. However, any party that challenges the Florida law must first change its bylaws to contradict the state law. The South Dakota Libertarian Party lost a case on this subject in 2014 partly because the party’s own bylaws also said the party will only nominate members.
How active is the Independence Party in Florida? I remember seeing that there was a ballot-qualified IP in FL, but can’t recall them fielding many candidates.