Idaho holds a presidential primary on March 8, 2016, for qualified parties that tell the Secretary of State that they want a presidential primary and will have at least two candidates. The Constitution Party has notified the Secretary of State that it intends to have a contested presidential primary.

Earlier this year, the legislature moved the presidential primary from May 2016 to March 2016. The Constitution Party’s presidential convention is in April 2016. The Constitution Party says the delegates sent to the national convention will be bound by the outcome of its presidential primary.

This will be the first time the Constitution Party has ever had a presidential primary in any state with at least two candidates listed on the ballot. The Constitution Party has had presidential primaries in California and Missouri, but in those primaries only one presidential candidate was on the primary ballot. Thanks to Floyd Whitley for the news.

Former U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman here criticizes the Commission on Presidential Debates for its rules on who can participate in the debate. Although there has been a lot of criticism of the CPD, Lieberman makes some original and thoughtful points. Lieberman’s article appears in U.S. News & World Report.

Lieberman is the first person who has ever actually appeared in a Commission on Presidential Debates event who has since criticized the exclusionary rules. As the Democratic vice-presidential nominee in 2000, he debated Dick Cheney in the CPD vice-presidential debate. Thanks to IVN for the link.

The trial in U.S. District Court in North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP v McCrory is in its second week, and the plaintiffs are still putting on their witnesses. This newspaper story describes the July 21 testimony, which concerns the manner in which the bill that curtailed voting opportunities went through the legislature in 2013.