On November 2, Larry Lessig announced that because the Democratic National Committee recently made a slight change to the rules on primary debates, he has no ability to qualify for the next Democratic debate, which is on November 14. See his statement here. He is withdrawing. The statement is four minutes long.
On October 31, Ohio Congressman John Boehner resigned his seat in the U.S. House. On November 1, Ohio Governor John Kasich set a June 7, 2016, special election to fill the 8th district seat. The special primary will be March 15. The June 2016 date will result in the voters of the 8th district having no representative for over seven months.
The Post Bulletin of Rochester, Minnesota has this op-ed in favor of the National Popular Vote plan. Minnesota has not passed the plan.
Wired has this article by Drew Curtis, “Some day tech will end our dumb two-party system.” Curtis is one of only three candidates on the Kentucky ballot for Governor, in the election of November 3, 2015.
The article is thought-provoking, but its weakness is that Curtis doesn’t mention alternative voting systems, such as instant runoff voting or approval voting.
On October 26, Willis Carto, founder of the Populist Party, died in Virginia. He was 89. The Populist Party existed 1984-1994. It ran Bob Richards for President in 1984 (former Olympic champion); David Duke in 1988; and Bo Gritz in 1992. The New York Times has a lengthy obituary for him. Thanks to Jack Ross for the link.
