The Tampa Bay Times politics columnist, Steve Bousquet, says here that the upcoming gubernatorial debate should include Adrian Wyllie, the Libertarian.
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British broadcasters are already thinking about the Prime Ministerial debates in advance of the May 7, 2015 general election. See this story, which says that an initial proposal is for one debate between the two major parties, but other debates that include certain other parties. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
The United Independent Party is not ballot-qualified in Massachusetts, but it hopes to become ballot-qualified on November 4, 2014, by polling at least 3% of the vote for Evan Falchuk, its gubernatorial nominee. In the meantime, it is also launching a voter registration drive to gain more registered members. Ever since 1991, a group in Massachusetts can obtain, or retain, qualified status if it has registration equal to at least 1% of the state total.
No group in Massachusetts has ever made a serious attempt to use the 1% registration method. The United Independent Party is aware that even if it becomes ballot-qualified by its gubernatorial vote next month, the Massachusetts 3% vote test applies every two years, and there are no statewide races in Massachusetts in 2016 except president. The United Independent Party doesn’t expect to get involved in the 2016 presidential election because it is just a party concerned with Massachusetts government. Therefore, the party wants to increase its registration so that (assuming it gets qualified status next month) it can retain it beyond the 2016 election.
The party says even if Falchuk doesn’t get 3% for Governor next month, it will still pursue the registration drive. The registration drive will be easier of Falchuk does get 3%, because if he does, Massachusetts will print new voter registration forms that list the United Independent Party as a choice, with its own checkbox. Without qualified status, the United Independent Party can still increase its registration, but the party’s name must be written in on the voter registration form, which takes longer. Here is a copy of a current Massachusetts voter registration form.
On October 13, We Ask America released a poll for the Illinois gubernatorial race. The results: Democratic incumbent Pat Quinn 44%; Republican Bruce Rauner 41%; Libertarian Chad Grimm 7%; undecided 8%. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
“State Legislatures” magazine for October-November 2014 magazine has this article by Louis Jacobson, on whether there is any correlation between type of primary, and type of politician elected to state legislatures or Congress.
The article is very comprehensive, but it doesn’t mention Professor Todd Donovan’s 2012 article, “The Top Two Primary: What Can California Learn from Washington?” published in the California Journal of Politics & Policy, vol. 4, issue 1. That article concluded “The partisan structure of Washington’s legislature appears unaltered by the new primary system.” It also concludes, “The aggregate of all of this did not add up to a legislature that looked different or functioned differently from the legislature elected under a partisan primary.” Donovan’s article is important, not only because it is based on empirical research, but because Donovan was Washington state’s expert witness in favor of the top-two primary, so clearly he is not biased against the top-two system.