On October 28, the three candidates for Alaska’s U.S. House seat debated. See this story. The three candidates are the nominees of the Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian Parties.
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On October 29, Eliot Cutler, independent candidate for Governor of Maine, called a press conference. Speculation was that he would drop out. However, he said at his conference that he is not dropping out, although he acknowledged that he is unlikely to win, and he seemed to suggest that he would understand if his supporters don’t vote for him. See this story.
According to this story, Virgin Islands State Senator Alicia “Chucky” Hansen, who was removed from the ballot by the Virgin Islands Supreme Court, says she will return to federal court to try to restore her to the ballot.
Here are four Oregon commentaries opposing Measure 90, the top-two initiative. Oregon Outpost has this article by Richard Burke, explaining the usefulness of minor party general election campaigns. Blue Oregon has this commentary by former Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts, about the dishonesty of some proponents of Measure 90. Here is a link to the Coos Bay World’s endorsements, which explains why the paper opposes Measure 90. Here is a link to the endorsements page of Eugene Weekly; that paper also opposes the measure.
On October 29, the Fourth Circuit heard oral argument in Greenville County Republican Party v State of South Carolina, 13-2170. The Greenville County Republican Party wants to be able to close its primaries, especially its primaries for partisan city office, because the party pays for the administration of those primaries.
The U.S. District Court had ruled that the county unit of a political party does not have standing to challenge the open primary laws. A side issue in the case is the state law that tells a party that it can choose to nominate by convention, but only if three-fourths of the delegates registered at its convention vote to do that. The party feels that state law is too restrictive and the party should decide what vote is needed.
The three judges are two Obama appointees, James Wynn and Stephanie Thacker; and also Paul Niemeyer, a Bush Sr. appointee. If anyone hears any news about how the oral argument went, please comment. So far there seem to be no news stories. The Fourth Circuit will post a recording of the oral argument on Friday, October 31.