On December 18, the Federal Election Commission certified another $202,026 in primary season matching funds for Gary Johnson. Presumably, this is the final certification for him and any other presidential candidate for 2012. Johnson’s total 2012 primary season matching funds amount is now $510,261.
Lois Romano spent 28 years at the Washington Post as a political reporter and analyst. Now she is a senior politics reporter for Politico. Here is her lengthy analysis of who independent voters are and how they affected the 2012 presidential election. She mentions data that shows many independent voters are not moderates. Thanks to The Independent View for the link.
According to this article, it is likely that Hawaii Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa will be appointed to Hawaii’s vacant U.S. Senate seat. If that happens, Hawaii will then soon hold a special election to fill Hanabusa’s seat. Hawaii special U.S. House elections are one-round elections in which parties do not have nominees. When Hawaii held a special U.S. House election in 2010, two popular Democrats ran, splitting the normal Democratic vote, so that Republican Charles Djou was elected. The vote in that special May 2010 special election for the top three candidates were: Republican Djou 67,610; Democrat Colleen Hanabusa 52,802, Democrat Ed Case 47,391. But in November 2010, in a normal partisan election, Djou lost to Hanabusa.
The North Dakota Libertarian Party has found one State Senator who says he will introduce a bill to improve North Dakota ballot access, when the legislature convenes in January. North Dakota and Oklahoma are the only states that have not had any minor party legislative nominees on the ballot (with the party label) during the last four years. The problem in North Dakota is a law that requires between 10% and 15% of all voters who vote in the primary election to choose a minor party primary ballot, in order for that minor party to nominate any legislative candidates.
Rhode Island does not have a law requiring write-in candidates to file a declaration of candidacy if they wish their write-ins counted. Instead, Rhode Island tallies the votes for any candidate who receives at least five write-ins. For President last month, Rhode Island says the names that received as many as 5 write-ins are: Ron Paul 617, Hillary Clinton 64, Mickey Mouse 14.
