Larry King has agreed to moderate the Free & Equal presidential debate set for October 23 in Chicago. The four presidential candidates will be Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, Virgil Goode, and Rocky Anderson. This debate is one day after the final debate between the two major party presidential nominees.
The news that Larry King will be the moderator is helping to publicize the debate. For example, see this from the San Francisco Chronicle.
On October 16, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stay the decision of the Sixth Circuit in Obama for America v Husted. The Sixth Circuit had said that since Ohio lets members of the military who are in the U.S. vote early on the weekend before the election, the state must let all voters vote early on the same weekend. It is somewhat likely that the U.S. Supreme Court will accept this case for full review. The October 16 action is not a decision on the merits, but just says that for this upcoming election, the early voting will proceed.
Postings have been sparse here because I have been on vacation, but I am home now.
This lengthy story about Barbara Howe, Libertarian Party nominee for Governor of North Carolina, includes the fact that she has already campaigned in 90 of North Carolina’s 100 counties.
The New York Times of October 15 has this story, which is mostly about Gary Johnson and partly about Virgil Goode. One deficiency in the story is that it doesn’t explain that Gary Johnson probably draws many votes from voters who would otherwise vote for President Obama. Another deficiency is that it doesn’t mention Jill Stein, even though she is on the ballot in more states than Virgil Goode.
And, even though the story says Gary Johnson doesn’t mind being called a “spoiler”, the New York Times ought not to use that word. It is demeaning to voters. No one forces any voter to vote for a minor party candidate. Journalists who label minor party nominees “spoilers”, whether they are conscious of it or not, are implicitly endorsing the idea that voters are passive automatons who can’t think for themselves and ought to have fewer choices so they don’t “spoil” the “legitimate” outcomes. In no other country would the mainstream press even hint that the existence of one party on the ballot is somehow illegitimate because its existence might affect the outcome. Other nations recognize that there are more than two points of view among political ideas and assume that every substantial point of view will be represented by a political party.
