According to an October 5 story in the Washington Times, Americans Elect’s super-PAC has spent $700,000 on independent expenditures recently to boost Angus King, the former independent Governor of Maine who is running for the U.S. Senate as an independent. The story also says that the donor to the Americans Elect super-PAC who made this possible is New York city Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who is himself a registered independent.
Several recent New Mexico polls for the U.S. Senate race have shown Independent American Party nominee Jon Barrie at 9%. These polls also generally show the Democratic nominee, Martin Heinrich, hovering near 50%, and Republican nominee Heather Wilson, the Republican nominee, at or near 40%.
Barrie is the first minor party or independent candidate for U.S. Senate to appear on the New Mexico ballot since 1996. The Independent American Party of New Mexico is not affiliated with any party outside New Mexico, and has no presidential nominee.
On October 5, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Borman heard several hours of testimony before ruling that the Michigan Secretary of State should not have instructed polling place officials to ask voters to fill out a questionaire that asks if the voter is a citizen. See this story. Thanks to Rob Richie and Thomas Jones for the link.
A Superior Court in Alameda County, California, will hear arguments in Rubin v Bowen, RG 11-605-301, on October 9, 2012, in Oakland, California. This is the lawsuit filed last year by the Peace & Freedom, Libertarian, and Alameda County Green Parties against Proposition 14, the top-two open primary law passed in June 2010.
The Guardian, a leading newspaper in Great Britain, has this perceptive column about the U.S. general election presidential debates, written by Glenn Greenwald. Thanks to Rick Kissell for the link.
