A new CNN/ORC Poll again includes four presidential candidates. The poll was conducted September 28-30 and the results are: President Obama 47%, Mitt Romney 44%, Gary Johnson 4%, Jill Stein 3%, other/undecided (volunteered) 2%. The link includes many polls, but the CNN/ORC one is closest to the top. Scroll down a little bit to find the results for the 4-candidate question. Thanks to Mike for the link.
On September 30, Barry Commoner died at the age of 95. See this New York Times obituary. He was one of the founders of the Citizens Party in 1980, and its presidential nominee that year. Many present-day Green Party activists first became active in electoral politics within the Citizens Party. The logo for the Citizens Party in most states was a pine tree. Thanks to Darcy Richardson for the link.
Some presidential nominees are still living from the presidential elections of 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1980, including Dick Gregory from 1968, Linda Jenness from 1972, Jimmy Carter from 1976 and 1980, and John Anderson from 1980.
On October 1, the Michigan Secretary of State filed this brief in Gelineau v Ruth Johnson, the Libertarian Party ballot access case. The brief asserts in the beginning that the idea that straight-ticket votes for the Libertarian Party should be counted for the party’s presidential elector candidates is completely unprecedented, but makes no further arguments against the idea. One can observe that Michigan’s action, barring a presidential candidate of one party from the ballot in the basis that he or she had run in the presidential primary of another party, is also completely unprecedented and has never before happened in any state in U.S. history.
Reason Magazine has this commentary by Jerome D. Tuccille, about the corporate sponsors who have told the Commission on Presidential Debates they no longer support the Commission. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.
On April 3, 2012, the Peace & Freedom Party had filed a federal lawsuit in Sacramento, to overturn the California Secretary of State’s decision to bar Peta Lindsay from the party’s presidential primary ballot. U.S. District Court Judge Garland Burrell had declined to issue an injunction to put her on the ballot. She freely admits that she is under the age of 35.
On September 6, the Secretary of State had then filed a motion to dismiss the case. Judge Burrell has not yet acted on that motion. On September 20, he reset the pretrial scheduling conference in this case from October 1 to November 26, at 9 a.m. He would probably not have done that if he expected to dismiss the case without a trial.
The California Secretary of State has taken internally inconsistent positions on whether to print candidates on the ballot who do not meet the constitutional requirements to hold the office. On the one hand, she kept Lindsay off the presidential primary ballot. On the other hand, she puts candidates for the legislature on the ballot, whether they meet the State Constitution’s requirement that they have lived in the district for at least one year, under the theory that she cannot judge the qualifications; only the legislature can do that. This is true, even in instances at which there is no dispute that the legislative candidate does not meet the duration of residency requirement.
