Although, as already reported, only one unqualified party, the Libertarian Party, submitted a petition to be on the November ballot statewide in West Virginia, there was also an independent presidential petition submitted. The independent presidential candidate is Randall Terry, famous for fighting against legal abortion for many decades. He submitted 11,433 to meet a requirement of 7,135.

The signatures for both petitions are being checked by the counties. The counties are supposed to finish by August 13. The Green Party is ballot-qualified in West Virginia so did not need to file a petition. The Libertarian petition includes a candidate for Governor, as well as for President and Vice-President. Assuming the Libertarian petition has enough valid signatures, it is fairly likely that the Libertarian gubernatorial candidate will poll at least 1% of the vote, and give the party qualified status for four years. There will be four gubernatorial candidates on the November ballot at most. This is the first time the Libertarian Party has been on the ballot for Governor in West Virginia since 2000, when it polled .86% in a five-candidate race.

Joshua M. Glasser has just published “The Eighteen-Day Running Mate: McGovern, Eagleton, and a Campaign Crisis.” The book is published by Yale U. Press. In July 1972, the Democratic national convention chose Thomas Eagleton for vice-president, and George McGovern for president, and certified the names of the nominees to all 50 states and D.C. The following month, Eagleton resigned from the ticket and the Democratic National Committee met and chose Sargent Shriver as the replacement.

The publication of a book on this topic is a welcome development. New and minor parties, and independent presidential candidates, frequently don’t know who their vice-presidential candidate will be until late in the campaign. This was notably true for John B. Anderson, who declared as an independent in April 24, 1980, yet who didn’t choose his v-p until August 27. Unfortunately, the First Circuit, and the Massachusetts Supreme Court, both ruled recently that there is no constitutional right for a newly-qualifying party, or an independent ticket, to make a late decision on the vice-presidential selection. The failure of some states, and some courts, to give flexibility for vice-presidential substitution is an obvious violation of Equal Protection, and having this book in print will make that point easier to explain. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the news about the book.

Roseanne Barr has won the presidential nomination of the Peace & Freedom Party. Cindy Sheehan is the vice-presidential nominee. On the first presidential ballot, the vote was: Barr 29, Stephen Durham 18, Stewart Alexander 12, abstain 4. Peta Lindsay had withdrawn before the vote and had endorsed Barr.

Because the first ballot did not produce a majority winner, a second vote was taken. That ballot was: Barr 37, Durham 16, Alexander 6, abstain 5.

For vice-president, Cindy Sheehan received 50 votes, and there were 14 abstentions.

Activity is being undertaken in Florida to qualify the Peace & Freedom Party for the ballot, and if that succeeds, the Barr-Sheehan ticket will also appear in Florida. Thanks to Dave Kadlecek for this news.