According to this story, Roseanne Barr is toying with the idea of running for President in November, even though it is extremely unlikely she will win the Green Party nomination. Her ballot label might conceivably be the Green Tea Party. There has been some indication that her backers in Minnesota are thinking of circulating a general election petition for her with that label.

In 2000, Minnesota allowed both the “Reform Party” and the “Reform Party Minnesota” to appear on the November ballot. Each group used the independent candidate petition, which allows a partisan label. John Hagelin had the “Reform Party” label and Pat Buchanan had the “Reform Party Minnesota” label.

Major parties and minor parties alike have been injured by the U.S. electoral college system, in which all the power to determine the presidential nominee of a party is in the hands of the state party officials and activists, and national convention decisions have no binding force. In 1968 the Alabama Democratic Party said George Wallace was its presidential nominee. In 1948, the Democratic Parties of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina said Strom Thurmond was their presidential nominee. In 1912 the Republican Parties of California and South Dakota said Theodore Roosevelt was their presidential nominee. In 2000, the Arizona Libertarian Party said L. Neil Smith was its presidential nominee.

This Sacramento Bee story analyzes California’s June 5 primary and concludes that the top-two open primary did not cause more moderates to succeed.

On June 8, Jerry McConnell withdrew from the U.S. Senate race in Montana. McConnell and Dan Cox had both filed to run in the Libertarian Party primary for U.S. Senate earlier this year. Montana Secretary of State Linda McCulloch had then ruled that both men would be listed on the November ballot as candidates for U.S. Senate. But now that McConnell has withdrawn, the only Libertarian on the November ballot for U.S. Senate will be Dan Cox.

The Montana election law is internally contradictory, on whether the state should have provided a primary for the Libertarian Party. Section 13-10-601 says, “Each political party that had a candidate for statewide office who received a total vote that was 5% or more of the total votes cast for the successful candidate for governor in either of the last two general elections shall nominate its candidates for public office, except for presidential electors, by a primary election as provided in this chapter.”

The Libertarian Party polled 5.74% of the vote in November 2010 for U.S. House, which was well above the vote requirement. But another part of the Montana election code says parties may not have a primary unless they have nominees for at least half the partisan offices, and although there are quite a few Libertarian candidates in 2012, the number of Libertarian candidates does not equal at least half the partisan offices up for election this year.

The Secretary of State’s earlier decision, saying she would not hold a Libertarian primary, was somewhat irrational. She should have ruled since the party couldn’t have a primary, she would let it nominate by convention. Instead she said she would put both Libertarians on in November, thus depriving the party of its chance to nominate. But, in the end, thanks to McConnell’s withdrawal, it turned out satisfactorily. Thanks to Tim Brace for this news.