On December 12, Jon Huntsman said that he will not run for President, unless he gets the Republican nomination. See this story. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
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On December 12, U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe held another hearing in U.S. v State of New York, 10-cv-1214. This is the lawsuit over New York state’s non-compliance with the 2009 federal law that says states must mail overseas absentee ballots at least 45 days before any federal primary or federal election. Judge Sharpe said, after hearing from both sides, that he himself will choose a primary date. He said the legislature has had two years to solve the problem and that it has not acted, and that he doesn’t trust that it will ever act. See this story.
In order for New York to obey the federal law, it must cease holding its Congressional primaries in mid-September. The only solution is to move the primary to an earlier date. Republicans control the State Senate and they want an August primary. Democrats control the Assembly and they want a June primary. Judge Sharpe asked for more briefs on the subject of when the primary should be held. He said he will make a decision within 30 days. The judge is a Bush Jr. appointee in Albany.
On December 12, Rocky Anderson and other leaders of the Justice Party held a press conference in Washington, D.C., to announce the formation of the party. There are many news stories about the party that were published earlier today, but so far none seems to have been written by reporters since the press conference was held. UPDATE: see this story.
On December 12, the Seventh Circuit struck down a Wisconsin campaign finance law that makes it illegal for individuals to contribute more than $10,000 per calendar year to groups that make independent expenditures in election campaigns. Wisconsin Right to Life State PAC v Barland, 11-2623. Here is the 29-page opinion. The author is Judge Diane S. Sykes, a Bush Jr. appointee; the other two judges who signed the opinion are Richard Posner and Joel Flaum, both Reagan appointees.
On the evening of December 11, radio host Frank Morano on New York city interviewed Elliot Ackerman, CEO of Americans Elect, for 15 minutes. At three minutes into the interview, Morano asks Ackerman to comment on Newt Gingrich’s recent comment that if he is the Republican nominee, he will not debate anyone in the general election except President Obama. Here is the link.
Unfortunately for those who are intensely interested in the issue of exclusionary general election presidential debates, Morano combined his question on debates with a question about whether Americans Elect should be considered a “spoiler”. Ackerman then responded to the part of the question about “spoiling”, and did not comment on the part of the question concerning debates. Morano did not follow up.
Perhaps Ackerman’s most interesting comment is his statement that in 2014, Americans Elect will be on ballots for all partisan office, not just President as is the case for 2012. Ackerman suggested, but did not state explicitly, that in 2014, Americans Elect will have nominees for a full range of all partisan offices.