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Minnesota Senate Rejects Bill to Move Primary from August to June

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Richard WingerApril 23, 2012

On April 23, the Minnesota Senate rejected the bill to move the primary (for office other than President) from August to June. See this story.

An earlier blog post about the Minnesota bill said that if the bill passed, the effect would be to automatically move the petition deadline for independent presidential candidates, and the presidential nominees of unqualified parties, from August to June. That was incorrect. Minnesota decoupled the presidential independent deadline from the primary date several years ago.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Says Cynthia McKinney Will Run for U.S. House as a Green

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Richard WingerApril 23, 2012

This Atlanta Journal-Constitution story says Cynthia McKinney will run for U.S. House this year in the 4th district (her old district) as a Green Party nominee. However, the story does not actually say that McKinney has said this publicly.

The story says the petition deadline is August 6, but actually the deadline is July 10.

MSNBC Interviews David Walker on His Possible Americans Elect Candidacy

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Richard WingerApril 23, 2012

On April 23, MSNBC aired an interview with David Walker, who recently has been mentioned as someone whom Americans Elect might conceivably nominate. The interviewer is Chuck Todd, host of the Daily Rundown.

Walker says he does not want to run for President, but his demeanor seems to suggest that he doesn’t mind at all that there is a draft committee, which will be working to qualify him for the Americans Elect primary. The draft effort must persuade 10,000 Americans Elect participants to “click” for him, by May 15. Then, if that happens, Walker (and any other person for which a draft committee has obtained enough clicks) has two weeks to decide whether to accept the draft. Currently, Ron Paul’s draft committee has over 8,000 clicks but no one else is close to qualifying.

In the interview, Walker mentions Gary Johnson as the likely nominee of the Libertarian Party, but then he says that the Libertarian Party is on the ballot in 27 states, and the implication is that that number won’t increase. But actually, the Libertarian Party is now on the ballot in 31 states, and that number is expected to increase to 49 or 50 by the end of the petitioning periods. Some of the petitions aren’t due until September. Walker also mentions Buddy Roemer, but Walker then describes Roemer as someone who is seeking the Reform Party nomination. Walker doesn’t mention that Roemer is also seeking the Americans Elect nomination. Walker then praises Americans Elect and says it will be on the ballot in all 50 states, without mentioning that currently, Americans Elect is only on in 26 states.

U.S. Senate Debates in California Difficult to Arrange This Year

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Richard WingerApril 23, 2012

The June 5, 2012 California primary ballot will list all 24 candidates running for U.S. Senate. The list includes six Democrats, including incumbent Dianne Feinstein; fourteen Republicans; no independent candidates; two members of the Peace & Freedom Party; one member of the American Independent Party; one member of the Libertarian Party.

With so many candidates from many parties on the same ballot, there has been little discussion of a U.S. Senate debate in California this year. Some individuals have tried to organize debates. On March 12, in Redding, California, one U.S. Senate debate was held. The only three participants in that debate were Don Grundmann of the American Independent Party, and two Republicans, Oscar Braun and Nachum Shifren.

Another debate will be held at 10 a.m. on April 24, outside the offices of the Desert Sun, the daily newspaper for Palm Springs. The location is 750 N. Gene Autry Trail. So far, the only two Senate candidates who have agreed to debate are Orly Taitz, a Republican, and Marsha Feinland of the Peace & Freedom Party. However, other U.S. Senate candidates are invited. The debate organizer is Earl Ammerman, whose e-mail is singlepayeractionnevada@gmail.com and whose phone is 775-843-9099. See this story about the upcoming debate.

Senator Dianne Feinstein has not participated in any candidate debates since the 2000 campaign, when she debated her Republican opponent, Tom Campbell. That year, Campbell also debated the Green Party nominee, Medea Benjamin, but Feinstein did not participate in that debate. In the 2006 campaign she refused to debate her Republican opponent, Dick Mountjoy.

One of the candidates in this year’s U.S. Senate campaign, Colleen Fernald, a Democrat, has suspended her campaign because of the sudden unexpected death of her teen-age daughter on April 20.

Six-Way Minor Party Presidential Debate in Los Angeles

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Richard WingerApril 22, 2012

On Saturday, April 21, a presidential debate was held in Los Angeles. The participants were all three Green presidential candidates who are on the California Green Party presidential primary ballot, and three of the four candidates who are seeking the Peace & Freedom Party nomination. Here is a link to the video.

Unfortunately, the sound doesn’t work for the first 14 minutes for this particular link, but it is fine afterwards. The debate is two hours long. It will be broadcast soon on the Young Turks show on Current TV cable network, and also on Pacifica Radio. Those two broadcasts will have high quality sound for the entire debate.

The participants were Rocky Anderson, Roseanne Barr, Stephen Durham, Peta Lindsay, Kent Mesplay, and Jill Stein. This was Barr’s first debate as a presidential candidate. Although Stewart Alexander and James Ogle had been expected, they were not able to attend.