On January 20, Randall Terry, who has been a leading anti-legal-abortion activist for many decades, declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President in 2012. See this story. His chief motivation seems a desire to run television campaign ads that show unpleasant photographs that relate to the abortion process. Broadcast television stations are not permitted to censor the content of ads run by candidates, nor can the stations refuse to air these ads, if the candidate is able to pay the station’s charges for running the ads.

The story does not mention whether or not Terry will seek primary season matching funds, but chances are, he will. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news.

This Columbus, Ohio Dispatch story features candidates who are attempting to get on the ballot for city council. The elections are non-partisan and 1,000 signatures are required. Even though most people would probably assume that it is easy for a candidate to get 1,000 signatures, the story explains the difficulty involved, especially when the signatures must be gathered during cold weather.

On January 23, the Green Party of Ireland announced that is is withdrawing from the coalition government. See this story. New elections were already being planned, but now they will most likely occur very quickly.