Virginia elects members of its state legislature in odd years, including 2011. Normally Virginia primaries are in June (for office other than President). On January 19, the Virginia House unanimously passed HB 1507, which moves this year’s primary from June 14 to August 23. The bill also moves the petition for minor party and independent candidates, for 2011 only, from June 14 to August 23.

This bill is needed because the state won’t have time to draw legislative district boundaries, unless the primary is postponed.

Virginia has no statewide offices up this year. The state executive positions are only up in the odd years that follow presidential election years, such as 2009 and 2013.

Intelligence Squared is a forum that gathers together experts to debate public policy, every month. The moderator is usually John Donvan, an ABC News correspondent who was once ABC’s White House Correspondent. The debates are held in New York city and can be heard on National Public Radio and seen on Bloomberg TV. Also they can be seen at www.iq2oz.com, and are archived there.

The February 15 debate is titled “The Two-Party System is Making America Ungovernable.” Speaking in the affirmative are David Brooks, columnist for the New York Times, and Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post. Speaking in the negative are author Zev Chafets and satirist P. J. O’Rourke. Attendance costs $40, and the debate runs from 6:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The location is NYU Skirball Center, 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South, Manhattan. Thanks to Michael Edelstein for this news.

At the November 2010 election, Mark C. Miller, Green Party nominee for the Massachusetts state house, polled 45.02% of the vote in a two-person race. The district was the 3rd Berkshire district, centered on Pittsfield in the western end of the state.

This is the closest that a minor party nominee has come to being elected to the Massachusetts legislature since at least 1932, and probably since 1917, when the Socialist Party last elected a state legislator in Massachusetts. The previous best Green Party showing for the Massachusetts legislature had been in 2002, when a Green received 37.28% in a two-person race. The best Libertarian showing for the Massachusetts legislature had also bee in 2002, and was 25.26% in a two-person race. The best Socialist Party showing in the last 75 years had been in 1934, and was 16.70%. Records are not at hand for years before 1934.

Miller, 64, is a former editor of the Berkshire Eagle. His only opponent, Democratic incumbent Christopher Speranzo, had agreed to debate Miller but then had not shown up at the debate. Speranzo has been in the legislature since 2005.