See here for a link to the October 19 Texas gubernatorial debate. The entire hour-long debate is there, in twelve separate segments. The participants were Bill White, the Democrat; Kathie Glass, the Libertarian; and Deb Shafto, the Green Party nominee. Republican nominee Rick Perry refused to participate because Bill White has not released some of his income tax returns to the public.
Donn Esmonde, long-serving political columnist for the Buffalo News (Buffalo’s only daily newspaper) has this column about the New York gubernatorial debate of October 18. The column suggests that Warren Redlich, the Libertarian nominee, had the best performance of any of the seven candidates.
The Glenwood Springs, Colorado daily newspaper, the Post Independent, has this story about Kathleen Curry, Colorado’s only independent state legislator who is running for re-election as a write-in candidate. At the end of the story, Curry says if she is re-elected, she plans to introduce a bill for better treatment of independent and minor party candidates. She means she intends to introduce a bill to revise the discriminatory campaign finance law. Current Colorado law lets individuals contribute twice as much money to a candidate who is nominated by primary, relative to candidates who get nominated either by party convention or by petition.
There is at least one Libertarian on the ballot across the U.S, in areas containing 81.9% of the voters, for the November 2010 election. The Libertarian Party, as is usual in midterm years, is on the ballot in more places than any other minor party.
For 2010, the equivalent percentages for other leading minor parties are: Green, 54.6%; Constitution, 39.0%; Working Families, 8.8%. Of course, most of the Working Families Party nominees are also Democratic Party nominees.
Also, 7.3% of the voters will see a candidate on the ballot with the Tea Party label, but there is no nationally-organized political party with that name. Voters will see the Tea Party label in Florida, Nevada, and in a single U.S. House district in New Jersey. And, 9.5% of voters will see an Independence Party nominee on their ballots, but there is no national political party with that name, just three particular state parties in Minnesota, New York, and South Carolina.
On October 19, a U.S. District Court in Manhatten heard oral arguments in Credico v New York State Board of Elections. The issue is whether it is constitutional to force Randy Credico, the joint nominee of the Libertarian and Anti-Prohibition Parties for U.S. Senate, to be limited to appearing only once on the ballot. New York lets two qualified parties jointly nominate the same candidate, and when that happens, that candidate is listed on two lines. New York also lets a qualified party and an unqualified party jointly nominate the same candidate, and when that happens, the candidate is also listed on two lines.
But when two unqualified parties jointly nominate the same person, he or she must be limited to appearing on only one line, although both party labels appear in tiny print next to the name of that candidate.
A decision will be quick. Observers in the courtroom feel the decision could go either way.
