Ezra Klein and Matt Miller discuss whether or not a new major political party in the United States would be beneficial, in this post on Ezra Klein’s blog. Both are writers for the Washington Post. Klein does not support the idea of a new party, but Miller does.

Ezra Klein suggests that when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected in California, that was the same type of event as the election of a third party president. His example is not convincing. If Schwarzenegger had run as an independent and been elected, his years in office would have been far different. But, he was elected as a Republican, which did not shake up California at all. California has had many Republican Governors in the past 30 years. In fact, California has had Republican Governors for 23 of the last 29 years. The last time California had a third party Governor, California politics did get shaken up. The last California third party Governor was Hiram Johnson, elected as the Progressive Party nominee in 1914.

On October 18, proponents of privacy for people who have signed petitions appealed Doe v Reed to the Ninth Circuit, even though the state of Washington has already released the names and addresses of people who signed the 2009 referendum petition that caused this lawsuit to be filed. The U.S. District Court yesterday had said there is not enough evidence of harassment to keep the names from being released to the public.

On appeal, the proponents of privacy for petition signers will probably argue that the U.S. District Court erred, because the U.S. District Court said there was little evidence that the signers had been harassed. The problem with this argument is that, until yesterday, the names and addresses had not been released to the public. UPDATE: here is a Los Angeles Times story about the aftermath of the state’s releasing the names and addresses.

The Iowa Republican Party has confirmed an earlier tentative decision, and will hold its presidential caucuses on January 3, which is a Tuesday. Iowa caucuses are always held in on Tuesday evenings. See this story. The story also says that it is possible New Hampshire won’t set its presidential primary date until October 28. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.