Indiana Democrats Analyze 2008 John McCain Petition for Primary Ballot Access

On October 21, the Indiana Democratic Party issued a press release, detailing problems with John McCain’s petition to be on the Indiana presidential primary ballot in 2008. See it here. Although the release has many criticisms of the petition, the release does not allege that any signatures were forged. Indiana Democrats did this study partly to counter the publicity that the 2008 Democratic presidential primary petitions for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both contained some forgeries, enough so that if the forgeries had been detected, neither would qualified. Indiana requires 500 signatures from each of the nine U.S. House districts.

In 2008, the only candidates who appeared on the Republican presidential primary ballot in Indiana were John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul, and Mitt Romney. Obama and Clinton were the only Democrats who qualified.

The saddest part of the Democratic press release is at the bottom, where the party suggests improvements in the Indiana ballot access law for presidential primaries. Nothing is said about simply eliminating petitioning. Most states have eliminated mandatory petitions for candidates seeking a place on a presidential primary ballot, at least for candidates who are discussed in major media or who have qualified for primary season matching funds. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Prominent Michigan Democrat Won’t Fight Criminal Charges on 2010 Phony “Tea Party” Ballot Access

Michael McGuinness, formerly Democratic Party chair for Oakland County, Michigan (the second most populous county in the state), will plead “no contest” to criminal charges relating to a 2010 attempt by Democratic activists to create a ballot-qualified party called The Tea Party, and to arrange to have that party run nominees in certain districts that were perceived to be close between the two major parties. See this story.

The Tea Party did not get on the ballot in Michigan in 2010, even though its petition had enough valid signatures. The organizers made a paperwork error, and the name of the party was different on different documents. Some of the documents said the name of the party was “The Tea Party”, and other documents said it was “Tea Party.” It was therefore kept off the ballot, so none of its nominees appeared on the ballot either. The charges against McGuinness were related to forging the name of a presumed nominee of the party, when that individual actually was not a Tea Party nominee and had no desire to run for office. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Five Libertarian Presidential Candidates to Debate in Illinois on Saturday, October 22

Five declared candidates for the Libertarian Party presidential nomination will debate on Saturday, October 22, at 2:30 p.m., central time. The debate is in Illinois and is sponsored by the Illinois Libertarian Party. The debate can be watched via live stream at this link. The five candidates, in alphabetical order, are Roger Gary of Texas, R. J. Harris of Oklahoma, Carl Person of New York, Bill Still of Virginia, and Lee Wrights of Texas. Debate moderator will be Lex Green, who was the Illinois Libertarian Party nominee for Governor of Illinois in 2010. Thanks to Brian Irving for this news.

New Hampshire Presidential Primary Likely to be January 10

On October 29, the Nevada Republican Party leadership meets, and is expected to move the Nevada Republican caucus from January 14 to sometime in February. This will virtually guarantee that New Hampshire then sets its presidential primary for January 10. See this story about the Nevada Republican Party’s reasons for moving its caucus.

In 2008, the New Hampshire presidential primary had been on January 8, the earliest presidential primary ever conducted by any state government.

Darcy Richardson Files in New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Primary

As of mid-day, October 21, only two individuals have filed to be on the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary, Barack Obama and Darcy G. Richardson. However, filing doesn’t close until October 28.

Darcy Richardson is the author of six books, all non-fiction books involving U.S. political history. He lives in Jacksonville, Florida, and has recently worked in the financial services industry. He has extensive political experience, and he frequently blogs at UncoveredPolitics.