The Independent, a leading British newspaper, has this interesting analysis of the Socialist Party’s presidential primary in France.
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On October 11, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Libertarian Party of New Hampshire v Gardner, 11-119. This is the case in which the First Circuit had said the U.S. Constitution does not provide any protection for party names on general election ballots, and if a state puts a candidate on the ballot with a party label, and the party had not nominated that candidate (but had nominated another candidate for the same office), the party has no recourse.
In November 2008, New Hampshire listed two Libertarians on the ballot for President, one whom the state and national party had nominated (Bob Barr) and someone else. The 10th circuit had ruled in 1984 that states must give parties protection for their names. There aren’t many lawsuits on this subject, because almost all states do provide party name protection.
The Court thus continues its 20-year behavior of refusing to hear any case brought by a minor party or independent candidate, unless a major party is also in the same case on the same side as the minor party or independent candidate (excluding a 1996 case brought by the Georgia Libertarian Party on whether states can force all candidates for state office to be tested for illegal drugs, which was really a Fourth Amendment case, not an election law case). During those same 20 years, however, the Court accepted three cases in which the minor party or independent candidate had won the case below, and reversed them. They had been brought by the states of Minnesota, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, and involved fusion, entrance into candidate debates, and whether a party may insist on an open primary for itself.
This MSNBC article on Americans Elect carries hints that Americans Elect has been talking to potential presidential candidates who generally have not been discussed so far in the media. The story also supports the notion that Americans Elect founders, at this point, do not have any one particular candidate in mind. See the parts of the article that quote Larry Diamond.
On October 8-9, Jill Stein appeared at Occupy Boston, one of the parallel regional protests to Occupy Wall Street. See this story at Irregular Times. Stein is expected to declare that she is running for the Green Party presidential nomination on October 24.
On October 9, the Socialist Party of France held a presidential primary. Because the party paid for the election, it charged one voters one Euro to vote. Approximately 2,000,000 voters participated. Anyone who said he or she identifies with the left was permitted to vote. Six candidates were on the ballot. The results were: Francois Hollande 39%, Martine Aubry 31%, Arnaud Montebourg 17%, Segolene Royal 7%, Manuel Valls 6%, and Jean-Michel Baylet 1%.
Because no one got as much as 50%, a run-off is being held on October 16 between Hollande and Aubry. Before the first round, all six candidates debated each other on television. Here is a picture of the candidates. Two of the candidates, Francois Hollande and Segolene Royal, were once married to each other.
The election itself is April 22, 2012, with a run-off on May 6 if no presidential nominee gets as much as 50%. Typically, nine or ten parties appear on the presidential ballot.