James Carville, well-known Democratic political consultant, believes there will be a strong presidential contender in 2012 who runs outside of the two major parties. See this story. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.
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New York is one of the few states that still has its primary (for office other than President) in September. According to an article in the August 10 Wall Street Journal, legislative leaders are now leaning in favor of moving that primary to June. Thanks to Suzy Sandor for this news.
Siena Research Institute has released this poll for the September 13 special election to fill the vacant New York U.S. House seat, 9th district. Three candidates are on the ballot in that race: Democrat David Weprin, Republican Robert Turner, and Socialist Workers Party nominee Christopher Hoeppner. However, the poll only presented three choices: Weprin, Turner, or “Don’t know/No opinion.”
The link to the poll works with Explorer browser, but not with Firefox. The poll shows Weprin 48%, Turner 42%, 9% “don’t know/no opinion.”
San Francisco holds its non-partisan mayoral election on November 8, 2011. On August 8, nine candidates were invited to debate each other at the Castro Theater. Terry Baum, a registered Green who has the backing of the San Francisco Green Party, was not invited. She was told there wasn’t enough room on the stage for a ninth chair. But then the incumbent (appointed) Mayor decided to run, and the debate organizers made room for a chair for him. So Baum brought her own chair, and she was permitted to participate. Some of the other candidates ceded some of their time to her. See this story. Baum is one of only two persons running for Mayor who is a member of any minor party. The other is Wilma Pang, a member of the Peace & Freedom Party.
On August 8, the Center for Governmental Studies released a 53-page report on a model law for public funding for California state office. Unlike a ballot measure, Proposition 15, that was on the California ballot in June 2010, the CGS plan does not discriminate for or against any candidate on the basis of the candidate’s party affiliation or independent status. Proposition 15 was discriminatory; it required independent candidates to obtain twice as many small donations as were required for members of political parties.