Louisiana Representative Ernest D. Wooton recently changed his voter registration from “Republican” to “independent”, and he also filed to run for U.S. Senate as an independent candidate.  Wooton has been in the legislature since 1999, and he will continue to be in the legislature through 2011, assuming he doesn’t resign or die.  He represents Plaquemines Parish, in the extreme southeast corner of the state.  He was also Sheriff of Plaquemines Parish 1984-1992.

The Reform Party also has a candidate in the U.S. Senate race.  He is William McShan of Leesville.  Louisiana has five qualified parties:  Democratic, Green, Libertarian, Reform, and Republican.  Incumbent U.S. Senator David Vitter, a Republican, is running for re-election.  There are eight independent candidates.  Thanks to Gene Berkman for the news about Wooton.  UPDATE:  there is a contested primary for the Libertarian Party U.S. Senate nomination, between Anthony Gentile and Randall Hayes.  Thanks to Hayes for this information.  This is the first minor party primary in Louisiana since at least the 1910’s decade.  The Progressive Party was strong in Louisiana in the 1910’s and it may have had its own primary in either 1914 or 1916.  There definitely has been no contested minor party primary in Louisiana since then.  In Louisiana, when only one person files for office in any party’s primary for all offices, the state does not hold a primary for that party.

The Rules and Bylaws Committee of the National Democratic Committee has voted to accept the recommendations of the Democratic Change Commission on timing of 2012 presidential primaries and caucuses.  Now the proposal will get a vote of the full Democratic Committee next month.  The main difference the proposal makes, relative to 2008, is that no January primaries or caucuses will be recognized.  In 2008, January primaries were held in New Hampshire, Michigan, South Carolina, and Florida.

Minnesota has three ballot-qualified parties, all of which will choose their nominees on primary day, August 10.  On July 2, TPT, a public television station in Minnesota, sponsored intra-party gubernatorial debates.  See the one-hour broadcast here.

However, the TV station determined that only the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, and the Independence Party, have significant intra-party contests for Governor.  So, TPT held a 25-minute debate between two leading candidates for the Independence Party nomination, as well as a 25-minute debate between three leading candidates for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor nomination.  The station determined that in the Republican primary, only one candidate has a strong campaign, so it did not hold a Republican debate, but instead broadcast a 10-minute news story about that one Republican.

The Independence Party gubernatorial debate was between Tom Horner, the candidate endorsed by the Independence Party leadership, and Rob Hahn.  However, the party has five candidates on its primary ballot for Governor.  The others are Phil Ratte, John Uldrich, and Rahn Workcuff.  It is very unusual for any minor party in the United States to have as many as five gubernatorial candidates on its primary ballot.  Probably the only other minor party ballot with more than two choices for any office this year is the Arizona Libertarian Party primary ballot for Governor, which has four candidates listed:  Ron Cavanaugh, Barry Hess, Bruce Olsen, and Alvin Yount.  The Arizona Libertarian Party web page has this link for anyone interested in learning about each of those candidates.