On January 19, the Delaware House Administration passed HB 11, which is intended to ban fusion. However, the bill is more restrictive than that. It makes it illegal for any political party to nominate someone who is not a member of that party. The bill does exempt presidential and vice-presidential candidates, however.

The U.S. Supreme Court said in Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut, 479 U.S. 208, on page 215, “Were the State to provide that only Party members might be selected as the Party’s chosen nominees for public office, such a prohibition of potential association with nonmembers would clearly infringe upon the rights of the Party’s members under the First Amendment to organize with like-minded citizens in support of common political goals.” The sponsor of the bill, Representative Earl Jaques, says his goal is to stop any candidate’s name from being listed more than once on the ballot. It doesn’t follow logically that, therefore, he should tell parties that they can’t nominate a non-member.

Intelligence Squared is a forum that gathers together experts to debate public policy, every month. The moderator is usually John Donvan, an ABC News correspondent who was once ABC’s White House Correspondent. The debates are held in New York city and can be heard on National Public Radio and seen on Bloomberg TV. Also they can be seen at www.iq2oz.com, and are archived there.

The February 15 debate is titled “The Two-Party System is Making America Ungovernable.” Speaking in the affirmative are David Brooks, columnist for the New York Times, and Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post. Speaking in the negative are author Zev Chafets and satirist P. J. O’Rourke. Attendance costs $40, and the debate runs from 6:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The location is NYU Skirball Center, 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South, Manhattan. Thanks to Michael Edelstein for this news.

On January 19, eleven West Virginia Delegates, all Republicans, introduced HB 2552. It sets forth detailed rules for the special gubernatorial election this year. It provides that the three qualified parties should nominate by primary, held on May 14. It sets the general election for August 6. Independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, must submit a petition of 1,766 signatures by April 28. Candidates who do not wish to pay the filing fee need a petition in lieu of filing fee that must be signed by 1,740 signatures. Here is the text of the bill.