The four candidates for U.S. Senate in Missouri will debate each other on Friday, October 15, at 10:30 a.m. at Four Seasons Lodge, Lake of the Ozarks. The four are Democrat Robin Carnahan, Republican Roy Blunt, Libertarian Jonathan Dine, and Constitution Party nominee Jerry Beck. Thanks to Robb Cunningham for this news. The debates are sponsored by the Missouri Press Association. For more about the debates, which will be streamed live, see here.
On October 13, three candidates for Governor of Idaho debated each other. See this story. The three were Republican incumbent Butch Otter, Democrat Keith Allred, and Jana Kemp, an independent candidate and former state legislator.
Some counties in Nevada do not print the full names of political parties on the ballot, but abbreviate them. Scott Ashjian, nominee of the “Nevada Tea Party”, is disappointed that the counties that abbreviate are printing “TPN” next to his name on the ballot. He feels “TEA” would be better. See this story.
One aspect of the newspaper story is deficient. The story, from the Las Vegas Sun, says that Ashjian is injuring the chances of Republican nominee Sharron Angle. However, objective, neutral poll data shows that is not true. Thanks to Glenn Brown for the news about the abbreviation issue.
On October 13, a subcommittee of the West Virginia legislature heard expert testimony on whether the State Constitution requires that the state hold a special gubernatorial election, if Governor Joe Manchin is elected to the U.S. Senate on November 2. He was elected to a four-year term in November 2008, so if he wins for U.S. Senate, he would be resigning as Governor in the middle of his term. See this story. The Constitution says there should be an election if the Governor leaves while he still has at least one year left to serve, but it doesn’t say when that election should be held.
The Alibi, Albuquerque’s alternative weekly newspaper, has this story about New Mexico ballot access for new and minor parties. The article points out that in November 2010, New Mexico is the only state with no minor party or independent candidates for any statewide race or for any congressional race. It also points out that New Mexico is the only state that requires the nominees of a qualified party to each submit a difficult petition. Note the word “nominee”. It is true that many states require candidates running in a party primary to submit petitions to get on a primary ballot, but those individuals aren’t yet party nominees; they are seeking a party nomination.
It is fundamentally irrational for New Mexico to require a ballot-qualified party, which has already submitted one petition to show that it has a modicum of voter support, to submit separate petitions for each of the people it has just nominated. Maryland once had a similar requirement, but the state’s highest state court, the Court of Appeals, invalidated it in 2003.
