Maryland State Senator Paul Pinsky and 16 other Maryland State Senators have introduced SB 681, to provide for public funding for candidates for the state legislature. The bill does not discriminate for or against any candidates on the basis of the candidate’s partisan affiliation or lack of affiliation. Candidates would need to obtain $5 donations from at least 350 individuals.

Brian Bittner points out that the bill may in practice be discriminatory, because it funds candidates in the primary season if they are running in a primary, or if they are petitioning as an independent candidate, but not if they are seeking the convention nomination of a ballot-qualified minor party. The bill’s authors probably wrote the bill that way, on the theory that it doesn’t cost much money to win nomination at a convention of a small ballot-qualified party. But one danger is that if the fund runs out of money in the primary season, there might not be funding for the general election season. The bill has a hearing on March 11.

As noted earlier, on January 19, 2010, the South Florida Tea Party, Inc., had filed a federal lawsuit, demanding that the ballot-qualified Tea Party change its name. On February 17, the South Florida Tea Party, Inc., filed an amended complaint. It again asks that the court order the ballot-qualified party to change its name. It says, “Defendants…must include other terms in order to avoid public confusion that the Florida ‘Tea Party’ is somehow endorsed or approved by the Plaintiffs, and other persons or entities that are similarly situated. Alternatively, Defendant Tea Party must amend the name of the political party to comport with the admitted meaning of the acronym, namely, ‘Taxed Enough Already’.” (page 31). UPDATE: here is the response of the ballot-qualified Tea Party, asking the Court to dismiss the lawsuit. This is the party’s first response, from February 8, and the party will file a new, similar version soon.

The amended complaint says “Florida Tea Party activists, such as the Plaintiffs, are working toward reform within the Republican Party and view third party candidacies as counter-productive.”

The new complaint differs from the original complaint by having many more plaintiffs, including Tea Party groups from states other than Florida, such as Texas, South Carolina, New Jersey, Washington, and Michigan. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for help getting the amended complaint.

One of the ironies of this case is that many counties in Florida don’t print complete party names on ballots. Instead they only print acronyms. So, even if this lawsuit were successful, and the ballot-qualified party were forced to change its name from “Tea Party” to “Taxed Enough Already Party”, many counties would still print “TEA” next to the names of any of the party’s candidates.

The Las Vegas Sun has this story about a poll in the U.S. Senate race. The story contains a link to the poll data that includes various Republicans, and incumbent Senator Harry Reid, and Tea Party nominee Jon Ashjian.

If the Republican nominee is Sue Lowden, the poll shows: Lowden 42%, Reid 37%, Ashjian 9%, other or undecided 12%.

If the Republican nominee is Danny Tarkanian, the results are: Tarkanian 40%, Reid 39%, Ashjian 11%, other or undecided 11%.

If the Republican nominee is John Chachas, the results are: Reid 39%, Ashjian 22%, Chachas 21%, other or undecided 18%.

If the Republican nominee is Sharron Angle, the results are: Reid 37%, Angle 32%, Ashjian 16%, other or undecided 15%.

Probably the Independent American Party will also have a candidate in this race, although the Libertarians won’t and the Green Party won’t.