On January 7, the Florida Whig Party announced that it now has five candidates for U.S. House in 2010. The newly-announced candidates are Stephen J. Bacon in the 7th district, and Craig Porter in the 25th district. Previously announced candidates are Paul McKain in the 2nd district, John Annarumma in the 3rd district, and Clayton Schock in the 20th district.

This blog does not routinely mention instances when a minor party announces a list of candidates, but this Florida news is exceptional. Florida and Georgia are the only states in which, at no time since the 1930’s, has there ever been an election in which at least half of that state’s U.S. House seats had minor party or independent candidates on the ballot. Florida and Georgia, in other words, are the only states in which over half the voters have never seen a minor party or independent candidate on their ballot for U.S. House.

Even though Florida abolished mandatory petitions for minor party and independent candidates in 1999, minor parties in Florida have been slow to take advantage of the freedom to run candidates for Congress. No minor party has had more than two candidates in any one year, in Florida, for U.S. House, since the 1999 liberalization. This is partly because the filing fee is so high, and partly because ingrained habits seem to make Florida minor parties not accustomed to thinking of running many candidates. For example, the Green Party has not had even one U.S. House candidate in Florida since the 1999 liberalization.

On January 6, the California Supreme Court heard arguments in Society for Krishna Consciousness v City of Los Angeles, S164272. The issue was whether the California Constitution contains more protection for free speech in publicly-owned spaces where large numbers of people congregate, specifically airports. Witnesses say the argument went very badly for the Hare Krishna side. On the other hand, the California Supreme Court has said in the past that the California Constitution grants more protection in this area of the law than the U.S. Constitution does. UPDATE: see this story.

The attorney for the Society for Krishna Consciousness apparently even told the court that his clients have a constitutional right to be inside the “sterile” part of the airport, the part beyond the security checkpoints.

Nebraska Senator Beau McCoy, a Republican from Omaha in his first term, has introduced LD 777. It would provide that all presidential electors from Nebraska be elected on a statewide basis. Currently, Nebraska lets each U.S. House district elect its own presidential elector. In 2008, the Omaha district chose the Democratic elector, so the Nebraska electoral vote in 2008 was four for John McCain and one for Barack Obama. Thanks to Tony Roza for this news.