On October 20, U.S. District Court Judge Jerome Simandle, a Bush Sr. appointee, ruled that plaintiffs in Kerchner v Obama do not have standing to pursue their claim that President Obama does not meet the constitutional qualifications to be President. The decision is eleven pages long and says that the two plaintiffs, who are retired military officers, have no more stake in the matter than any citizen of the U.S. “The injury, if any, suffered by Plaintiffs is one that would be shared by all the American people.” The case is !;09-cv-253-JBS, and had been filed on January 20, 2009.

According to this story, a recent Fairleigh Dickinson University poll of the New Jersey gubernatorial race shows independent candidate Chris Daggett at 17%. Daggett does better in polls that ask about him by name, according to this poll, indicating he is gaining name recognition.

The Moderate Party, the only ballot-qualified party in Rhode Island other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, has announced that it has formed town committees in 17 of Rhode Island’s municipalities. Rhode Island only has 39 municipalities. The party says it is organizing additional committees in more places. The places in which the party already has committees are Barrington, Bristol, Burrillville, Coventry, Cranston, Cumberland, East Greenwich, Foster, Glocester, Jamestown, Lincoln, Narragansett, North Kingston, Providence, Scituate, Warwick, and West Warwick.