According to this Boston Globe story, Massachusetts state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill will announce on September 9 that is running for Governor of Massachusetts in 2010 as an independent candidate.
Reply
Ballot Access News has just learned that the New Hampshire legislature made ballot access more restrictive this year. The legislature passed a bill that makes it illegal to circulate candidate petitions during an odd year. Thanks to Howard Wilson for this news.
There will probably be a special U.S. House election on November 3, to fill the soon-to-be vacant 23rd district seat. The Weekly Standard speculates that if the Republican nominate a liberal Republican, the Conservative Party is likely to nominate Doug Hoffman, who (according to the Standard) could win a 3-way fight. See this article.
The big election law news in this coming week will be about the unusual September 9 oral argument in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission. The Court doesn’t normally hold oral arguments during September. SCOTUSBLOG has a neutral post, by Lyle Denniston, explaining the case, which concerns the interaction of federal laws on campaign spending and “Hillary: The Movie.” To see it, go to www.scotusblog.com and scroll down to the September 4 entry, “Argument Preview, Corporations in Politics.”
U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour has set a status conference in Washington State Republican Party v Washington state for October 6 at 9 a.m. This will enable the opposing sides in the lawsuit to establish the ground rules for an upcoming trial. The issue in the case is whether the “top-two” primary system is constitutional as applied to Washington state. Thanks to Christina Tobin for this news.