Mainstream media in New England is giving considerable publicity to Lincoln Chaffee’s independent candidacy for Rhode Island Governor in 2010. Here is an article from the Boston Globe about Chaffee, dated July 19. Also on July 31, newspapers reported that campaign spending reports show that he raised $171,000 in the last three months and spent $38,000.

Democrats expected to seek the Rhode Island Governorship in 2010 include the Attorney General, Patrick Lynch, who hasn’t reported his campaign receipts yet; and the State Treasurer, Frank Caprio, who reported receipts of $211,000, which gives him a campaign warchest of $1,400,000. It is not yet clear which Republicans will run.

It is conceivable that Chaffee (who was a Republican U.S. Senator between 1999 and 2007) will be the gubernatorial candidate of the Moderate Party in 2010, although none of the recent publicity talks about that idea. If he were the nominee of a qualified political party, he would have a better position on the November ballot than if he were an independent candidate. The Moderate Party is not ballot-qualified yet, but expects to be soon.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear Citizens United v Federal Election Commission on September 9. The case concerns the McCain-Feingold campaign spending law. Amici curiae briefs are due by the end of the day, Friday, July 31. Already there seem to be at least 20 amici briefs in opposition to the law, 9 in favor, and 4 neutral. Some of the amici briefs are on behalf of many organizations. Some of these briefs are as long as 40 pages. UPDATE: some of these amici briefs had already been filed before the U.S. Supreme Court asked for re-argument.

The Federal Election Commission’s web page has this summary of the case, and links to the various briefs. See here. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the link. The U.S. Supreme Court is perhaps fortunate that this is the only case it will be hearing in the next two months.

On July 30, the Supreme Court of the Navajo Nation ruled that two initiatives had successfully qualified for the Navajo ballot. The Court ordered the election to be held before the end of 2009. See this article. The Navajo Constitution provides for the initiative, if a petition signed by 15% of the qualified Navajo voters. The tribal administration had said the two initiatives did not have enough valid signatures, but the Court disagreed. The two initiatives concern (1) reducing the Tribal Council from 88 members to 24; (2) providing for a line-item veto.