The Independence Party in the Hudson Valley region of New York is trying to regularize and systemize decisions on which major party candidates to cross-endorse. The Independence Party organizations in Orange, Ulster, Sullivan and Dutchess Counties have a specific platform, concerning local and state government issues. The four county parties will endeavor to only cross-endorse Republican or Democratic nominees whose views reflect the Independence Party’s local platform. For more information, see this story in the Times Herald-Record of Middletown, New York, published April 18. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.

On April 17, the last unchallenged ballots were counted in New York’s special election for U.S. House, 20th district. Democratic-Working Families-Independence nominee Scott Murphy leads Republican-Conservative nominee James Tedisco by 273 votes. However, there are still approximately 1,200 challenged ballots to be disposed of.

A pattern has developed recently that when a major party challenges ballot status for a minor party or independent candidate in the same race, the challenging major party loses the election. This appears to be true in the New York election (assuming Murphy does indeed win), because Republicans and Conservatives had challenged ballot status for the Libertarian Party’s nominee Eric Sundwall (Sundwall had then endorsed Murphy).

The pattern also held up in 2008, in both Pennsylvania and Maine. In 2008, Pennsylvania Republicans unsuccessfully challenged Bob Barr’s ballot position, and McCain subsequently lost Pennsylvania. In Maine, Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Tom Allen had challenged the only independent in that race, and Allen went on to lose the election overwhelmingly.

For some time, Jesse Ventura and his family have been living in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. Ventura gave an interview to “Gringo Gazette”, an English language newspaper in Southern Baja California. The interview, printed in the March 30, 2009 edition, quotes Ventura as saying he moved to Mexico “to escape politics.” However, the interview also asked if Ventura will live permanently in Mexico, and he responded, “I have found in life that nothing is permanent.”