See this essay by Jeremy Lott, which ran on Politico on June 11. Lott points out that Al Gore ran in 2000 as a rather conservative Democrat, unlike the Al Gore of today. Lott also says that the Democrats have become more populist since the 2000 campaign, and concludes that Nader’s runs for the presidency in 2000, 2004 and 2008 have been one cause of this somewhat changed Democratic Party.
Although the U.S. Supreme Court issued five full opinions on June 12, including some on habeus corpus that are making headlines, the Court did not release its only pending election law decision, Davis v Federal Election Commission.
Roll Call newsletter of June 11 says that it is somewhat likely that the U.S. Senate will approve new Federal Election Commissioners during the week of June 16-20. That would give the FEC the ability to act, something it has lacked for many months. Thanks to Rick Hasen’s ElectionLawBlog.
In November 2008, 33 states hold regularly-scheduled U.S. Senate elections. There will be at least one minor party or independent candidate for U.S. Senate on the ballot in at least 22 states.
States in which there definitely will be no minor party or independent candidates for U.S. Senate on the ballot are Alabama, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming. There are ballot-qualified minor parties in all those states except Alabama, but those parties all chose not to run anyone for U.S. Senate. In New Mexico, though, even a ballot-qualified minor party would have needed a substantial petition.
It is uncertain if there will be a minor party or independent candidate for U.S. Senate this year in Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, and Rhode Island. In Montana, the only possibility is for independent candidate Steve Kelly to win his pending ballot access lawsuit.
Last time this set of Senate seats was up was in 2002. In 2002, there was at least one minor party or independent candidate on the ballot for U.S. Senate in all states except Arkansas, Kentucky, Maine, New Mexico, Rhode Island, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
On June 10, the North Carolina Libertarian and Green Parties asked the State Court of Appeals to reverse the lower court, and strike down the state laws on how new and previously unqualified parties get on the ballot. The appeal also asks that the law on how voters are treated when their party goes off the ballot be declared unconstitutional. Although this issue was emphasized at the trial, the lower court judge failed to issue a ruling on that issue.
