Seven of Florida’s 25 U.S. House seats will have an independent candidate on the ballot in November. There have never before been this many U.S. House races in that state with an independent candidate on the ballot. Florida had extremely stringent petition requirements for independents and minor party candidates before 1999.

One of the independent candidates is a former Democratic state legislator, Ben Graber. He is running in the 19th district against incumbent Democrat Robert Wexler. Here is Graber’s webpage. Wexler usually has no opponents.

Another of the independent candidates for Congress is Burt Saunders, who is now a Republican State Senator. Saunders is running in the 19th district (Naples). Here is his webpage.

Democrats are running someone in all 25 districts. No Republicans are running in the 3rd, 17th, and 20th districts. Thanks to ThirdPartyWatch for the news about Burt Saunders and Ben Graber.

On May 5, Ed Noonan, state chair of the American Independent Party of California, changed the state party’s webpage to show that Chuck Baldwin is the party’s presidential nominee. The AIP is the California affiliate of the Constitution Party, which nominated Baldwin last month in Kansas City.

However, Noonan told me on the telephone on May 7 that he still will work to nominate Alan Keyes as the presidential candidate of the American Independent Party. Noonan feels that Keyes would run a more vigorous campaign than Baldwin will. The AIP state convention will make the decision in Sacramento in June.

According to Kai Schwandes of the North Carolina Green Party, these are the preferences of the Green Party national convention delegates who have been chosen so far: Cynthia McKinney 186, Ralph Nader 129, Kent Mesplay 19, Kat Swift 15, Jesse Johnson 11, Jared Ball 9, Howie Hawkins 9, Elaine Brown 8, uncommitted 17. Nader is not seeking the Green Party nomination so any delegates who vote for him are doing so on their own initiative.