The Massachusetts Secretary of State’s office earlier said “No” to the Libertarian Party’s request that the actual presidential nominee, Bob Barr, be substituted for the party’s petition stand-in presidential candidate, George Phillies. However, the Secretary of State’s office had not been aware, when that decision was made, that previous rulings from that office had said presidential substitution is permitted. Also, the Secretary of State’s office had not remembered that Massachusetts permitted vice-presidential substitution in 1980. The office now knows these things, and will re-examine the matter.

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.

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.