Cindy Sheehan, independent candidate for U.S. House from California’s 8th district (most of San Francisco), has 900 signatures on her petition to get on the ballot. She needs 10,198 valid signatures by August 8 (3% of the number of registered voters). She has a campaign headquarters at 1260 Mission Street. See her web page. No one has qualified as an independent for U.S. House from California since 1996. California’s requirement for independent candidates for U.S. House is the 4th most difficult in the nation (only Georgia, Illinois, and North Carolina have more severe requirements).

Arkansas has been holding presidential primaries since 1976. They had always been in May (except in 1988, when they were in March), but in 2005 the legislature moved the presidential primary from May to February. Now many in the state are wishing they had kept it in May, since the state’s February primary this year attracted almost no attention. Representative Nathan George, a Democrat, says he will introduce a bill next year to move presidential primaries back to May. See this story.

This Washington Post article reveals that Bob Barr’s PAC contributed at least $8,500 to the Libertarian National Committee, as well as making the contributions to various Republican candidates for Congress that have already been publicized.