On May 9, the Village Voice posted this interview with Bob Barr. The interviewer asks good questions, such as what Barr would do about Iraq if he were actually elected president, and his reaction to his inadvertent appearance in the “Borat” movie a few years ago.
Last week, the Michigan Democratic Party said all factions had agreed on a proposed division of delegates, 69 for Clinton and 59 for Obama. However, on May 8, the Clinton campaign said it does not support the plan. Since the national Democratic Party would need to approve the state Democratic plan, and since the chances of the national party approving it depended on the plan having consensus support, the plan is almost certainly doomed. See this story. Thanks to Thomas Jones.
Rock-the-Debates is today sending this letter to Senator John McCain’s national campaign headquarters:
May 10, 2008
John McCain 2008
1235 South Clark St.
Arlington, VA 22201
Dear Senator McCain:
Now that the field of presidential hopefuls has winnowed and as third party and independent presidential candidates are being selected, I am writing to ask if you would be willing to debate all candidates in 2008 that have a mathematical chance of winning the presidency. In all likelihood there will be four presidential candidates who will have a mathematical chance, in addition to the Democrat and you.
Rock-The-Debates has Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and a host of third party and independent candidates on video all expressing their support for open, inclusive debates.
Hillary Clinton told us, “I believe in free and open debate”, while Barack Obama said he wanted “as many people to get a hearing (in the debates) as possible”.
As you know, Senator McCain, we have Americans dying in the Middle East trying to promote democracy in that part of the world. It would be a travesty to not hold free, open and inclusive debates in our own country.
We would appreciate the favor of a response by May 20. Sincerely, Robert Sullentrup, Founder, Rock-The-Debates, http://www.rockthedebates.org.
The Missouri legislature adjourns on Friday evening, May 16. Still pending are two ballot access bills, one helpful, one harmful. Also still pending is a bill to require voters at the polls to show a government photo-ID.
The helpful bill, SB 797, is listed as a consent bill in the House, which means that it will pass the House as soon as the House takes up consent bills, which could be Monday, May 12. However, since the House Committee attached an unrelated provision, the bill would then need to return to the Senate. SB 797 fixes the typographical error in the 1993 ballot access reform bill, which forces groups that circulate the petition for a new party to list a presidential candidate (but not candidates for other office) on the petition.
HB 1310, the harmful bill, moves the deadline for all independent candidates (even president) from July to March. It has passed the House, but not the Senate, and the Senate Committee has not voted to send it to the Senate floor. Therefore, it is probably dead.
On May 6, the Colorado legislature passed HB 1378. It lets any municipality or special district use Instant-Runoff Voting, or Choice Voting, to elect its own officers.
