Missouri elections officials say they will be finished checking the Constitution Party’s petition by the end of May. New Mexico officials say they will be finished checking the Constitution Party’s petition by May 16.
The North Carolina Libertarian Party will submit its petition to the State Board of Elections on May 15. The counties have already checked them so the party knows that it has enough valid signatures.
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.
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.
All the briefs have now been filed in Kucinich v Texas Democratic Party, no. 8-50038, in the 5th Circuit. Kucinich was kept off this year’s presidential primary ballot in Texas because he wouldn’t sign a state party’s oath, promising to “fully support” the eventual presidential nominee of the national Democratic Party.
Kucinich argues that since the national Democratic Party accepted him as a bona fide Democratic candidate for president (which meant that he was invited into all the party’s presidential debates), the Texas Democratic Party has no business keeping him from its presidential primary. He also points out that the oath does not really relate to loyalty to the party itself. He mentions the hypothetical that the national convention could conceivably nominate someone who himself, or herself, doesn’t uphold the party’s platform. This case is being expedited, so the hearing is likely to be in the next few weeks.
