Ron Paul Rules Out 3rd Party Run, Scales Down Campaign

Posted on by February 8, 2008
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From Dr. Paul:

“Whoa! What a year this has been. And what achievements we have had. If I may quote Trotsky of all people, this Revolution is permanent. It will not end at the Republican convention. It will not end in November. It will not end until we have won the great battle on which we have embarked. Not because of me, but because of you. Millions of Americans—and friends in many other countries—have dedicated themselves to the principles of liberty: to free enterprise, limited government, sound money, no income tax, and peace. We will not falter so long as there is one restriction on our persons, our property, our civil liberties. How much I owe you. I can never possibly repay your generous donations, hard work, whole-hearted dedication and love of freedom. How blessed I am to be associated with you. Carol, of course, sends her love as well.

“Let me tell you my thoughts. With Romney gone, the chances of a brokered convention are nearly zero. But that does not affect my determination to fight on, in every caucus and primary remaining, and at the convention for our ideas, with just as many delegates as I can get. But with so many primaries and caucuses now over, we do not now need so big a national campaign staff, and so I am making it leaner and tighter. Of course, I am committed to fighting for our ideas within the Republican party, so there will be no 3rd party run. I do not denigrate third parties—just the opposite, and I have long worked to remove the ballot-access restrictions on them. But I am a Republican, and I will remain a Republican.

“I also have another priority. I have constituents in my home district that I must serve. I cannot and will not let them down. And I have another battle I must face here as well. If I were to lose the primary for my congressional seat, all our opponents would react with glee, and pretend it was a rejection of our ideas. I cannot and will not let that happen.

“In the presidential race and the congressional race, I need your support, as always. And I have plans to continue fighting for our ideas in politics and education that I will share with you when I can, for I will need you at my side. In the meantime, onward and upward! The neocons, the warmongers, the socialists, the advocates of inflation will be hearing much from you and me.”

COFOE Annual Board Meeting Set; Will Discuss Future Lawsuits

Posted on by February 8, 2008
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The Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE) is holding its annual Board meeting in New York city on March 2, at 1 pm. COFOE is a loose coalition of the nation’s nationally-organized minor parties, and other nationally-organized groups that agree with COFOE’s goals of easing ballot access laws and improving the climate for minor parties and independent candidates in other areas, such as debates.

Several lawsuits against repressive ballot access laws are likely to be filed in February and March, some of them with financial support from COFOE, others not. They include a lawsuit to be filed against the Ohio law that bans circulators for independent candidates unless the circulators are registered voters in Ohio; a lawsuit against Illinois law on the number of signatures for unqualified parties and independent candidates for US House; a similar lawsuit for independent candidates for US House in North Carolina; a similar lawsuit for independent candidates for US House in Alabama; a lawsuit against New Hampshire’s refusal to permit presidential substitution; and a lawsuit against the new March petition deadline for independent candidates (for office other than president) in Montana.

Washington Legislative Hearing on Ballot Access Reform Bill

Posted on by February 7, 2008
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The Washington State House Government Committee holds a hearing on HB 1534 on February 7, at 6 p.m. This is the bill to improve ballot access for minor parties and independent candidates. It would permit an unqualified party to petition for a place on the ballot (with 1,000 signatures) before it has chosen its nominees. Once on the ballot, it would then nominate by convention.

It would also ease petition requirements for independent candidates, and let independent candidates choose a partisan label (that could not mimic the name of a qualified party) which would be printed on the November ballot.

One minor party activist, who is with the Progressive Party, is not satisfied with these improvements, and is threatening to testify against the bill. Since the committee members had previously said that they will not pass this bill unless all minor party witnesses are in favor of it, the bill is in danger unless this person is mollified. The dissatisfied Progressive Party activist wants the bill to allow for qualification of parties on a district-by-district basis. There is little practical advantage to making that change, since the bill’s draft would allow a party that doesn’t wish to qualify statewide to still appear on the November ballot, under the procedures for partisan labels for independent candidates.

Two Minor Parties Together Receive Over 30% in California Special Legislative Election

Posted on by February 7, 2008
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On February 5, California held a special election to fill the vacant 55th Assembly district. Only three candidates were on the ballot, a Democrat, a member of the Constitution (American Independent) Party, and a Libertarian. The results:

Warren Furutani, Democrat, 41,518, 69.84%
Charlotte Gibson, American Independent, 9,153, 15.40%
Herb Peters, Libertarian, 8,775, 14.76%

The district’s registration is 52.9% Democratic, 24.0% Republican, American Independent 1.9%, Peace & Freedom .6%, Libertarian .4%, Green .4%, independent and other 19.7%. Thanks to ThirdPartyWatch and Glenn Brown.