It has now been more than 30 days since the New Mexico Attorney General’s office, and the New Mexico Secretary of State’s office, have said that they are preparing a legal opinion as to whether the Green Party is still a qualified party. Two weeks ago those officials had hinted that the decision would be out by the end of October. Now they are saying they don’t know when they will release it.

It is likely the officials are keeping the analysis secret until the U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled on the Libertarian Party’s ballot access case. In that case, the state had made much of the fact that Greens were on the ballot in 2006 for three state offices. If the state has now decided that the Greens were on the ballot in 2006 by mistake, it would be embarassing for the state to have that analysis known by the 10th circuit.

On November 1, a hearing was held in the internal Reform Party dispute in a state court in Dallas, Texas. At the conclusion of the hearing, the judge issued an injunction against the national officers who had been elected at the Yuma, Arizona national convention of 2005. The basis was that notice of that convention had not been properly given. There will be a trial next year in this case. It is possible the court will appoint a receiver to administer the party in the interim.

This decision does not necessarily conflict with the federal jury trial decision of a few months ago in Florida. That case invalidated the more recent national party convention, the special convention held in 2006. One must now go all the way back to 2003 to find a national Reform Party convention whose legitimacy has not been questioned in court.

Filing closed at noon for the South Carolina Democratic Party presidential primary. Ten candidates paid the $2,500 fee: Biden, Clinton, Colbert, Dodd, Edwards, Gravel, John Hughes, Kucinich, Obama, Richardson.

Filing for the South Carolina Republican presidential primary closes at 5 pm eastern time on November 1.