Alan Greenspan’s new book, The Age of Turbulence, published earlier this month, contains these quotes: “The eventual dominance of the Republicans in southern state politics brought the two major parties to numerical parity but, in the process, induced an ideological divide between conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats. It has left a vast untended center from which a viable, well-financed independent presidential candidate could conceivably emerge in 2008, or, if not then, in 2012.”

Also, “I often wonder if a ticket of a Republican for president and a Democrat for vice-president, or the reverse, would attract the vast untended center. Perhaps this issue wouldn’t matter if the world were at peace…but that has not been the case since 9/11. Who holds the reins of government matters.”

The Arkansas Libertarian Party has 1,964 signatures on its petition to qualify the party for the presidential ballot. Only 1,000 are required. The party will turn them in before the end of the month. This will be the first petition that any minor party will have submitted, the entire calendar year of 2007, so far. Although the Constitution Party of Missouri has also finished its petition, it can’t turn in the signatures until it finishes choosing its nominees, so that petition probably won’t be turned in until October.

S1257, the bill to give the District of Columbia a voting member of the House of Representatives, will be on the U.S. Senate floor starting approximately 2 p.m. eastern time, on Tuesday, Sep. 18. U.S. Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.V.) issued a statement opposing the bill, although he won’t be attending the Senate today.