On October 17, veteran New Hampshire legislator Jim Splaine published this commentary on why a December 11, 2007 presidential primary date would be desirable. The following day, New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner, speaking at the University of New Hampshire, said he very well may set the date on December 11, and that he won’t decide until November 2 at the earliest.
New Hampshire HB 48, the ballot access bill, is being redrafted. The original bill lowered the number of votes needed for a group to meet the definition of “political party” from 4% to 2%.
The amended bill retains that idea, but provides that a party that polled 2% but under 4% would nominate by convention, not by primary. Sixteen other states have a somewhat similar system, in which there are two tiers of qualified party, big ones that nominate by primary and smaller ones that nominate by convention.
The amended bill also eliminates the distribution requirement that is now in the law for statewide candidate petitions. The existing law requires 3,000 signatures, but 1,500 must be from each of the state’s two U.S. House districts. The bill will eliminate the distribution requirement. In 2004, the New Hampshire Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate, Ken Blevins, submitted over 3,000 valid signatures. He was still kept off the ballot because he didn’t have 1,500 valid from each of the two districts.
Finally, the amended bill will lower the number of signatures needed for a group to gain the ability to nominate a full slate of candidates by convention, from 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, to something smaller, such as 5,000 or 6,000 signatures.
News media are reporting that Sam Brownback will withdraw from the Republican presidential race on Friday, October 19. That will make the third Republican who was permitted to participate in presidential debates this year, who then withdrew. The others have been Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin and Jim Gilmore of Virginia. This phenomenon, of major party members campaigning during most of the odd year before a presidential election, and then dropping out before any voting has taken place, is relatively new in U.S. presidential politics.
Back in September 1999, the U.S. Taxpayers Party changed its name to the Constitution Party. This change was made democratically at the party’s national convention. All the states in which the party had been on the ballot as “U.S. Taxpayers Party” let the party change its name, except for Michigan. The party in Michigan formally re-named itself “Constitution Party” on September 29, 2007, and has found an attorney to bring a lawsuit, alleging that the First Amendment protects a political party’s wishes about what its name is. Oddly enough, this will be a case of first impression. Most states have no law on the subject of whether a party may change its name. However, most states that have been asked have permitted it.
Cynthia McKinney is circulating a petition to get her name on the Illinois Green Party’s presidential primary. All candidates in Illinois presidential primaries need 3,000 signatures. Such petitions are due the first week in November.
