The Pirate Party is an international grouping that believes copyright and patent laws are far too restrictive, and that these laws should be reformed. It has participated in electoral politics in Sweden, France, Belgium and Italy. The group is organizing in the United States. On August 9, it said it would attempt to qualify as a party in Utah, which requires 2,000 signatures. The U.S. branch of the party is at www.pirate-party.us.
Rockthedebates now has video clips of these 7 major party presidential candidates responding to the question about whether they would participate in more inclusive general election presidential debates. See here for the clips with Democrats Obama, Clinton and Richardson, and Republicans Romney, Tancredo, Huckabee, and Brownback.
On August 25, Saturday, the Montana Republican State Central Committee will decide whether to use a February caucus to choose delegates to the national convention, or to use the state’s traditional June presidential primary for that purpose.
The California legislature re-convenes on Monday, August 20. Interesting election laws somewhat likely to pass in the next 30 days are: SB 37, the National Popular Vote Plan for presidential elections; SB 439, which would legalize write-ins when the voter forgets to “x” the box next to the name written in; AB 1294 and AB 1662, expanding use of ranked-choice voting; and SB 408, which restricts who may circulate an initiative petition.
On August 16, the Illinois Republican Party sponsored a straw poll for its presidential nomination, at its booth at the Illinois state fair. Voting was open between 11 am and 4 pm. Any adult resident of Illinois could vote. The results: Mitt Romney 373, Fred Thompson 184, Ron Paul 174, Rudy Giuliani 107, John McCain 38, Mike Huckabee 28, Sam Brownback 10, Duncan Hunter 6, Tom Tancredo 3.
