In 2005, the Iowa Green and Libertarian Parties filed a lawsuit to gain the right for voters to register into parties, even if those parties aren’t qualified for the ballot. The judge has set up a settlement hearing for August 7, 2007. It is likely that the case will be settled on that day.
The Oregon House Ways & Means holds a hearing on HB 3040 on June 13 at 8:30 a.m. The bill legalizes fusion.
On June 11, the official committee that sets the date of the Washington state presidential primary chose February 19.
On June 10, the Florida Democratic Party Central Committee voted unanimously to use the presidential primary to choose delegates to the national convention. The legislature earlier this year moved the primary to January 29.
The Democratic National Committee rules provide severe punishment for any state Democratic Party (other than the New Hampshire and South Carolina Democratic Parties) that uses a presidential primary to choose delegates, if that primary is earlier than January 29. The national rules say Florida would lose all its super delegates and half its regular delegates. Furthermore, any Democratic presidential candidate who campaigns in Florida would lose all his or her delegates from Florida. The state party will ask for an exemption.
The state party’s other alternative would have been to choose delegates at a caucus, but the state party has rejected that idea. The Florida Democratic Party will lean heavily on the fact that since it is in the minority in both houses of the legislature, and since the Governor is a Republican, there is nothing to party could do to stop the primary from being moved to January 29. Thanks to Tony Roza for this news.
On June 9, Hillary Clinton was appearing at a campaign event near Ames, Iowa. The exact location was the Prairie Moon Winery. Larry Reinsch was able to be recognized for a question, and he asked if she would participate in a general election presidential debate (if she is the Democratic nominee) that includes all presidential candidates who are on the ballot in enough states to theoretically win the election.
She said, “Well, I would certainly be open to doing it. I…you know, I might, uh…there might be a couple of people that I would be a little bit reluctant about, but, you know, I am generally open to that. You know in New York we have a lot of parties; we don’t just have the Democratic and Republican Party, we have a lot of other parties. And, you, I believe in…in free and open debate. Uh, so I will certainly consider it. I’m not going to make a 100% commitment, because it’s a hypothetical, and I try to stay away from hypotheticals. But I take your point and I think that it’s a very important one that we need to get as many people involved as possible, and that means having a lot of opinions out there that people can respond to.”
Larry Reinsch’s excellent activism is exactly what Rock the Debates is hoping to encourage. It is hoped that Reinsch and other activists will be able to the other Republican and Democratic contenders the same question.
