On June 1, Rasmussen Polls released a poll concering Michael Bloomberg as a potential independent presidential candidate. The results: 7% are very likely to vote for him; 20% are somewhat likely to vote for him; 12% would consider voting for him under certain circumstances; 28% would not vote for him; 33% are undecided.

Asked how they would vote if it were apparent that the Republican could not win and the Democratic nominee were Hillary Clinton, respondents replied: 46% for Bloomberg, 37% Clinton, 17% would vote Republican anyway or would vote for someone else or are undecided.

Asked how they would vote if it were apparent that the Democrat could not win and the Republican nominee were Rudy Giuliani, the results were: 35% Giuliani, 34% Bloomberg, 31% would vote Democratic anyway or for someone else or are undecided.

On June 5, the U.S. Senate defeated an amendment to the Immigration bill that would have required states to turn away voters from the polls, unless those voters presented a government-issued photo ID. The vote was 52-41. Thanks to Rick Hasen’s Election Law Blog for this news. The amendment was sponsored by Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

On the evening of June 4, Congressman Ron Paul was on “The Daily Show” with host Jon Stewart. Stewart asked Paul about his choice to run for president as a Republican instead of any alternate path. Paul said, “I ran in 1988 as a Libertarian candidate for President, but I’ve been in Congress for 10 terms always as a Republican, including currently…You don’t get in the debates when running outside the major parties. We’re overseas spreading the message of democracy, but here, if you’re in a third party, you can’t get on ballots…you spend all your time getting on ballots…you have to be a Ross Perot to get on all the ballots…The two parties are very much in control of the system, and they exclude individuals who aren’t in that mold.”

This post is being written on Tuesday morning, June 5. It will be interesting to see of any of the other Republican presidential contenders make reference to Paul’s remarks, in the Republican presidential debate tonight.