The Green Party is holding a national meeting July 12-15 in Reading, Pennsylvania. Attendees in Reading will hear presentations on whether the 2008 national presidential convention should be in Minneapolis, Chicago or Detroit. A decision won’t be made until August 15, 2007. Several Green Party members who hold elective office in Minneapolis will be making the pitch for Minneapolis at the Reading meeting.

The Constitution Party will probably hold its national convention during the last week of April 2008 in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Libertarian Party had already previously chosen Denver, the last weekend of May 2008.

The major party conventions will be in Minneapolis (Republican) and Denver (Democratic).

On July 11, 71 activists and officers in the Idaho Republican Party filed a lawsuit, arguing that Idaho’s open primary is unconstitutional as applied to a political party that wants a closed primary. The case is Beck v Ysursa, no. 07-299, U.S. District Court.

The Idaho Republican Party itself is not a co-plaintiff. However, the State Central Committee did pass a resolution on June 17, 2006, in favor of an open primary for the state party. Also the co-plaintiffs include fifteen members of the State Central Committee. The complaint is a class action, in which the “class” are all Republicans in Idaho. This aspect of the case (unusual in election law constitutional cases) may result in the Idaho Republican Party itself being forced to intervene. If that happens, the party itself will need to take a position. See here for the complaint.

In a whimsical moment, the Green Party National Committee has been thinking about a possible official animal that would symbolize the Green Party of the U.S., since the Democratic Party has the donkey and the Republican Party has the elephant. According to Green News and Opinion (here), the choices, in order of support, are (1) Turtle; (2) Frog; (3) not to have an animal symbol; (4) Bee; (5) Sunflower.

Minor parties have not generally been attached to animal symbols, although the Prohibition Party consistently used a camel; the 1912 Progressive Party used a bull moose; and both the Reform and Constitution Parties used an eagle.