Wayne Root kindly granted a telephone interview to BAN editor Richard Winger on April 28. Root had appeared at the California Libertarian Party state convention on April 21, one of the five candidates seeking the party’s presidential nomination who spoke there. He will file his Exploratory Committee with the Federal Election Commission in the coming week. He will then launch his campaign web page. He does not expect to visit all the Libertarian Party state conventions held during the next few months, but he will be sending a DVD to each state party. His future reality-based TV show is not connected in any way with the recently announced MySpace proposed reality show “Independent.” Root’s proposed TV reality show, based on his campaign to win the Libertarian nomination, will be produced in connection with Burt Debrow. It will appear on cable, not broadcast TV, so the “equal time” rule won’t apply (it is not clear that the “equal time” rule would have barred the show in any event, since the rule has been weakened so drastically over the decades).

California will hold a special election on June 26 to fill the vacancy in the 37th U.S. House district, caused when Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald died earlier this month. Filing closes May 14. The district is overwhelmingly Democratic. Probably many Democrats will file, and it is likely that none of them will get a majority. If no one gets 50% in the first election, a run-off will be held on August 21, between the top vote-getters from each party.

George Dale, Mississippi’s Democratic Insurance Commissioner since 1975, was denied the right to file as a Democrat last month. Mississippi elects all its state officers in the odd years before presidential elections, so the state election is in November 2007. Dale was kept off the Democratic primary ballot because he endorsed President Bush for re-election in 2004. He filed a lawsuit in state court to overturn that decision.

However, at the hearing on April 27, he said that he no longer wants to be the Democratic nominee, and that he wants to be an independent. Since this issue had not been briefed, the court took no immediate action. Dale needs 1,000 signatures to be on the ballot, which he undoubtedly could collect. Unfortunately, the deadline has already passed. It is possible he will file new papers to argue that the deadline is unconstitutional. Thanks to Steve Rankin for this news.