On December 10, the Oregon Democratic Party state committee narrowly rejected a proposal to invite registered independents to vote in the Democratic primary.

On December 10, former U.S. Senator Eugene McCarthy died. He was a pioneer in the cause of making U.S. elections freer. In December 1974 he declared as an independent presidential candidate in 1976. He insisted, as a matter of principle, that he was an independent, and would not create any new party, in any state, just to help get on the ballot. At the time, 14 states (Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Utah) had no procedures for an independent presidential candidate. McCarthy sued almost all of those states and forced them all to pass such procedures. The US Supreme Court itself put him on in Texas, even though he did not submit any signatures there (since there was no procedure to do that). McCarthy was also a participant in the lawsuit Buckley v Valeo, which struck down parts of the 1974 federal campaign finance law that set a ceiling on expenditures in federal elections.

On December 9, the Socialist Equality candidate for U.S. House (from last year’s election) asked for a rehearing in the 6th circuit. Last week the 6th circuit upheld Ohio’s petition deadline of March 1 for non-presidential independent candidates. The rehearing brief stresses that it is unprecedented for a court to approve of a system in which all routes to the November ballot are closed off as early as March 1. Lawrence v Blackwell, 04-4022.