Third Party Watch

Ballot Access News

The Texas Secretary of State has corrected some clerical errors that had crept into the official November 2008 presidential returns, for the declared write-in candidates.

As a result, Chuck Baldwin gained 343 votes, Ralph Nader gained 226 votes, Cynthia McKinney gained 160 votes, and Jonathan Allan gained one vote.

Also, Brian Moore lost 778 votes, Alan Keyes lost 12 votes, and Thaddeus Hill lost 662 votes. The new totals should be posted soon on the nationwide presidential vote chart.

01/04/2009

BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES BROUGHT POLICE STATE TO AMERICA
By Mary Starrett
Constitution Party Communications Director

The word “fascism” has been used for decades to deride political ideologies of both the right and left. Fact is, fascism has come to America and we have allowed it to happen.

Back in 1944 economist and author John Flynn pointed out that we have been laying the basecoat of fascism here in the U.S. in the book As We Go Marching.

“But alas, the most terrifying aspect of the whole fascist episode is the dark fact that most of its poisons are generated not by evil men or evil peoples, but by quite ordinary men in search of an answer to the baffling problems that beset every society. Nothing could have been further from the minds of most of them than the final brutish and obscene result. The gangster comes upon the stage only when the scene has been made ready for him by his blundering precursors.”

Flynn wouldn’t be at all surprised to see that what he predicted 65 years ago is happening in our country today. Read the rest of this entry »

From the January 3 issue of Ballot Access News:

The Conservative Party of New York has been the minor party that runs candidates in the largest share of its state’s legislative seats, compared to any other minor party. This has been true continuously starting in 1970. The Conservatives hit their peak (for number of legislative nominees) in 1982, when the party had nominees on the ballot in over 92% of New York state’s legislative races (195 nominees out of 211 races).

However, there are signs that the Conservative machine is flagging slightly. Read the rest of this entry »

Republican State Sen. Jeff Wentworth is seeking to eliminate the straight-ticket voting option on the Texas ballot, and has the support of Texas Libertarians.

“It’s not a monumental issue,” says Patrick Dixon, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Texas. “But the sense is when a lot of people vote, they check the party and don’t go down the ballot and look at the candidates. We think people should value the candidates more than the party.”

Bob Barr, the 2008 Libertarian Party candidate for President, has prevailed over New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a lawsuit involving a Georgia sports store that sells guns. Here is the Associated Press story on the case.

Also on the Second Amendment front, Stephen Halbrook’s The Founders’ Second Amendment, which Barr praises, skyrocketed on Amazon.com until the online bookseller ran out of stock. The Halbrook book was No. 1 in Law, Civil Rights and Liberties, Constitutions, Constitutional Law, and Revolutionary and Founding History; No. 12 in History; No. 11 in Professional and Technical; and No. 26 in Nonfiction (all).

Now that Amazon.com is restocked, the Independent Institute is trying to get a buying surge going again that will put The Founders’ Second Amendment on the New York Times and Amazon.com bestseller lists—to give President-elect Obama a clear message as he prepares to take office. For the full story, go to www.secondamendmentbook.com.

Jon Basil Utley, on the Antiwar.com blog, gives another view of conservative patriarch Paul Weyrich, who died last Thursday. While most people are familiar with Weyrich’s role on social issues, Utley focuses on his war position and support for civil liberties. He notes, for example:

Weyrich also funded for several years an e-mail letter on protecting constitutional freedoms and often invited former Congressman Bob Barr [2008 presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party] to speak on the Patriot Act and such issues.

Here is the full text of Utley’s posting:

Paul Weyrich and Wars
By Jon Basil Utley
Antiwar.blog

Paul Weyrich, who died last Thursday, was one of the half dozen leaders who brought forth the conservative victory in Washington. With the Iraq war, as most Republicans were overcome by the siren songs of big government and world empire, Weyrich remained an extraordinary defender of freedom and limited government. Read the rest of this entry »

U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina has dismissed a lawsuit by Ralph Nader that accused the Democratic Party of conspiring to keep him off the ballot in 2004. Nader ran as an independent candidate for President this year. The Associated Press story is here.

Lynne Williams, an attorney who has championed numerous environmental and human rights causes in Maine, has announced that she intends to run for governor in 2010. She is state chairman of the Maine Green Independent Party and serves on the planning board in Bar Harbor.

The Bangor Daily News covers her entry into the race here.

Ballot Access News

In 2004, Constitution Party presidential nominee Michael Peroutka was on the ballot in states containing 66.4% of the national presidential vote. Where he was on the ballot, he polled .173% of the total presidential vote in those places.

In 2008, Constitution Party presidential nominee Chuck Baldwin was on the ballot in states containing 59.0% of the national presidential vote this year. Where he was on the ballot, he polled .238% of the total presidential vote in those places.

Thus, the Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party experienced a similar pattern in these two presidential election years. Each party did a worse job of getting its presidential candidate on the ballot in 2008 than it had in 2004. But, in the places where each party’s presidential candidate was on the ballot, each party polled a markedly higher share of the vote in 2008 than it had in 2004.

The following is a media release from the Constitution Party:

12/09/2008

Got Birth Certificate?
Constitution Party Calls For Barack Obama To Prove Eligibility For Office

Lancaster, PA, The country’s fastest-growing third party (Ballot Access News 12/08) challenged Barack Obama to release his birth certificate and dispel the grave concerns that he is ineligible to assume office as president of the United States.

“The Constitution is crystal clear Read the rest of this entry »

According to an American Independent Party blog, Rush Limbaugh is recommending to Governor Blagojevich that if he really wants to stick it to Obama and company, he should nominate Alan Keyes to be Senator from Illinois.

Karole Noymann has this to say about the idea on Daily Kos:

For those who may not be aware Keyes was the GOP nominee for Obama’s Senate seat in the 2004 election. Keyes abandoned the GOP this year after complaining they ignored his presidential candidacy and influenced the media not to cover his campaign bacause they were afraid of him. He then declared himself a candidate for the Constitution Party presidential nomination but they didn’t want him either. Finally he did receive the nomination of America’s Independent Party which gained him a ballot spot in California.

Currently Keyes is busying himself with a court challenge to Obama’s status as a natural born citizen.

The following is a media release from the Libertarian Party:

Dec 11, 2008

Barr Condemns Newest Bailout
Auto Bailout Will Only “Compound the Problem”

Former Congressman Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party’s 2008 presidential nominee, issued a statement condemning the proposed $15-billion bailout of the auto industry apparently nearing approval in the Congress. Barr said “the Faustian bargain” the Big 3 automakers reached with lawmakers “compounds the problem” of the massive bailouts backed by Congress and the Bush Administration, and apparently is structured so as to give the federal government a degree of involvement and control of GM, Ford, and Chrysler that the companies “will live to regret.”

Barr went on to say that while the auto industry has a better case for protection than insurance giant AIG, which already has secured some $85 billion in taxpayer-funded bailout money, the contemplated auto bailout will solve none of the underlying problems facing the industry or the economy. AIG, for example, Read the rest of this entry »

The following is a media release from the Green Party of the United States:

Greens offer six big steps for economic recovery

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org

Greens support workers occupying a factory in Chicago after layoff: bailout money isn’t being used to help working Americans

WASHINGTON, DC—Green Party leaders said today that the incoming Obama Administration and Congress should take six major steps to reverse the financial meltdown and restore financial security for Americans.

The steps include a Green public works program, aid for state and muncipal governments, expansion of mass transit, Single-Payer health care, a peace dividend gained by ending the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and an end to the wasteful war on drugs.

Green Party candidates running Read the rest of this entry »

The following is a column by Chuck Baldwin, the 2008 Constitution Party presidential candidate:

Selective Constitutionalism
By Chuck Baldwin
December 9, 2008

Many conservatives are up in arms regarding the charge that President-elect Barack Obama may not have been born in the United States and is, therefore, not qualified under the U.S. Constitution to be President of the United States. Read the rest of this entry »

The Houston Chronicle’s Texas on the Potomac blog gives the vote totals for Indiana, North Carolina, and Missouri. It is obvious that Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr and Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader got enough votes to make the difference in those three states between the two major-party candidates. (Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin added to the difference in Indiana.)

What is not provable, however, is how their supporters would have voted if their favorite was not on the ballot. Or, indeed, whether they would have voted at all.

The following is a news release from the Libertarian Party of New York:

For more information contact: Eric Sundwall, Chairman (518) 857-1731

Libertarian Party Supports Anti-Corporate Welfare Lawsuit
State Committee decries unconstitutional spending

ALBANY, NY (12/08/2008; 1324)(readMedia)—On December 7, 2009 the LPNY State Committee passed a resolution supporting a lawsuit seeking to end corporate welfare via the New York State Constitution.

“The LPNY endorses the Stop The Pork Lawsuit filed by Jim Ostrowski to enforce the prohibition in the State Constitution against grants or loans of state money to corporations.”

LPNY Chair, Eric Sundwall “This type of lawsuit could become infectious throughout the country. It sets the precedent Read the rest of this entry »

Herman K. Trabish in the NewEnergyNews blog is surprised to see the carbon tax emerge again after the election, when both Obama and McCain had supported versions of a cap-and-trade system:

A tax on emissions (dubbed a “carbon tax”) was considered a better idea but politically unreachable.

That was then.

In the past few days, consumer advocate Ralph Nader and climate scientist/prophet James Hansen (in the Wall Street Journal) and Tom Friedman (in the New York Times) have called for a carbon tax.

The phrase to know: Revenue neutral….

This is like finding saints in hell, or devil creatures in heaven, depending on your point of view. Apparently there are 5,915 people living in the District of Columbia—the very core of the government conspiracy—who are libertarian enough in their views to vote for the Libertarian Party’s candidate for “shadow” U.S. Senator. Ballot Access News explains it all here.

Update: Angela Keaton is reportedly resigning from the LNC, at the insistence of her employers at AntiWar.com.

At its meeting in San Diego on Saturday Dec. 6 and Sunday Dec. 7, the Libertarian National Committee tightened its budgetary belt, targeted the LPWA top-two primary lawsuit, mulled the Barr-Root campaign, deferred action on the mission statement and on accusations against Angela Keaton, annointed the 2010 convention site, and appointed its half of the Platform Committee.

Chuck Baldwin, the 2008 Constitution Party candidate for President, says there is only one way to get the change that President-elect Obama promised in his campaign:

There will be no real change in Washington, D.C., until the CFR [Council on Foreign Relations] and their elitist cronies are thoroughly and universally removed from power. And the only way this will happen is if we elect an Independent President of the United States (someone who truly understands the New World Order and is dedicated to defeating it), because the two major parties will never allow someone opposed to the CFR to become their nominee. The only Republican candidate for President in 2008 who demonstrated those credentials was Dr. Ron Paul. And to a lesser degree, the only Democrat who even seemed to vaguely understand this was Dennis Kucinich. Notice that both men were thoroughly repudiated by their respective parties’ leadership and all but totally ignored by the national news media. (The CFR and their surrogates also control the national news media. What a coincidence!)

So, while the occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue may have changed, there will be no real change to the direction of these United States. Count on it!

The holiday season is here. Many Greens are looking for ways to celebrate the holidays while still living simply. The Green Party has ideas for alternative holiday giving that can help the Green Party AND give you a good feeling during the holidays.

The following is a news release from the Capital District Greens:

Greens Oppose Nomination of Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State
Capital District Greens

For immediate release, December 1, 2008
For More Info: Mark Dunlea 518 283-6512, Howie Hawkins 315 425-1019

The Capital District Greens criticized President-elect Obama today for nominating Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) to be his Secretary of State, saying it contradicted the anti-war rhetoric he initially based his campaign on.

The Greens said Obama has Read the rest of this entry »

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader makes the Wall Street Journal with a column, coauthored with Toby Heaps, entitled “We Need a Global Carbon Tax.” They write:

If President Barack Obama wants to stop the descent toward dangerous global climate change, and avoid the trade anarchy that current approaches to this problem will invite, he should take Al Gore’s proposal for a carbon tax and make it global. A tax on CO2 emissions—not a cap-and-trade system—offers the best prospect of meaningfully engaging China and the U.S., while avoiding the prospect of unhinged environmental protectionism.

The following is a column by Ralph Nader, this year’s Independent presidential candidate:

In the Public Interest
by Ralph Nader

In ancient China, the character for “crisis” was associated with “opportunity.” This month Congress will be faced with both challenges from General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, whose CEOS are begging for a very rapid $34 billion in emergency government loans.

The three auto giants have few cards to play other than Read the rest of this entry »

According to the Political Insider blog in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, former Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr has endorsed Republican Saxby Chambliss in today’s Senate runoff. Political Insider reprints the text of a Barr letter “presumably distributed to Libertarians in Georgia.”

Ironically, Barr claims Chambliss is for “ending the government bailouts,” when much of the conservative and libertarian antagonism to Chambliss is because he voted for the $700 billion bailout in October.

Barr’s endorsement provoked this disappointed response by a libertarian blogger (“Bob Barr urges us to vote for one of the worst Republicans in the country”) .