Third Party Watch

Aaron Russo’s film “America: From Freedom to Fascism” debuted in very limited release (10 theaters nationwide) and took in a little more than $60,000 at the box office from Friday-Sunday.

Not a bad start for a political documentary playing in only a few venues. The real test will be next week to see if the [...]

Unfortunate news from Pennsylvania, it appears that independent gubernatorial candidate Russ Diamond will fall very far short of the number of signatures needed to qualify for a spot on the ballot.

From the Post-Gazette…

Time is running out on Russ Diamond, an independent candidate for governor.

Tuesday is the deadline for Mr. Diamond and his supporters to collect [...]

Unfortunate news on the ballot status of the Wisconsin Constitution Party from Ballot Access News…

The Constitution Party is a ballot-qualified party in Wisconsin, so it nominates by primary. Parties remain on the ballot by polling 1% for any statewide race.

The only two individuals running for statewide office in the Constitution Party both failed to get [...]

If anyone is attending the Green Party’s national meeting this weekend and would like to submit photos, stories, news items, etc… please email them to: afcassidy@yahoo.com

From KOLD-TV Channel 13…

“So if you love your country, I encourage you to vote Green,” says Kathleen Culver, a Tennessee candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, “because Green is [...]

From KELO-TV…

A third-party candidate for governor is complaining about being excluded from a debate at the South Dakota State Fair.

Libertarian Tom Gerber of Sturgis says it’s not fair that only Republican Governor Rounds and Democratic candidate Jack Billion were invited to the debate.

Gerber says voters should get to hear from all of the candidates. Also [...]

The official schedule of press conferences at this weekend’s Green Party national meeting in Tucson, Arizona:

Press conferences will feature Green candidates, officeholders, and party leaders during the Green Party’s 2006 annual national meeting in Tucson Arizona, from Thursday, July 27 to Sunday, July 30. The schedule is appended below.

Hosted by the Pima County Green Party [...]

Green Party candidate Peter Camejo captured 5.26% of the vote in the 2002 California Gubernatorial race and 2.80% the following year in the recall election that installed Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor. This year he’s making a third bid for the office.

From Inside Bay Area…

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has jumped to a commanding double-digit lead [...]

SurveyUSA has released a pair of polls on the Minnesota gubernatorial and Senatorial races. They included the Independence Party candidate in each poll and the results follow…

GOVERNOR
Pawlenty (Rep) – 50%
Hatch (Dem) – 36%
Hutchinson (Ind) – 8%
Undecided – 6%

SENATOR
Klobuchar (Dem) – 47%
Kennedy (Rep) – [...]

A few people have called or emailed me to ask why I haven’t mentioned Doug Stanhope’s announcement the he plans to run for President as a Libertarian in 2008.

I guess the reason is that I didn’t really take it all that seriously.

Lots of people say they’re running for President, particularly celebrities, and then when it [...]

The current message at DraftBumper.org…

You have reached the website of the Draft Bumper Campaign, initiated by Mike Renzulli of Phoenix and Debbie Clark of Atlanta.

As of July 24, 2006, at the request of Jacob “Bumper” Hornberger, the Draft Bumper Campaign is no longer being pursued. Bumper explained that he wishes to continue devoting all [...]

It appears that a number of Libertarian candidate in Indiana are going to be kept off the ballot this year.

The press release from Mike Kole, LP candidate for Indiana Secretary of State…

The Libertarian Party of Indiana (LPIN) discovered today that several of its candidates were not going to be certified by the Elections Division, because [...]

From Ballot Access News…

Unity08 is not yet a political party, and it may never become one. However, already it has inspired an independent candidate for Congress this year to use “Unity” as his ballot label. Harry Welty is on the ballot in Minnesota’s 8th congressional district this year as an independent candidate, and is ballot [...]

Looks like the Maryland chapter of the Constitution Party has followed some other states (New York, Oregon, Montana, etc.) in disaffiliating with the national party.

The link:
http://www.theamericanview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=897

The letter:

Jim (Clymer):

As Secretary of the Constitution Party of Maryland, it is my duty to convey the following to you. I had additionally copied Thom Holmes, Chairman of the Credentials [...]

Bad news for Libertarians. It seems that one of the biggest LP success stories of the last few years, Ben Brandon, has returned to the Republican Party.

The details from tfpOnline…

Georgia’s only Libertarian to be elected in a contested partisan race, and the only one who is a top elected official in one of the [...]

Jacob “Bumper” Hornberger is a controversial figure and an on-again, off-again 2000 Presidential candidate.

He is also the founder and President of the Future of Freedom Foundation. The FFF seeks to advance libertarian ideas “by providing an uncompromising moral and economic case for individual liberty, free markets, private property, and limited government.”

In 2002, Hornberger was [...]

This could become really interesting, depending on how much of his personal fortune he’s willing to pour into the race.

From the St. Petersburg Times…

Max Linn, a Pinellas County political activist best known for his advocacy of eight-year term limits, will run for governor of Florida in November as a Reform Party candidate.

Linn filed qualifying papers [...]

Third Party Watch got a little bit of a mention in this article about a new group that calls itself the American Biker Party.

The party’s website: http://www.americanbikerparty.com

From the Green Bay Press-Gazette…

Steven Erato earned the nickname “Mad” in the 1970s after writing about the mistreatment of American veterans returning from Vietnam.

Thirty years later, he says he’s [...]

David Nolan, one of the key founders of the Libertarian Party is running for Congress this year in Arizona’s 8th District. It’s the seat being vacated by Republican Congressman Jim Kolbe.

From the Tucson Citizen…

David Nolan came to Tucson a year ago to “ease into retirement,” but he allowed for just one little diversion before [...]

Posted by Allen Hacker on the Badnarik campaign blog:

The July Quarterly Report to the FEC is now online, as is that of our incumbent opponent.

The Democrat’s fundraising is lagging far behind. I don’t see his report online; I assume that’s because he hasn’t gone over $40,000 yet and still files paper rather than electronically. The [...]

From Madison.com…

A longtime state employee and former Dane County supervisor will run as a Green Party candidate for governor.

Nelson Eisman, 61, said he will enter the race tonight to help restore citizen control of state government.

“Like a lot of people, I feel state government has deteriorated over the years,” he said in an interview. “Participation [...]

Just wanted to remind everyone that the message boards are still there, and if you haven’t checked them out yet at all it’s a great way to meet people from your own or other parties.

The link is on the top right of every page on this site, or go there directly by typing: http://www.thirdpartywatch.com/mb

TODAY’S CANDIDATE OF THE DAY IS…

Matthew Woodson, independent for U.S. House of Representatives from Oklahoma’s Fifth District.

Woodson is a conspiracy theorist whose main campaign issue is his belief that on September 11th, 2001 all 3 of the WTC towers that collapsed did so as a result of controlled demolition.

Apparently he’s only seeking $1 donations to [...]

Word on the street is that the Missouri Constitution Party has joined New York, Ohio, Oregon, and Montana state parties and is now disaffiliating from the national Constitution Party organization.

The following resolution was forwarded to me…

RESOLUTION OF DISAFFILIATION

Whereas, the Constitution Party (CP) was founded to advance the crown rights of Jesus Christ in the realm [...]

Yesterday, the newly revised and condensed Libertarian Party platform became available on the party’s website:
http://www.lp.org/issues/platform_all.shtml

Here’s the party’s spin on it from the official press release:

By the close of the 2006 Libertarian National Convention that took place in Portland, Ore. on July 1 and 2, it was clear that history had been made. While delegates [...]

TODAY’S CANDIDATE OF THE DAY IS…

Tim Kettler, the Green Party’s candidate for Ohio Secretary of State.

Kettler is a lifelong Ohio resident and with his wife operates Action Septic Service (ahem), a 20-year old “environmentally directed service business”.

His platform focuses on election reform under the banner of introducing a system based on inclusion, representation, and transparency.

Putting [...]