Third Party Watch

There are reports circulating around the Internet that the hostage taker at Hillary Clinton’s New Hampshire office was libertarian. Here’s the earliest of such reports that I saw (with bold headline fonts) on the web:

Updates Below

Hillary Clinton HQ Hostage Taker a [...]

Speaking of Wayne Allyn Root interviews, I’ve just learned that the Libertarian Party presidential hopeful will be interviewed by Michael Medved on Monday. Considering Medved’s record of open hostility towards the Libertarian Party, combined with Libertarian criticism of Root’s foreign policy position, this interview may indeed prove very interesting.

In various campaign and party roles, [...]

Wayne Allyn Root, the Libertarian Party’s presidential front-runner, will be on tonight’s Libertarian Politics Live! show at 7 p.m. Central.

The link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/libertarian

We’ll also be discussing the breaking news out of the Constitution Party of Texas—this is a show you don’t want to miss.

USA Today has a bit more about the third party angle of the Ron Paul presidential campaign:

At the GOP debate Wednesday night in Florida, Paul was firm in saying he had no intention of leaving the party. “I have won 10 times as a Republican,” he said. “We’re doing quite well.”

That hasn’t stopped outside groups [...]

More rumors floating around the tubes:

There is much talk about the prospect that Paul might exit the GOP to mount an independent or Libertarian Party bid for the presidency in 2008. But Hagel’s willingness to express his fierce disdain for Bush and Cheney in the bluntest of terms offers a reminder that an outsider bid [...]

Top leadership and members of the Constitution Party of Texas are actively trying to court a Ron Paul-inspired Republican to take on centrist Democrat Chet Edwards (CD-17). The CP does not hold ballot access in Texas (the Libertarians are the only minor party with a ballot line), but recruitment efforts are under way to persuade [...]

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul received a tricky question at last night’s YouTube debate held in St. Petersburg, Florida. The questioner stated that it was obvious Paul wouldn’t win the GOP nod and then asked him if he would “let America down” by NOT running in the general election as an independent candidate.

Congressman Paul [...]

Today the Daytona News-Journal published a story on two candidates who have announced that they are running against nine-term Republican incumbent John Mica for US House of Representatives in Florida’s seventh congressional district. One of those candidates is the Constitution of Florida’s Louis Jack Tart. I caught up with Louis Jack this morning [...]

Nevada’s Independent American Party is promoting and/or running San Diego’s Christie Taylor – a self-described “Ron Paul Clone” – for a Las Vegas-area congressional district (CD-3).

The race would pit Taylor against incumbent Republican John Porter in the GOP primary.

Anyone know of other Ron Paul-inspired candidates in the country that third parties are backing and/or promoting?

Kevin [...]

LP presidential candidate Christine Smith put out a rather long essay on principle. In it, she stated that “a principled, anti-statist, no-compromise articulate Libertarian is not what the LP will accept, embrace or support.”

She also stated:

But I have also encountered a number who believe that to advance their agenda (even if it is a [...]

On December 1rst 2007, in the heart of N.Y. city, the Loyalist Party will take an important step towards realizing its political ambitions. The party will host a press conference announcing two important political campaigns that are at the heart of the new and revolutionary movement.

The conference will be announcing Loyalist Canididate Vito Vaccaro’s intention [...]

Pat LaMarche, the Green Party’s former Vice-Presidential nominee, has announced that she will never seek public office again. She’s twice run for governor of Maine, in 1998 and again in 2006. This is unfortunate for the Greens because LaMarche’s 10% showing last year was easily the party’s second best Gubernatorial performance.

Rich Whitney, in [...]

Attached to this post: LP press release with notes and Wayne Allyn Root’s official statement:

“Whether building a successful business, a championship sports team, or a victorious Presidential campaign, the qualities necessary for success are unvarying and timeless. Liberty Decides ‘08 is a program that incorporates and promotes all the ingredients essential to building a winner- [...]

From Ballot Access News:

Swanson v Alabama Secretary of State, the ballot access case filed in 2002, will soon be before the U.S. Supreme Court. The cert petition will be filed in a week. Printing costs are being born half by the Center for Competitive Democracy, and half by the Coalition for Free & Open Elections [...]

Ballot Access News

In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that campaign finance disclosure laws are unconstitutional, if they are applied to minor parties whose members and supporters will be harassed if their identities are known. The Socialist Workers Party won this case. The court not only excused the SWP from disclosing the names of people [...]

Constitution Party presidential hopeful Dr. Don Grundmann will be on This Is Politics on Monday (Nov. 26) at 6:00 PM (ET).

Billionaire Mark Cuban was the subject of a Time magazine “10 Questions” article in which readers asked the questions. Cuban is a successful technology entrepreneur, reality television personality, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, founder of HDNet, and has his hands in many other business interests.

One of the questions dealt with politics, and Cuban reaffirmed [...]

I don’t think there’s much change of Dennis Kucinich winning the Democratic nomination for President, but apparently if it happens, he’d like to talk to Ron Paul about serving as his Vice-President.

While this kind of story is sort of amusing, it does serve to undercut Paul as a serious candidate. Even though the two [...]

This is a pretty effective summary of the Unity08 project by co-founder Doug Bailey. A Republican activist and consultant, Doug Bailey was the original founder of The Hotline.

Conservative columnist Mona Charen has written the following harsh editorial regarding the Ron Paul Presidential campaign.

Memo to: Ron Paul supporters
Subject: Your e-mails

Okay, enough is enough. Like every other journalist in America, and who knows, maybe the world or even the universe, I’ve been deluged with your letters and e-mails. So I’ve done as you asked [...]

Since TPW broke the story that the Libertarian Party had announced their Liberty Decides program, the feedback and fallout has been interesting. First of all, they’ve updated the totals. The positions of top three candidates haven’t shifted, but thousands of additional dollars have been donated since the program launched.

I spoke with Libertarian Party [...]

Libertarian Party personalities Michael Cloud and Carla Howell are once again pushing to end the Massachusetts income tax. In 2002, a similar campaign ended up with an impressive 45.3 percent of the vote. For a blue state like Massachusetts, coming close to eliminating a major tax is indeed impressive.

They are trying to obtain [...]

In an e-mail sent out to supporters, marijuana activist and Libertarian Party presidential candidate Steve Kubby announced that he and his wife have just divorced “for irreconcilable differences.”

“Those differences, precipitated by the emotional trauma Michele suffered from being forced out of Canada, are very real and have changed her dramatically,” Kubby wrote. “As a result, [...]

A new CNN/WMUR poll shows that Mitt Romney has a solid lead in the state of New Hampshire, with 33% of the vote. He’s followed by Senator John McCain, who has back to second place, with 18%.

Then Rudy Giuliani with 16%, Ron Paul with 8%, and Mike Huckabee with the support [...]

To answer Austin’s question, Bob Barr doesn’t seem to have any intention to run for president this election cycle.