Third Party Watch

From Libertarian Party presidential contender George Phillies:

“If Barr had said that he will not be a candidate, there would be no reason for me to comment. However, weak celebrity candidates often postpone declaring their candidacy until the last minute, to avoid having their weaknesses exposed. At some point, other candidates are well advised to [...]

I wonder if anyone knows (without cheating) who the presidential candidate for the Free Soil Party is? I’ll tell you a little bit about her, but hold off on her name until after the jump.

Short platform (longer platform here):

Peace in the world and in our nation, an end to war;

An end to rape and [...]

Here’s the general storyline from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

I don’t know how we missed this earlier, but the state’s “chief” marijuana advocate has signed up for the governor’s race – and he’s got competition.

Ozark pot supporter Joseph Bickell has entered the race for the state’s highest office, and even if his position doesn’t earn many [...]

From the Nader campaign:

The tragic marker of the 4000th U.S. Soldier to fall in Iraq is now before the American people – with no end in sight. During the vigils, marches and Winter Soldiers’ heartfelt testimonies on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the invasion-occupation of Iraq, there was a common expression of public [...]

Filing closed in Montana yesterday and the Constitution Party filed 10 legislative candidates and 1 statewide candidate. Rick Jore could not run again due to term-limits,although some suspected he might run for the State Senate District he lives in. While the Constitution Party filed 11 candidates, the Libertarian Party filed only 3.

Ballot Access News is reporting that the Constitution Party of Utah has fielded quite an impressive slate of candidates.

Filing has closed for the Utah primaries. The Constitution Party has 38 candidates for the State House, although two of them are running against each other in one district. Utah has 75 State House districts.

It is unusual [...]

Essentially a restatement of Kubby’s position paper on the subject.

Rumors of Keyes’ entry into the Constitution Party presidential nomination abound. Meanwhile, he has added the Constitution Party’s National Convention to his calendar of events on his front page.

One wonders who his Vice Presidential pick would be. While we will all be hoping Moore—I doubt Moore would accept a VP spot behind a candidate he’d [...]

The Constitution Party sent out an e-mail suggesting the following people as those who will be on the list from which CP delegates will elect a nominee at the Constitution Party National Convention, to be held April 23-26 in Kansas City.

Dr. Alan Keyes

Judge Roy Moore

Pastor Chuck Baldwin

Senator Bob Smith

Dr. Jerome Corsi

Dr. Don Grundmann

Bob Sullentrup is running for reelection as Secretary of the Libertarian National Committee. While he has a webpage with the normal sorts of things one might expect from a candidate for internal party office, he’s also added some additional reasons to vote for him—and some are quite funny. Here’s the list:

From the Phillies 2008 campaign:

Libertarian Presidential candidate George Phillies today urged simple steps to reduce the cost of medical insurance. “There are no magic cures,” Phillies said. “I am proposing Libertarian improvements in our medical care system. These are changes Americans will actually accept and implement now. Once Americans see these changes work, they will [...]

From my e-mail:

The National Socialist Order of America is running John Taylor Bowles (50), a retired federal officer of the USDA, for President in 2008. Last week, Matthew Ramsey was named as his Vice-Presidential candidate running mate. Bowles’ first Vice-Presidential candidate running mate (William Hoff) was killed in an automobile accident in December 2006.

As predicted here, Mary Ruwart announced her intention to run for president on the Libertarian Party ticket today on Gary Nolan’s radio program. I listened to a portion of the program, but was to occupied at the time to provide a transcript. Hopefully, the audio will be available in the future. In [...]

While I realize that bylaws-related content may be boring to a lot of folks, certain existing and proposed rules and bylaws will have a decided impact upon which Libertarian Party candidates may receive nominating speeches to become the LP presidential nominee, as well as who will be able to appear in the traditionally nationally televised [...]

It seems that yesterday’s talk about a possible Bob Barr presidential race sparked a bit of media interest. Here’s the Washington Times blog referring to the BBC blog picking up the story.

Reason coverage is here. Dave Weigel writes:

What was wishful thinking back in the winter of 2006/2007 and largely ignored during the height [...]

Many columnists in the libertarian movement have documented the extensive connections that the Libertarian Party has to certain former Congressmen, state legislators, and so on. I’ve done a little digging of my own and found the various state legislators and former congresscritters connected to the Constitution Party.

Im not going to document their respective histories, you [...]

I’ve received two forwarded copies of this e-mail so far. Here’s the content:

Please get the word out to as many paople (sic) as possible to listen to my show Friday at 5 o’clock central time, for an important announcement. Web site is…

www.theeagle939.com

Hit the “listen live” button in the upper right hand corner of your [...]

From the Phillies campaign:

George Phillies has committed another $100,000 to his Presidential campaign. “If I win the nomination,” he said, “I will invest a second hundred thousand dollars of my own money in my campaign.”

Phillies was asked why Libertarians should believe that promise. After all, Libertarians have heard that line before.

“The difference is that this [...]

The Washington Times just caught wind of the movement to draft former Congressman Bob Barr to run on the Libertarian Party ticket for president.

Mr. Barr, a House Republican impeachment manager during President Clinton’s administration, yesterday confirmed his interest in running as a Libertarian but said he is unwilling to talk about any “polling we may [...]

Here’s the caption from the latest YouTube put out by the Libertarian National Committee:

The Libertarian Party is seeking volunteers for Ballot Access efforts that are currently being coordinated all across the country in 28 states. If you are interested in having Libertarians elected in your communities, please register at www.lp.org as a volunteer and let’s [...]

From the AP:

U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel writes in a new book that the United States needs independent leadership and possibly another political party, while suggesting the Iraq war might be remembered as one of the five biggest blunders in history.

“In the current impasse, an independent candidate for the presidency, or a bipartisan unity ticket … [...]

The Libertarian Party is warning against excessive and rash government intervention in the U.S. economy in response to recent market woes. Libertarian Party National Chairman William Redpath commented today:

“It is almost as if Congress and the President set out to do something half-baked and cheesy in response to this nation’s economic problems. They [...]

From the Green Party:

Greens warn that election of Obama, Clinton, or McCain will not reverse the meltdown touched off by the subprime mortgage crisis

• Greens blame bipartisan failure to recognize Enron-style abuses, SEC and Federal Reserve Board indulgence of banks and lending institutions for the crisis: cozy relationship between Democratic and Republican politicians with industry [...]

...from the Las Vegas Sun:

For Nevada’s fervent libertarian community, the real fear isn’t hepatitis C or the mortgage meltdown, but rather a populace that will look to the government to solve these pressing problems.

Indeed, nervous libertarians said they expect the public to call for tighter regulation following revelations that the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada [...]

A recent ruling by an arrogant California Appeals Court Judge criminalized home-schooling. This abhorrent ruling makes criminals of caring parents who simply want the best educational choices for their children. And it makes outlaws of their children. What a travesty of justice. Justice H. Walter Croskey ruled about two [...]