Third Party Watch

The title was lifted to show how a Reason Facebook-promoted event is currently being billed. Here are the details provided:

A debate on the libertarian vote in 2008

Event Host: Reason magazine
Type: Music/Arts – Jam Session
Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Time: 4:30pm – 8:00pm
Location: Reason
Street:1747 Connecticut Ave NW
City/Town: Washington, DC

Description: As the Republicans settled on John McCain [...]

Candidates: Senator Mike Gravel, Dr. Mary Ruwart, Ms. Christine Smith, Mr. Mike Jingozian, Mr. Wayne Allyn Root and Dr. George Phillies.

Moderated by Mike Ferguson. Sponsored by Atlas!Liberty and LPStuff.com.

PART I

PART II

Courtesy of the Libertarian Party of Missouri.

In an email sent to Missouri Libertarians a short time ago, Heartland Libertarian Conference organizer Mike Ferguson announces:

Former US Senator Mike Gravel (AK), who recently was a Democratic candidate for President until joining the LP this week, has accepted our invitation to participate in the LP Presidential candidates’ debate in Kansas City.

The conference is scheduled [...]

—Despite differences on the Iraq War, Neal Boortz apparently identified himself as a Libertarian when he plugged the Fair Tax and pinged the GOP on fiscal issues in Rogers, Arkansas. From NWA News:

At a fundraising Lincoln Day dinner on Friday night, Benton County Republicans heard radio talk show host Neal Boortz criticize the party. [...]

There is an interesting debate over at Helium pertaining to the electoral college.

Tom Koecke says no, and here’s the gist of his argument:

The Electoral College is certainly not a perfect system. It is, however, the best system to make sure that America remains a representative republic by giving rural America representation in Presidential elections.

On the [...]

“Small l” libertarian, former Green Party candidate and Idaho gubernatorial hopeful W. Lane Startin wrote an interesting article on the history and future of third parties. It started with a discussion of issues well known to people engaged in third party politics, such as the importance of ballot access reform and inclusion in candidate [...]

I’ll just pass this e-mail on verbatim:

Greetings California DNC representative:

A complaint has been filed with the Attorney General of California. This complaint is actually aimed at the FCC and MSNBC for allowing the Presidential debate process to be managed by private cable companies.

These private cable companies are not under the jurisdiction of the Federal [...]

During a portion of last night’s Republican presidential debates, each candidate was allowed to ask another candidate one question any question of his choosing. Ron Paul chose to target John McCain on fiscal policy, forcing McCain to obfuscate in his response. I’m not sure if there is now a new campaign strategy to [...]

The Fresno City College Sociology department hosted a 2008 Presidential Campaign Forum Jan 13. Several minor party candidate participated, as well as representatives from some of the more mainstream campaigns. An interesting article is describing the debate is located here, and I’ll capture the actual debate highlights below:

Missing from the media interview were [...]

From the national office of the Libertarian Party:

Mike Huckabee’s populist rhetoric may work in the private sector, but it has no place in politics, says the Libertarian Party. “Huckabee’s continual call for populism in American policy is making it clear that he will not be a President that is committed to limiting government, lowering taxes [...]

For an interesting perspective on presidential debates and the mainstream (or corporate, as some prefer) media, the San Francisco Chronicle just ran an interesting article pertaining to who should or shouldn’t be allowed in televised political debates. Here’s a sampling of some of the opinions provided regarding the Kucinich case:

The Nevada ruling drew varying [...]

It looks like Dennis didn’t get to debate after all. From the NY Times:

Representative Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio flew here on Tuesday, hoping to join the leading Democratic presidential candidates at a debate, but his wishes were dashed by the Nevada Supreme Court less than an hour before showtime.

One day after a lower-court [...]

The following is a media advisory from the Green Party:

Green Party Presidential Debate

Tuesday, January 15th, 7:00 – 10:00 pm (PT)

In the Bay Area: KPFA radio – 94.1 FM

Outside the Bay Area: other Pacifica network stations, or Online at www.KPFA.org

THE KPFA SPECIAL RE-BROADCAST OF THE GREEN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
With hosts Larry [...]

UPDATE: Several of you asked that I “sticky” this debate or somehow keep it at the top of the page for a while, so I am.

As we move closer to the Libertarian National Convention, the intensity of debate over platform and bylaws issues between various groups and factions within the Libertarian Party is increasing.

Third Party [...]

Congressman Dennis Kucinich may be able to debate his Democratic opponents. Or he may not be able to.

First, NBC told Kucinich his voice and message wasn’t important enough to be head by the voters:

Less than 44 hours after NBC sent a congratulatory note and an invitation to Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich to participate in [...]

Five candidates seeking the Green Party nomination for President debated in San Francisco yesterday in front of a packed theater of 800 in attendance. Cindy Sheehan was among the moderators posing questions to Cynthia McKinney, Jared Ball, Kent Mesplay, Kat Swift and Jesse Johnson.

Ralph Nader had apparently informed the debate organizers that for “legal reasons” [...]

Ballot Access News

The Green Party presidential candidates debated each other in San Francisco on Sunday afternoon, January 13. The event attracted a paying audience of about 800 people. The presidential candidates were Jared Ball, Jesse Johnson, Cynthia McKinney, Kent Mesplay, and Cat Swift. Ball announced at the end of his closing statement that he would [...]

The following is a Green Party press release:

WASHINGTON, DC – January 8 – Green Party leaders and candidates protested the exclusion of Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, and Ron Paul from primary presidential debates sponsored by major news organizations.

Greens noted that Mr. Kucinich, Mr. Gravel, and Mr. Paul hold strong positions against the Iraq war and [...]

I was googling around trying to find more about the complaint Dennis Kucinich filed with the FCC regarding his exclusion from ABC debates when I ran across this gem:

[Melissa Etheridge] said that “corporate interests that have infiltrated the Democratic Party” have marginalized Mr. Kucinich because his stances on issues like the environment, health care and [...]

The second part of the debate will start shortly. This part will allow more questions from the candidates to each other… We expect it to get interesting… Even beyond the yelling of the first part, and the advocation of the use of Nuclear Weapons on Bin Laden by Alden Link.

It begins:
How effective would [...]

Off to a late start, the debate is now underway.

Introductions:
Alden Link pointed to his stances on his website, including the environment and diplomats in NY.
Imperato asked who can be trusted with kids? He answered with a list of his titles.
Phillies gave a standard stump intro…
Root is now talking about finding a Reagan for the [...]

Tomorrow morning, a debate among LP candidates will take place at the NH Liberty Forum. I’ll be liveblogging it, and video will likely be online later in the week. Please use this thread to suggest questions you’d like to see asked, and I’ll pass them onto the event moderators for possible inclusion.

Participants will [...]

According to Rasmussen, Ron Paul is currently in third place in New Hampshire, beating Huckabee, Giuliani and Thompson:

Ron Paul earns 14% of the vote and Mike Huckabee gets 11% as the only other candidates in double digits. Rudy Giuliani attracts 8% of the vote, Fred Thompson 5%, some other candidate 2%, and 3% are not [...]

I just received a call informing me that former congressman and Libertarian National Committee member Bob Barr will be on CNN (The Situation Room) around 5:20PM EST today. Barr will be discussing the exclusion of Ron Paul from the Fox News debates. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find a YouTube and post it [...]

I normally don’t normally cut-and-paste press releases on this site, but in this case, I’m making an exception to that rule.

St. Louis, MO— Rock-The-Debates has posted video clips of 10 presidential candidates on its website, including one from Iowa Caucus winner Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee agreed to open debates when responding to the question of whether he [...]