Third Party Watch

I’ll be traveling for the next few days and won’t be able to write much here, so I thought I’d provide a quick parting thought. The current version of the Alabama Constitution still contains these words: “That the sole object and only legitimate end of government is to protect the citizen in the enjoyment [...]

by David Nolan

Here, for everyone’s amusement, are plausible (OK, semi-plausible) scenarios outlining how each of the six leading contenders COULD win the LP nomination for President at the upcoming national convention in Denver. Some, obviously, are more plausible than others. Consider this speculative fiction, nothing more.

BOB BARR – Announces on May 12 that he’s really [...]

For a couple days now it has been a not-so-well kept secret that Ed Noonan, the chairman of the American Independent Party in California, is trying to dissafilliate the AIP-CA from the Constitution Party and place Alan Keyes on the ballot. There were whispers of this by Gerald and Grace Hill at the National Convention. [...]

Here are some sporadic last thoughts on the Constitution Party’s convention in Kansas City.

First: Alan Keyes. Myself and Red Phillips advised Keyes’ supporters and staff members for weeks. We gave them a very simple rubric by which they could avoid dissapointment, know their opposition and it’s strengths, and even avoid an embarassing 3-to-1 loss. None [...]

I’ll have more reports in the coming days about the Constitution Party convention, and hopefully I’ll be able to relate to you some of the more interesting stories and happenings of the Convention. But here is a simple overview of how I felt about Howard Phillip’s speech.

It was foolish.

Was it factually correct? I’ll not speak [...]

I appreciate Trent Hill, Mike Ferguson and Stephen Gordon’s eyewitness coverage of the Constitution Party convention. I thought folks might be interested in other media’s reporting. The Muskegon Chronicle ran a story today on Mad Max Riekse who is seeking the vice-presidential nomination. The St. Joseph News-Press ran a story [...]

Here are some recent news stories about Libertarian presidential hopefuls that weren’t generated by Third Party Watch. I’m mixing some news and some opinion in this article.

Bob Barr at Newsmax:

Best quote: “Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr is seen as the Libertarian Party’s most likely presidential candidate — and he could wind up torpedoing John [...]

Ballot Access News

The Pennsylvania primary on April 22 is an excellent opportunity for petitioning parties to collect many signatures. The Constitution, Green, Libertarian Parties, and independent Ralph Nader, are all circulating a petition to get on the Pennsylvania ballot. Petitioning at the polls on primary day is one of the best techniques for petitioning, because [...]

As with several other recent videos, this one is based on the candidate’s topical position paper.

By Kevin Zeese and Linda Schade

Citizens from across the political spectrum in Maryland worked together for a dramatic reversal in how Maryland votes. Since 2002 Maryland has experimented with paperless electronic voting. That experiment will end in 2010 when Maryland adopts a paper-based voting system with optical scan recounts.

This is a dramatic turnaround for a [...]

My good friend Tom just took a jab at the Barr exploratory committee.

The response seems to match the offering—more fizzle. Three days after his kinda-sort-maybe “announcement,” Barr’s fundraising meter stands at less than 1/10th of its initial $250,000 goal.

One might ask my buddy how long it took his candidate to raise his first $20,000. For [...]

Steve Gordon is in Kansas City this weekend, attending the Heartland Libertarian Conference. Presumably he’ll be providing coverage of conference events for TPW’s readers ASAP.

From the outside looking in, here’s the news on the front that everyone seems most interested in:

According to bloggage at the New York Times (confirmed by other sources), Bob Barr announced [...]

This morning, Constitution Party of Mississippi Chairman Les Riley, published an editorial opposing Alan Keyes becoming the Constitution Party’s presidential nominee:

. . . Alan Keyes is an interventionist & a globalist who is a big supporter of continuing & expanding the war on terror — including neo-conservative foreign policy & encroachments on our liberties [...]

Yesterday’s Democrat & Chronicle published an editorial by Chris Edes, Chairman of the Rochester, New York Libertarian Party, opposing a bill in the state legislature that would require candidates to collect, depending on the office, between four hundred and fifteen thousand individual five dollar contributions.

While I don’t like Mike Gravel’s latest YouTube as much as last night’s “power to the people vs give peace a chance,” it’s still pretty interesting—and it certainly beats current Libertarian Party Rap King Daniel Imperato’s greatest work. Here’s how Gravel transforms a composition “taken by Charles Manson as elaborate prophecy of a war [...]

Here’s an interesting note on the Fox News speculation about a possible presidential bid by Bob Barr. At this moment, there are 214 reader comments on the article. I picked a random spot in the middle of the list and have attempted to define whether the comments were negative or positive. Of [...]

Andrew Sullivan once scribed:

“The sophisticated form of anthrax delivered to Tom Daschle’s office forces us to ask a simple question. What are these people trying to do? I think they’re testing the waters. They want to know how we will respond to what is still a minor biological threat, as a softener to a major [...]

Over at The Ledger, Michael Freeman asked:

So where do supporters of Ron Paul go now?

He also noted:

So where do the Libertarians go this fall? Assuming it’s an Obama-McCain matchup, they could split, with some opting for Obama because of his opposition to the war in Iraq, or some believing McCain is more likely to [...]

The Libertarian Party has issued a statement on the news broken at Third Party Watch that former Senator Mike Gravel has joined the LP.

“I’m joining the Libertarian Party because it is a party that combines a commitment to freedom and peace that can’t be found in the two major parties that control the government and [...]

It used to be that one had the option of entering his or her political ideology (i.e. conservative, libertarian, progressive) in a Facebook profile. That option no longer exists, but one can now enter their respective political party affiliation—and there is an extensive list of parties from which one can choose. From the [...]

With the exception of presidentials, I typically don’t donate to LP political campaigns that aren’t “in it to win it.” However, campaigns with well established goals, business plans and timelines grab my attention. Here’s one I will be watching, as the goal is very concrete and should be attainable:

Mike Munger is running for [...]

Libertarian presidential candidate Wayne Allyn Root sent the following article to me. I was going to quote from it, as opposed posting the entire article, but it’s not up on his website yet. As this sort of controversial article requires some contextual analysis and understanding, I’m posting the entire piece here (with [...]

Libertarian Party presidential wannabe Christine Smith was interviewed by Paul Molloy on WTAN-AM1340. For those who have listened to Libertarian presidential candidates being interviewed as often as I have, there wasn’t much significantly new. Her speaking style seems to have improved over the last few months.

I’ll highlight the portions which might be controversial, [...]

Doug Mataconis has weighed into the debate started by Brad Spangler which we’ve also entertained at this site. The topic: Should the LP stay or should it go now?

Mataconis:

A look at how the world has really worked since the Libertarian Party was formed in the early 1970s would seem to add credence to Spanlger’s [...]

This year, the Constitution Party’s national convention is scheduled for April. The Libertarian Party will convene to nominate its 2008 presidential slate in late May. The Green Party won’t choose its ticket until July.

This may not seem unusual (the Republicans and Democrats usually hold their conventions in August or even early September), but third parties [...]