Third Party Watch

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I’d like to make a personal request and ask that everybody who visits this site take a couple of minutes of your time to contact one or more legislators in Alabama and urge them to support HB738, which is a bill that will significantly decrease the signature requirement for independents in Alabama.

The committee meets [...]

It looks like the former Minnesota will be talking about his potential presidential aspirations on Larry King Live tonight.

From the program teaser:

Jesse Ventura…for president!!?? The former wrestler-governor is back and talking politics. Where has he been – and is he really making a run for presidency?

The International Herald Tribune has another possible angle to the [...]

From the Examiner:

In the opening to his fourth book, due out April 1, the former wrestler and governor of Minnesota writes: “As I begin to write this book, I’m facing probably the most monumental decision of my 56 years on this planet. Will I run for president of the United States, as an independent, in [...]

In a somewhat amusing article spewing conservative venom at John McCain, James Antle provided these descriptions of America’s third parties:

Constitution Party—Formerly the U.S. Taxpayer’s Party, Ballot Access News ranks it the largest third party in terms of registered voters. Yet most of its members belong to the California state affiliate, the American Independent Party, apparently [...]

I don’t think this has been written about here and I think that this is an issue that readers here would be highly interested in. In Michigan, various third parties (Green Party, Libertarian Party, Reform Party, Socialist Party, US Taxpayers Party) came together to form the Michigan Third Party Coalition. Despite obvious differences in ideology (i.e. the Socialist Party and US Taxpayers Party are diametrically opposed on almost every issue), these parties have come together to try to reform Michigan electoral law, with its excessively restrictive guidelines. I spent most of my day working on the site (www.mithirdparties.org) and thought I might as well end it by posting about the group here. I encourage third parties in other states with restrictive ballot access laws to form similar groups. Forgive my post for being short, but I’m tired and about to fall asleep.

The following is a press release from Reform Party USA.

NEW YORK POL ELECTED EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF REFORM PARTY USA

STATE BY STATE INDEPENDENT ACTIVISTS ARE UNIFYING FOR 2008 PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Frank MacKay, Chairman of the New York Independence Party and Independence Party of America, has been just been elected Executive Director of the Reform Party USA at [...]

Ballot Access News

Effective December 31, 2007, Charles Foster resigned as national chair of what might be called the “Texas-Florida” faction of the Reform Party. That group will now choose a new national chair.

In the meantime, the lawsuit filed by the Rodney Martin faction in federal court in San Francisco has a hearing on January 23. [...]

Reform Party USA, not to be confused with the Reform Party of the United States of America, will be holding a national convention in Sacramento this upcoming Saturday and Sunday. From the Reform Party USA website:

RPUSA CONVENTION DELEGATES, NATIONAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS AND STATE PARTY LEADERS AND MEMBERS AND FRIENDS:

CALL TO 2007 RPUSA NATIONAL CONVENTION

Please [...]

According to this source, former Alaskan U.S. Senator and current contender for the Democratic nomination Mike Gravel may be considering an independent or third party campaign.

The Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra writes:

“Hold out your hand, take your thumb and connect it to your little finger. What do you get,” Gravel asked his on looking audience. “A [...]

Ballot Access News

On December 18, a lengthy hearing was held in Texas state court in the case Texas Reform Party v Reform Party of the USA, Dallas County district court, 07-9217. This case had been filed in September 2007 by the Charles Foster faction of the national Reform Party, and that faction had earlier won [...]