Jesse Ventura 2012…

It’s only one post on a message board, but there appears to be a promise of the website JesseVentura2012.com to be on-line in November. The website appears to be urging former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura to run for President in 2012.

At Ron Paul’s rally during the 2008 Republican National Convention, Ventura made a veiled promise that he would run for President in 2012 if the support was there for him to make a run and it appeared that he could win.

The support could be starting with the website, but ballot access could be the largest obstacle in getting Ventura to become candidate Ventura again.

SOURCE:

http://www.venturaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1660

Why so many Czars?

Why so many Czars? That could be one of the questions in a Senate committee Thursday morning. Eric Zimmermann writes on TheHill.com, “For the second time in a month, a Senate committee will hold a hearing to explore the role of ‘czars’ in the executive branch.”

Independent Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman will lead the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee exploring "The Past, Present, and Future of Policy Czars." Zimmerman writes, “That description is similar to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on czars a few weeks ago, titled ‘Examining the History and Legality of Executive Branch Czars.’”

The Witnesses at the hearing include:

former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge,

George Mason University Professor James Piffner,

Attorney Lee A. Casey,

former researcher at the Congressional Research Service, Harold Relyea.

SOURCE:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/63657-lieberman-to-hold-czars-hearing

Minnesota’s major third party getting close to candidate for Governor…

Minnesota’s major third party getting close to finding a candidate for the 2010 Gubernatorial election. Tim Pugmire writes in an article posted on Minnesota.PublicRadio.org, “(Jack Uldrich, chairman of the Independence Party of Minnesota said) there are two leading candidates for the Independence Party endorsement, but he won't name names. He said neither person is ready to go public, and Ulrich will only say that both have government experience and are currently working in the private sector.”

There currently is one person that has filed to run for the office under the Independence Party ticket, Rahn Workcuff of Minneapolis. According to the article, “Workcuff has run previously for the Legislature, school board and soil and water board.”

SOURCE:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/10/19/independence-party-2010/

Ballot access battle could go to NC Supreme court…

An associated press article posted on WBTV.com says North Carolina’s strict ballot access rules may be challenged in the state’s supreme court.

Lawyers for the Libertarian and Green parties lost the appeal. But the article reads, “A lawsuit challenging requirements for third parties to get on North Carolina ballots likely will be heard again after a split decision by the state Court of Appeals… The 2-1 decision means the state Supreme Court would take the case if attorneys for the Libertarian and Green parties asked them to do so.”

The parties in North Carolina have to collect nearly 70,000 signatures to get on the ballot. If a candidate failed to receive 2% of the vote, the petition process starts over again.

SOURCE:

http://www.wbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11345243

Challenger closing on Bloomberg…

Democratic Challenger Bill Thompson is closing on Incumbent independent Mayor Mike Bloomberg in a new poll from Survey USA. The poll shows New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson now only 12% back from the independent Incumbent. The good news for Bloomberg is that the poll still shows Bloomberg above the 50% mark, but only sitting at 53%.

Across the entire city Mayor Bloomberg is crushing Comptroller Thompson in voters over fifty years old (the ones who vote). But the polls are starting to break by region of New York City. Comptroller Thompson has taken a lead in Brooklyn and the Bronx, polling over 50% in both boroughs. But, in the other boroughs of Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island Mayor Bloomberg has a dominating 60+% lead. This race may be closer than expected, but Mayor Bloomberg still appears that he will come-up the winner even if every undecided breaks for Comptroller Thompson.

With this races apparently in hand, will Mayor Bloomberg endorse anybody in the New Jersey Gubernatorial race?

SOURCE:

http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=b8c3dab8-ce92-431d-ba89-521f01ad55a9

Conservative Party candidate moving-up in the polls and Republican crashing…

The Conservative Party candidate in New York's 23rd Congressional special election is moving-up in the polls and Republican crashing according to a column from Chris Cillizza.

Cillizza writes that in internal polls from “both sides of the partisan aisle” show the Republican hand-selected candidate Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava has fallen to third place in polling.

So, where is Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman first or second place? You have to assume, second place because a first place finish would probably also be noteworthy.

The Cillizza column also ask can the Third Party candidate win? He writes, “Hoffman allies insist that the proper lens through which to look at the race is the conservative/liberal one. By that measure, there is one conservative running and two liberals… there are enough conservative voters to hand him a surprise victory.”

SOURCE:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/house/ny-23-can-doug-hoffman-win.html

New Daggett radio ad…

Independent New Jersey Gubernatorial candidate Chris Daggett released a new radio ad.

The most important of this radio is the last line read by Chris Daggett himself, “Polls don’t count; votes do. Remember: it is never wrong to vote for the right person.” The polls show Daggett significantly behind, but he is encouraging voters to vote with their heart and mind, not based on polls.

Here is the full text of the ad read by Chris Daggett:

“This is Chris Daggett, Independent candidate for governor of New Jersey.

My campaign pledged that we would tell you the truth about New Jersey’s budget problems, and we have. We told you we would run a clean campaign, and we have. We promised you a plan to cut property taxes and make New Jersey affordable again, and we delivered.

In the debates, I’ve demonstrated the best knowledge of the details of state government and provided the clearest solutions.

We’ve done all we can to run a campaign that New Jersey can be proud of while my opponents have denigrated our politics with personal attacks. It’s time to stand up for New Jersey. To change our state we have to change our governor. Four years of Jon Corzine have been a miserable failure. Four more would be a disaster.

Chris Christie has absolutely no plan on to govern New Jersey or how to fix our problems. His campaign continues to go in one direction: backwards.

This will be one of the biggest upsets in American history — when you vote Chris Daggett for Governor.

Polls don’t count; votes do. Remember: it is never wrong to vote for the right person.”

SOURCE:

http://daggettforgovernor.com/wordpress/2009/10/20/daggett-radio-ad/

Daggett is up in polls, but will there be enough time?

Independent New Jersey Gubernatorial candidate Chris Daggett is up in a recent Rasmussen Report polls, but will there be enough time? The poll shows Republican challenger Chris Christie and Incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine neck-and-neck with 41-39%. Daggett had 11%.

Daggett is the only candidate to gain votes from the last Rasmussen poll, up two percent in one week. That means Daggett needs eleven more weeks, and he does not have that kind of time. That is unless something else happens. Daggett is rumored to come-out with some television ads. Could Daggett get a big game-changing endorsement? Will voters get sick of the Democrat-Republican mudslinging and vote for the other candidate? Something big needs to happen to get Daggett a big bump.

The one thing that is for sure is the way Rasmussen ended his write-up of the gubernatorial race, “At this point, anybody who says with confidence how this race will turn out is either deluding themselves or attempting to delude someone else.”

SOURCE:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2009/new_jersey/election_2009_new_jersey_governor

The phone call that ended a campaign?

Could the Dede Scozzafava camp have just made a phone call to hand the election to somebody else? What led up to the phone call is up for debate, but what is not up for debate is somebody from the Dede Scozzafava camp called the police on a reporter.

Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava is the hand-picked liberal-leaning Republican that is running for the New York 23rd Congressional District special election. Many conservatives in the district were upset by the choice and are supporting Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman. Recent polls showed all three candidates in the race were with-in ten points of each other.

So what could make that race go south for a candidate? Maybe calling the police on a reporter. There are two sides to the story, but lets argue the side of Scozzafava is the gospel. Ben Smith on Politico.com has the side of Scozzafava from aide Matt Burns: “Agree or not with Dede Scozzafava's positions, she should still be afforded a basic level of respect. Asking tough questions is one thing, but acting like John McCormack did tonight shows a complete lack of decency. This self-described reporter repeatedly screamed questions while our candidate was doing what she is supposed to be doing: speaking with voters (remember, those who will decide this election?). And then this "reporter" followed the candidate to her car, continuing to carry on in a manner that would make the National Enquirer blush. That's the truth, but maybe that doesn't matter to your readers.”

Even if we are to assume that is the complete truth, if this candidate and her team cannot handle one unruly reporter in an otherwise friendly environment what are they going to on Capitol Hill? Could that phone call move some more of Scozzafava's waning Republican votes over to the Conservative Party candidate?

SOURCE:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1009/Scenes_from_the_GOP_civil_war.html

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/10/scozzafava_calls_the_cops.asp

Independent or third party candidate show well in generic ballots…

Independent or third party candidate show well in generic Congressional ballot done by Public Policy Polling. Tom Jensen writes on the Public Policy Polling blog, “Our (generic Congressional) national poll (asked).. the standard Democrat/Republican choice and the other was a Democrat/Republican/Independent or Third Party choice.” The results when three choices are given, 22% of respondents said they would choose an independent or third party candidate.

Jensen wrote that the independent streak runs deeper in Republicans. He writes, “twice as many GOP voters as Democrats would prefer to vote for a third way instead of their own party next year.”

He also writes that sentiment from voters could hurt Republicans in the 2010, and points to Doug Hoffman’s strong third party run in New York’s 23rd Congressional District special election as proof.

SOURCE:

http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2009/10/broader-implications-of-ny-23.html

Republican County Chairman says NY Republican leadership is “very tone deaf”...

In an article written by Michael Patrick Leahy on TCOTReport.com, Republican Party Chairman of Oneida County George Joseph is ripping his own party’s candidate in New York’s 23rd Congressional District special election.

He said the election is over for the Republicans, “Do I write off this election? Absolutely. Unless something – a revelation comes through regarding Hoffman, or there’s a change in events for the Democrats — the Democrat’s going to win. That’s how we lose elections.”

Joseph questioned Republican party bosses selecting Dede Scozzafava for the election. The report quoets Joseph as saying, “Just with [Dede] coming out of Albany — any legislator in Albany is so tarnished why would we nominate them ? We acted very tone deaf in how we selected this nominee.”

SOURCE:

http://www.tcotreport.com/josephoct20.html

http://biggovernment.com/2009/10/20/breaking-ny-county-gop-chairman-writes-off-scozzafava/

Bloomberg staffer rips Corzine, Independent endorsement to come?

A staffer for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg rips Democratic Incumber Governor Jon Corzine. Does this mean an endorsement of Independent Gubernatorial candidate Chris Daggett could be coming?

An adviser to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was quoted in New York magazine ripping on New Jersey Incumbent Governor Jon Corzine who’s running for re-election.

Kevin Sheeky was quoted saying, “Look at Mike Bloomberg and Jon Corzine. Very similar backgrounds, very similar people. Both came into office spending a lot of money, okay? And one of them has been very successful, and one has generally been very unsuccessful, both in competitive environments. Why is that? I would argue it's because one turned out to be really good at his job, and is surrounded by really good people, and he's used persuasion to move things forward. If Mike Bloomberg were unsuccessful, he'd be a one-term mayor."

Could this be the latest trial balloon leading to a Mayor Bloomberg endorsement for fellow-independent Chris Daggett. A Bloomberg adviser was earlier quoted as saying “Nothing ruled in or out" when asked if Daggett could be endorsed by Mayor Bloomberg. It surely seems a Corzine endorsement could now be ruled out.

SOURCE:

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/19/no_bloomberg_endorsement_of_corzine.html

http://nymag.com/news/politics/60161/index4.html

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/16/bloomberg_considering_new_jersey_endorsement.html

Tea Party Express leader to back Conservative Party candidate for Congress…

Tea Party Express leader is backing Conservative Party candidate for Congress in the New York 23rd Congressional District special election. Erick Erickson posts on RedState.com, “Dick Armey, the House Majority Leader after the 1994 Conservative Revolution will go to New York to campaign for Doug Hoffman.”

This hot battle features Democrat Bill Owens, liberal-leaning Republican Dede Scozzafava, and Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman. Conservatives were in an uproar after the Republican party bosses selected Scozzafava to run in the race. Hoffman who wanted the Republican nomination bolted to Conservative Party to run for Congress after fully learning of Scozzafava liberal stands and voting record. Hoffman says he is still a Republican, but is running on the Conservative Party line to provide a Conservative choice in this race.

Former Majority Leader Armery is quoted saying, “In New York’s 23rd Congressional District, two Democrats and a Republican are running for Congress. One of the Democrats just happens to have an “R” next to her name and the Republican is running on the Conservative Party ticket thanks to the way the candidates were chosen.”

Erickson wraps-up writing, “Armey said he does not think the establishment within the Republican Party really understands the mood of the country right now.”

SOURCE:

http://www.redstate.com/erick/2009/10/19/dick-armey-heads-to-ny-23-for-hoffman/

New website backs Conservative Party candidate for NY CD23 special election…

A new website is backing Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman in the New York's 23rd Congressional District Special Election. The web addres dumpdede.com points to dumpdede.wordpress.com. It is not clear who created or registered this website.

There are a few articles about Republican leadership hand-picked special election candidate. She is a liberal-leaning Republican. The point of the website is really anti liberal republicans. The headline on the website is “Dump Dede or Dump the GOP: They Decide”

There is a section on the website called “About Dump Dede.” It explains, “Republicans in New York’s 23rd District have chosen to nominate and support an ACORN-backed, Working Families Party-endorsed liberal over conservative candidate Doug Hoffman….. The Republican party has this week to Dump Dede Scozzafava or the tea party will take over for them…”

There is also as side bar reading “These Folks Do NOT Support Conservatism” and mentions Newt Gingrich and NY GOP.

It also says “These Folks Support Conservatism” Club for Growth, Doug Hoffman and Michele Bachmann.

SOURCE:

http://www.dumpdede.com

https://dumpdede.wordpress.com/

Poll in Maine begs for an Independent/Third Party candidate to get into the race…

The Maine polling preview from Pubic Policy Polling talked about polling data that will be released on Thursday. PPP looked at the 2010 Maine Gubernatorial race. Tom Jensen wrote, “With a huge number of candidates we just had to pick a couple Democrats and Republicans to test to get a general idea of the lay of the land and none of the match ups we looked at showed anyone getting better than 34%.”

Cough-Cough Peter Vigue.

This shows a great opportunity for an independent/third party candidate to get involved. Either the candidates selected in this poll have very low name value or are not liked. Either way a strong Independent candidate could make waves. Peter Vigue, a construction executive, is thinking about running in the Maine Gubernatorial race.

We know Maine has a history of voting independent candidates for Governor. See: Two-term Governor Angus King.

SOURCE:

http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2009/10/maine-poll-preview_19.html

Possible opening for third party candidate in Illinois Senate race…

A new Rasmussen Reports polls shows a possible opening for a third party candidate in the 2010 Illinois Senate race.

The opening is small, and we are not sure for whom. But there could be an opening. The Rasmussen Reports polls asked voters how they would cast their vote in three sample elections.

Mark Kirk was the Republican in all of the races. When Kirk was put head-to-head with Democratic State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias or Cheryle Jackson, a former top aide to Governor Blagojevich, 4% of voters said they would vote for somebody else. When Kirk was put up against former Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman, 8% said they would cast their vote for another candidate.

This early in the election cycle, when four to eight percent, of the 500 people polled said they would vote for “other” it’s not good for the major parties. But, who is this “other” candidate? The poll did not ask. Is there one third party candidate that got a solid 2 to 3 percent of the vote, or is there eight to ten people getting below one percent of the vote?

SOURCE:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2010/election_2010_senate_elections/illinois/election_2010_illinois_senate_election

Corzine & Christie tied below 40%, Daggett still in teens…

A new poll from Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey on the New Jersey Gubernatorial race shows Incumbent Governor Jon Corzine and Republican Challenger Chris Christie tied with 39% and Independent Chris Daggett at 14%.

The poll showed Chris Daggett was the only candidate with a positive in the favorable-unfavorable rating at 28-15, but more than half of all likely voters say they don’t know enough about Daggett to form an opinion.

Here is where the Daggett team seems like they need to focus. Daggeet had three big-momentum moments in this race. The first is when he got public funds for the race, the second time was when he announced his property tax plan, the third was his tremendous performance in the first debate. This cannot be re-created. But there is still one that he can take advantage of – his property tax plan.

Shockingly according to the poll 68% of voters said they did know about any of the candidate’s tax plan’s. If Daggett can get his tax plan talked about, independents could bolt to him. He also could peal away Republican and Democratic voters. It appears that still pushing his property tax is the ticket to victory.

But how to get that attention to his tax plan? The Director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, Patrick Murray said, “Daggett may have hit his ceiling in this race. Lacking both ground troops and the financial resources necessary to keep his message in front of voters over the final two weeks, it’ll be difficult for him to overcome most voters’ inclination to go with one of the two major party candidates.”

Daggett needs another game-breaker. What will it be?

SOURCE:

http://www.monmouth.edu/polling/admin/polls/MUP30_1.pdf

New ad in New York’s special election backing third party candidate…

The “Club for Growth” and “Club for Growth PAC” is launching a $300,000 television ad campaign today in the special election for New York's 23rd Congressional District.

The Club for Growth PAC's endorsed of Doug Hoffman. Hoffman is a republican that bolted to the run on the Conservative Party ticket after seeing his party-bosses nominate liberal-leaning Republican Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava to run for Congress.

The add starts with the question: "Tired of choosing between two liberals for Congress?" Followed by the answer: “There is a better choice.”

The ad continues to mention Hoffman’s biography and some of his political positions.

SOURCE:

http://www.clubforgrowth.org/2009/10/new_tv_ad_in_ny23.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7Ppc9HeDJ8