Friday, November 27, 2009

Greens picket Nader – begging him to run for Senate…

Green Party members are picket Ralph Nader, asking him to run for Senate. In an Associated Press article posted on Courant.com, Connecticut Green Party Spokesman Tim McKee was quoted saying weak polling numbers from Senator Chris Dodd get the Greens a great shot to pick-up the U.S. Senate seat. McKee was quoted, “A lot of Democrats would be upset about the prospect (of Nader entering the race). But we look at it as (he's) already lost the seat."

The Connecticut Greens planned a rally for Friday afternoon in West Hartford, where Nader is scheduled to speak at a book-signing. The rally will beg Nader to run for Senate.

McKee estimates Nader will need $3 million to $5 million for the campaign.

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Husband & Wife running for office in Maryland…

A news release from the Libertarian Party of Maryland announced they selected candidates for Governor & Lieutenant Governor. They selected Susan Gaztañaga as their candidate for Governor and Doug McNeil as their candidate for Lieutenant Governor.

They also selected Dr. Richard Davis is running in the 1st Congressional District and Lorenzo Gaztañaga, Susan’s husband, to run for Congress in the 2nd District.

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Independence Party of Minnesota makes major change…

Independence Party of Minnesota makes major change to its endorsement process. The party ended its experiment with cross-endorsement. Eric Black writes in MinnPost.com, “The party has gone back and forth on this issue over the years… but the 2008 experience with cross-endorsement was very negative and [Party Chairman Jack] Uldrich said he thinks the party will be firm in the new policy."

It’s a move to protect the independence of the Independence Party brand. Black continued to write, “The most immediate impact of the change is that Dr. Maureen Reed, who was seeking the endorsement of both the DFL and IP in her race for Congress in the 6th District, will completely focus on the DFL process.” Reed is running against Republican incumbent Representative Michelle Bachmann.

In 2008 the party did endorse two DFL (Minnesota’s Democrats) congressional candidates, both candidates lost. Party Chair Uldrich said the dual endorsements “didn't provide any tangible benefit” to the Independence Party.

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New Rhode Island party facing one of the largest fines in a campaign-finance dispute...

A new Rhode Island political party may face one of the largest fines in a campaign-finance dispute. Steve Peoples writes on ProJo.com, “The state Board of Elections has quietly offered to settle a campaign-finance dispute with the newly established Moderate Party of Rhode Island for what may be the largest fine in the board’s history.”

The report says the state is asking three-month-old party to forfeit a $10,000 donation and its chairman to pay another $10,000 from his own pocket. If they did not agree to the terms, officials threatened to have the attorney general’s office launch civil or criminal investigations into party officials for violating Rhode Island’s finance laws.

The article quotes party chairman Kenneth J. Block, “That was a rotten deal any which way you sliced it. And frankly, a deal designed to be rejected… I’m ready to go to war on this… [the investigation is] 100-percent politically motivated… We are threats to the establishment.”

ProJo.com says the battle comes from these moves, “On Sept. 21, Block donated $10,000 to his organization’s state committee, the annual individual maximum allowed by state law for party building, which covers expenses related to staffing, rent and utilities, but not specific elections. On Sept. 26, Block, a Barrington software engineer, wrote another $10,000 check to the Barrington Moderate Party Town Committee, which had been formed just two days before. And on Sept. 28, the Barrington committee sent $10,000 –– all but $100 in its bank account –– to the state committee.”

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2009 indy candidate for Governor calls for investigation…

The New Jersey Star-Ledger is reporting former independent New Jersey Gubernatorial candidate Christopher Daggett wants state to investigate robocalls that he says “severely damaged” his candidacy.

Matt Friedman wriets on PolitickerNJ.com the question comes from, “The call, in which a woman’s voice attacks Republican Chris Christie for being ‘wrong where it matters most,’ urges listeners to ‘remember Chris Daggett's words: It's never wrong to vote for the right person.’

The Democratic State Committee’s admitted that it paid for the robocalls. The Daggett camp is saying the call violated state law "to support or defeat a candidate for Governor or in aid of the candidacy of a candidate for Governor in the general election."

We’ll see what happens. We’re not sure how Daggett will fair in this battle. Possibly his most effective focus could be changing election law that puts Democrat and Republican candidates on the top of each ballot and buries third party candidates in a random order at the bottom of the ballot – he’s already sued over this one with the Libertarian candidate for New Jersey Governor.

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Lou Dobbs polling at 6% in possible run for President, beats other third party candidates...

Lou Dobbs is polling at 6% in possible run for President. Democracy Corps conducted what could be the first poll including Lou Dobbs as a candidate for President, considering the former CNNer has not officially decided to run for President or ever run for any office, his numbers are pretty good. Democracy Corps identified Dobbs as an America First Party candidate.

Including people that are leaning toward a candidate, the 2012 election match showed President Obama getting re-elected in a race versus Mitt Romney, Lou Dobbs and Ralph Nader. The results:

President Obama (D) 47%
Mitt Romney (R) 37%
Lou Dobbs (AFP) 6%
Ralph Nader (G) 4%
Other 2%

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NY Governor Patterson helps third parties…

New York Governor David Patterson helps third parties. A Rasmussen Reports polls shows that if Democratic Governor David Patterson can beat New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary third parties will likely be a big beneficiary.

In polls for the 2010 Governor’s Office with Paterson as the Democrat “other” gets 10 to 13 percent, if Cuomo is only the ballot “other” only gets between 2 and 6 percent.

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If Florida Republican Governor ran as independent he would become Senator…

If Florida Republican Governor Charlie Crist ran as independent he would become Senator. Florida Governor Crist is facing a tough primary challenger from the right in his run for U.S. Senate. Many Republicans are not happy with Crist’s more liberal stands on a number of issues, and that has opened the opportunity for former state House Speaker Marco Rubio to make a hard run at Crist for the Republican nod.

So what if Crist were to run as an independent candidate? He would win in a close race. A Daily Kos showed Governor Crist would be come Senator Crist. The likely Democrat in the race is Congressman Kendick Meek.

The poll showed Governor Crist would win, Congressman Meek coming in second, and Rubio coming in third with a tally of 32-31-27. But that shows the winner is with-in the margin of error of the last place finisher.

This could get interesting, especially with 10% people saying they would not know who to vote for if this three-way battle does happen.

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5% of California voters looking for “other” choice for Senate…

Five-percent of California voters looking for “other” choice for Senate. A Rasmussen Reports polls shows 5% of voter are looking to vote for “other” in the race for U.S. Senate from California in 2010.

Senator Barbara Boxer has a commanding lead in the poll getting 46% of the vote, the Republican candidate being either Assemblyman Chuck DeVore or ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is getting 36% or 37%, and “other” picks-up 5%. The undecideds show-up at 13 or 12%.

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”Others” getting some numbers in AZ governor race…

”Others” are picking-up 7% to 9% in Arizona Gubernatorial race polls from Rasmussen Reports.

The polls shows if Aricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is the Republican candidate he leads the race with 51% percent of the vote. The polled showed Democrat Terry Goddard getting 39% of the vote, as we said 7% for “some other candidate” and only four percent don’t know whom they want.

If the incumbent Republican Governor Jan Brewer gets the GOP nod the race changes drastically. Governor Brewer only gets 35%, training Goddard who gets 44%. In this races “other” gets 9%, and undecideds jump to 12%.

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Green Party Congressional candidate accused of faking own mother's signature…

Green Party Congressional candidate faces ballot challenge in Illinois. James Fuller writes on DailyHerald.com, “If the challenges to Dan Kairis' nominating petitions prove true, then… [he] doesn't know his family and friends very well.”

The Green Party candidate running for Illinois’ 14th Congressional District is accused of forging signatures to get onto the ballot. Fuller writes, “rules require Kairis to have only 38 signatures from registered voters in the district to appear on the ballot. Kairis, of South Elgin, filed 62 signatures. [The] challenge is based on the validity of the bulk of those signatures.”
Candidate Kairis says every signature on his petitions is either a friend, neighbor or direct relative, but the challenger even questions if the signatures of Kairis’s son and his mother are the real deal.

The state is now comparing the signatures on the petition to signatures on voter registration cards. Even if every signature is tossed, the Illinois Green Party could still officially make Kairis their candidate and he could still run.

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