The Thirds

Constitution Party backed candidate trying to get GOP nod…

2009-12-06T08:59:00.000-08:00

A candidate who says he is backed by the Constitution Party is trying to get the Republican nomination for Congress in Texas. Trish Choate writes on GoSanAngelo.com that Michael Barrett is trying to unseat incumbent Republican Congressman Mac Thornberry. Thornberry was first elected to Congress in 1994.

Choate writes, “Michael Barrett of Nocona Hills plans to challenge Thornberry, but he’s shooting for the nomination from the Constitution Party instead of the Republican Party… Barrett, 54, said Constitution Party members approached him and have promised financial support.” Choate quotes Barrett saying the Republican party has “gone too much to the middle”.

SOURCE:

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/dec/03/area-congressmen-file-for-re-election-in-2010/

Independent for Congress interviewed about Palin’s book…

2009-12-06T08:25:00.000-08:00

Independent for Congress is mentioned in a newspaper article about former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s book. Dean Moore, and independent running for Missouri’s 7th Congressional District (the Southwest corner of the state), was interviewed in a newspaper article about people lining-up to get Sarah Palin’s book signed.

Chad Livengood writes on News-Leader.com, “Dean Moore… said Palin's life experiences resonate well with people in the Midwest. ‘She's the polar opposite of Nancy Pelosi… The kind of person who thinks very highly of Nancy Pelosi isn't going to catch this fever.’

The mention of Moore was buried at the end of the article about the Palin event in Springfield, Missouri. Moore is trying to win the seat being vacated by Representative Roy Blunt. One more note, Dean Moore is not the only more running for the seat, Republican Darrell Lee Moore is running as a republican in the race.

SOURCE:

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20091203/NEWS01/912030366/1007/Chance-to-meet-Palin-energizes-supporters

Close to buying an election - the value of a vote?

2009-12-06T08:04:00.000-08:00

The campaign spending results are in for the New Jersey Gubernatorial race. The numbers show the value of a vote. If a candidate is unpopular enough even spending gobs of money is not enough to buy an election – but it is pretty close. New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine lost his re-election bid by about 4% of the vote.

Here is how much the three major candidates spent in the race, and the amount of money they spent per vote they received:

Governor Jon Corzine $27,000,000 - $25.60/vote

Governor-elect Chris Christie $11,400,000 - $9.88/vote

Independent Chris Daggett $1,600,000 - $11.70/vote

Governor Corzine’s big spending brought him close to winning re-election but even spending more money than his competitors combine did not give him the win. Does these stats show a need for campaign finance reform, or does it just show Corzine was as incompetent running an elections as voters believed he was in running the state?

On a side note, the Associate Press is reporting that Governor Corzine spent $131,000,000 of his own money running for office since 2000. Governor Corzine has run for Governor twice, and U.S. Senate once.

SOURCE:

http://www.politickernj.com/matt-friedman/35180/gubernatorial-campaign-spending-down-30

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9218487

Independent poised to be on ballot to replace Ted Kennedy…

2009-12-06T07:23:00.000-08:00

Independent Libertarian Joe Kennedy is poised to be on ballot to replace the late Senator Ted Kennedy. Kennedy, a member of the Libertarian Party, is running as an independent because Massachusetts state law makes it cheaper to run as an independent versus a party-backed candidate.

Kennedy says on his website, “Our original goal was 13,500 signatures / 10,200 validated signatures. Not only did we exceed both goals but we BLEW THEM AWAY… I want to thank everyone for their efforts and urge you more than ever to spread the word.”

Candidates needed to get 10,000 signatures to qualify. The primary election for the race is December 8, 2009 with the general election on January 19, 2010.

SOURCE:

http://joekennedyforsenate.com/

http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elespeif/senatorincongressma.htm

Bernake on Hold…

2009-12-02T19:20:00.000-08:00

Bernake placed on hold, for re-nomination. CBS MarketWatch is reporting Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is placing a hold on the nomination of Ben Bernanke for a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Senator Sanders was quoted saying, “the American people did not bargain for ... another four years for one of the key architects of the Bush economy.” Senator Sanders was also critical of not providing enough credit to small and medium-sized businesses.

SOURCE:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sen-sanders-to-place-hold-on-bernanke-nomination-2009-12-02-2153530?siteid=bnbh

Illinois Gubernatorial candidate not releasing income tax returns…

2009-11-30T12:15:00.000-08:00

Illinois Green Party Gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney is not releasing his income tax returns. A posting on NBCChicago.com, is critical of a number of candidates for Illinois Governor are not releasing their tax statements. Whitney did not want to release the documents because of his wife's privacy.

Two Republicans also have refused to release their information and another Republican will only release the income tax information if “everybody else does”.

Two Democrats mentioned in the piece said they would release their information, but have not done it yet.

SOURCE:

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/politics/Guv-Candidates-Withhold-Tax-Returns-78126587.html

http://www.southtownstar.com/news/1910864,113009transparency.article

Jesse Ventura: MSNBC paid for my silence

2009-11-30T11:49:00.000-08:00

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times’ Scott Collins, Jesse Ventura talked about his new television show on truTV and a few other surprising things.

The former Independent Governor of Minnesota also touched on his time on cable television on MSNBC. He said “weird phone calls” started happening asking if Ventura was against the war in Iraq. Which Ventura was against.

Ventura said he was being groomed to get a five day-a-week TV show, then he was taken off the air and not even being used as a consultant, but was still paid for three years. Ventura was quoted saying, “Why do you think you didn't hear from me for three years?”

The interview also focus on Ventura’s conspiracy based show “Conspiracy Theory”. Ventura talked about 9/11 terror attack conspiracies and weather control conspiracies.

SOURCE:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-conversation29-2009nov29,0,1777742.story

Is the door opening to Third Party conservatives?

2009-11-30T10:19:00.000-08:00

Two recent polls show there may be an opening for conservative Third Parties in the upcoming 2010 elections.

Democracy Corp said in a recent poll, “only 16 percent have a positive view of the current economy and only a third think the economy is ‘starting’ to improve.” The results of the poll shows that Independents “are particularly pessimistic” on economic issues. People vote with their pocketbooks and if voters are not will to accept the economy is doing well Democrats will fall.

But what about Republicans? When you look at numbers from an “excitement” poll conducted by Research 2000 for the DailyKos, the chances for conservative independent or Third Party candidates are high. The poll shows more than half of the country has negative views of Congressional Democrats and Republicans, and the parties in general.

The excitement gap is where the big news happens. The Research 2000/DailyKos poll asked, “In the 2010 Congressional elections will you definitely vote, probably vote, not likely vote, or definitely will not vote?” 81% of Republican Voters said they are Definitely or Probably Voting in 2010, 65% of Independent voters also felt the same way, with only 56% Democratic voters feeling the same way.

If a conservative candidate can strike a credible message on the economy a third party candidate could get some traction. We saw how in just one month a Third Party candidate in upstate New York (Doug Hoffman) turned the race on its head. It took visits from the Vice President, and the endorsement from the Republican to beat the Third Party challenger.

If Democrats fail to garner excitement and support an independent/Third Party candidate could take some of their votes and then battle for votes from the right and make it into Congress.

SOURCE:

http://www.democracycorps.com/strategy/2009/11/the-economy-at-a-sensitive-juncture/

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/27/808503/-Weekly-Tracking-Poll:-New-Feature-Paints-Ugly-2010-Picture

Bloomberg for Mayor: The $100 Million Dollar Mayoral Campaign

2009-11-30T09:48:00.000-08:00

The final numbers are in on the New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg's re-election spending. The New York Times says Mayor Bloomberg spent about $102,000,000 to get re-elected to a third term as mayor. That equals about $183 per vote.

Bloomberg is now top-spending self-financed politician in U.S. history. In previous campaigns he spent $85,000,000 and $74,000,000.

SOURCE:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34180267/ns/politics-more_politics/

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5AR08320091128

Bernie Sanders makes some news on Sunday talk shows…

2009-11-30T09:34:00.000-08:00

Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders makes some news on Sunday talk shows.

Senator Sanders said he would not vote for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to be reappointment to his position. Sanders said on ABC’s ‘This Week’ program, “I absolutely will not vote for Mr. Bernanke. He is part of the problem. He's the smartest guy in the world, why didn't he do anything to prevent us from sinking into this disaster that Wall Street caused and which he was a part of?"

The Progressive Senator also said he would not force a public option in the health care reform bill. Senator Sanders said he would like get a public option, but does not believe is worth destroying the rest of the bill over the public option issue.

SOURCE:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/29/sanders-says-second-term-federal-reserve-chief/

http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2009/11/sanders-no-line-in-sand-on-health-care.html

Progressive Party of Vermont comes out with it’s own loyalty-ish pledge…

2009-11-30T09:11:00.000-08:00

The Vermont’s Progressive Party comes out with it’s own loyalty-ish pledge. Martha Abbott, the Chairwoman of the Vermont Progressive Party, explains on the party blog what it will take to keep a Progressive candidate out of the 2010 Governor’s race.

Abbott says these the key issues are:

*Enacting a Single Payer Health Insurance System

*Closing (or not extending the license of) Entergy Nuclear (formerly known as VT Yankee)

*Fixing the insolvency of Vermont’s Unemployment Insurance fund without doing it on the backs of the workers who are unemployed.

*Fixing the state employees retirement fund (where retired teachers currently receive an average of slightly more than $10,000 per year and retired state employees currently receive an average of slightly more than $14,000 per year) without gouging current and future retirees.

Abbott wrote, “…it is not about what candidates say, but about what they do… We are looking for someone who will be proactive at trying to rally people behind the needed changes.” So it appears the Progressive Party is willing to let the Democrats have the only major candidate on the left, but only it the Progressives are happy with the choice.

Abbott suggested a number of possible Progressive candidates. Interestingly Anthony Pollina, former Progressive candidate for Governor, was not mentioned in the list. Is that because Abbott felt people knew enough about Pollina, is this a sign that Pollina will not be for Governor again, or could this mean Pollina will look for the Democratic nod?

SOURCE:

http://www.progressiveparty.org/blog/?p=1038

Nader “absorbing” information about possible run for Senate…

2009-11-29T18:43:00.000-08:00

Ralph Nader is “absorbing” information about possible run for Senate. Susan Haigh writes for the Associated Press, “Ralph Nader says he wants to gauge the level of grass-roots support before deciding whether to make a bid to represent Connecticut in the Senate.”

The Connecticut Green Party is trying to persuade the consumer advocate and former President candidate to challenge Democratic Senator Chris Dodd in 2010. State Green Party spokesman Tim McKee says social networking Web pages are springing up urging him to run for Senate.

SOURCE:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jvGky28IfeN9Eygc6iwhqYjriJMAD9C85A3G2

Cook Political: Third Parties making a difference…

2009-11-29T18:17:00.000-08:00

Third Parties are making a difference in New England according to an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal. Jennifer Duffy from the Cook Political Report writes on WSJ.com, “Third-party candidates rarely win elections. So what does it say about the deep blue states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island that they now have credible independents running for governor next year?”

Duffy writes that because of Democratic dominance in New England the opportunity has arisen, the opening is there for a third party or independent candidate to take the wind from the Democrat.

Duffy points out that in Massachusetts, state Treasurer Tim Cahill now has more than six times the amount of money that incumbent Democratic Governor Deval Patrick has in his bank account the end of the last quarter. Cahill was a Democrat, but resigned to run as an independent. She continues to write about former Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee who is running for Governor in Rhode Island as an independent, recent polls show him getting about one third of the vote.

Duffy argued that the rise of Chafee and Cahill mostly depends upon their personality and winning disaffected voters.

SOURCE:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704782304574541903184382532.html

Greens picket Nader – begging him to run for Senate…

2009-11-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

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.

SOURCE:

http://www.courant.com/news/local/statewire/hc-ap-ct-connecticutsenatenov26,0,7968327.story

Husband & Wife running for office in Maryland…

2009-11-27T11:35:00.000-08:00

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.

SOURCE:

http://www.lp.org/blogs/staff/maryland-libertarians-nominate-governor-and-lt-governor-candidates

Independence Party of Minnesota makes major change…

2009-11-27T11:18:00.000-08:00

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.

SOURCE:

http://www.minnpost.com/ericblack/2009/11/24/13752/ip_bans_cross-endorsement_with_implications_for_bachmann_race

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

2009-11-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

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.”

SOURCE:

http://www.projo.com/news/politics/content/MODERATE_DONATION_FIGHT_11-24-09_I5GHJBP_v18.3a643ac.html

2009 indy candidate for Governor calls for investigation…

2009-11-27T07:16:00.000-08:00

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.

SOURCE:

http://www.politickernj.com/matt-friedman/35005/daggett-wants-robocall-investigated

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

2009-11-27T06:45:00.000-08:00

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%

SOURCE:

http://www.democracycorps.com/wp-content/files/dcor111609fq12.web_.pdf

http://www.pollster.com/blogs/us_2012_pres_demcorps_111216.php

NY Governor Patterson helps third parties…

2009-11-27T06:30:00.000-08:00

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.

SOURCE:

http://lcvonlinenews.blogspot.com/2009/11/governor-new-york-2010_20.html

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

2009-11-27T06:14:00.000-08:00

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.

SOURCE:

http://lcvonlinenews.blogspot.com/2009/11/senate-florida-2010_20.html

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

2009-11-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

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%.

SOURCE:

http://lcvonlinenews.blogspot.com/2009/11/senate-california-2010_20.html

”Others” getting some numbers in AZ governor race…

2009-11-27T05:35:00.000-08:00

”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%.

SOURCE:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2010/election_2010_governor_elections/arizona/election_2010_arizona_governor_election

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

2009-11-27T05:08:00.000-08:00

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.

SOURCE:

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=338675

Independent polling at mid-20% in race for Massachusetts Governor…

2009-11-25T07:11:00.000-08:00

Independent candidate Tim Cahill is polling in the mid-20% in race for Massachusetts Governor. In a race versus incumbent Governor Deval Patrick, independent Tim Cahill is coming in second place polling at 28% and 25% depending upon which Republican is in the race. In all match-ups 14% are still undecided.

Cahill is the State Treasurer. He was elected to the office as a Democrat, but resigned from the Democratic Party a few months ago.

SOURCE:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2010/election_2010_governor_elections/massachusetts/election_2010_massachusetts_governor