http://bostontea.us/node/153
New news at the top 6 November 2008 643 people have joined the party on this site. Facebook shows 724. Please invite your friends.
Marc Reeder is running for Congress in 2010 on the Boston Tea Party ticket. He writes, “I am planning on running for US Congress in 2010 against Corrine Brown. I am at this time looking for help anyone who would like to help may join my yahoo group.”
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MarcreederforUScongress/
5 November 2008 We had a very exciting time yesterday during the election. Tonight, just before midnight (mountain time) there are 641 members of our party who have joined on this site, 722 on our largest Facebook group. Let’s keep the growth going – invite two friends!
Victory! Jeff Hunt has won the Duval County (Jacksonville) Florida soil and water board seat. With 99% of precincts reporting, he has 8,000 more votes than his opponent. We endorsed Jeff as part of our work with the Florida Boston Tea Party under John Wayne Smith’s leadership.
Victory! Also victorious tonight is James Reef (aka Jim Y. Casarjian-Perry) who won his race for Billerica planning board in Massachusetts.
Charles Jay and Tom Knapp received 1,012 votes in Tennessee with 98% of precincts reporting. In Colorado with 85% of precincts reporting Charles and Dan Kilo received 507 votes. In Florida with 99% reporting, Charles and John Wayne Smith received 770 votes. It may be some time before write-in ballots are counted in the dozens of states where no pre-election write-in registration is required, or where write-in registration papers were filed. (At least one state requires post-election write-in registration.) AOL is reporting 2,280 ballot votes cast for Charles Jay. WSMV is reporting 2,310 votes for Charles Jay. (The winner in his race received over 63 million votes.) To our knowledge, none of the write-in votes have been counted. At this stage, Charles needs 1,264 votes to exceed the number John Hospers received in 1972 (the first year the LP ran a presidential candidate). Assuming 10 registrations for write-in and identifying 10 states with no pre-election registration requirement, Charles needs an average of 57 votes from each percent of the 2% of precincts not reporting and from each state where write-in ballots may be counted to beat the Hospers vote total. Seems doable.
George Phillies and Chris Bennett (endorsed by BTP) received 470 votes in New Hampshire.
In Alabama, we do not expect to see a full count of write-in votes for Darryl Perry for some time. Jeff Sessions (GOP) has won the senate seat.
In California, Joy Waymire (write-in, endorsed by BTP) has lost state senate district one to Dave Cox (GOP). With 47.6% of precincts reporting, Mike Benoit (endorsed by BTP) has lost his race for Congress (52nd district) to Duncan Hunter (GOP). Mike received at least 4,992 votes for 4.1%. Jim Eyer (endorsed by BTP) has lost his race for Congress (9th district) to Barbara Lee (DNC). With about 60% of precincts reporting, Jim received at least 3,414 votes for 4.0% in his race.
In Delaware with 100% of precincts reporting, Mark Parks (endorsed by BTP) has lost to Mike Castle (GOP). Mark received 3,583 for about 1% of the vote. Tyler Nixon (endorsed by BTP) has lost his state house race to Gerald Brady (DNC). Tyler received 118 votes for 1.2% of the total as a Libertarian and 2,487 votes as a Republican for 25.4%.
In Florida Ilene Davis (endorsed by BTP) has lost to Robin Fisher (DNC) with 99+% of precincts reporting. Ilene received 3,390 votes for 6.52% in her race. As above, Jeff Hunt has won his race with 51.38% of the vote or 148,515 votes.
In Indiana with 100% of precincts reporting, Andy Horning (endorsed by BTP) has lost to Mitch Daniels (GOP). Andy received 56,651 votes for 2% of the total. Rex Bell (endorsed by BTP) has lost state house (district 54) seat to Tom Saunders (GOP). Rex received 8,374 votes for 33.5%.
In Kansas William Stewart-Starks (endorsed by BTP) lost his race for state house (district 10) to Tony Brown (DNC with 49%) but proved to be the “spoiler” with GOP hopeful John Coen taking 45.5%. William received 604 votes, or 5.45% of the vote. Patrick Wilbur (endorsed by BTP) has lost his state senate (district 2) race to Tom Holland (DNC). Patrick was also the deciding factor, carrying 2,057 votes for about 5% in a race where the GOP incumbent Roger Pine received about 46% to Holland’s 49%.
In Massachusetts Jim Y. Casarjian-Perry has won his race. Also, Massachusetts voters approved a reduced criminality referendum on marijuana. They failed to end the state income tax.
In Michigan Neil Stephenson (endorsed by BTP) has lost his race for Congress (10th district) to Candice Miller (GOP). He received 1,473 votes, or about 49 more than the Green party candidate. Neil’s total was about 1.3% of the votes cast in his race. Jason Gatties (endorsed by BTP) has lost his race for Lake Michigan College Board to Mary Jo Tomasini, Renee Williams, and Paul Bergen. Jason received over 10,274 votes in the election.
In Missouri, with an unknown number of precincts reporting, Wes Upchurch (endorsed by BTP) has lost the race for Secretary of State to Robin Carnahan (DNC). Wes received at least 27,730 votes for 1.4%. As of this hour, 03:32 in Missouri, he was leading the Constitution Party candidate by 2,300 votes. Tom Knapp (endorsed by BTP) has lost his race for Congress (2nd District) to Todd Akin (GOP). Tom has received at least 6,138 votes for 2.4% of the vote.
In New Hampshire I phoned Morey Straus to learn he had lost his race to Nick Levasseur (DNC), Robert Walsh (DNC), and Leo Pepino, GOP. NH pubic radio reports he received 328 votes for 4%. AOL shows 465 for Phillies/Bennett.
In North Carolina, Michael Munger (LP) has 120,608 votes for governor for 3% of the vote. Chris Cole (endorsed by BTP) has 131,072 votes for 3% of the total – he has lost to Kay Hagan (DNC). Susan Hogarth (endorsed by BTP) has lost her race to Deborah Ross. An unconfirmed report shows 4,703 votes for 15% in her race. Phil Rhodes (endorsed by BTP) has lost his race for Lt. Governor. Same report shows 124,832 votes for 3% in his race. BJ Lawson (endorsed by NC BTP) has lost to Price (DNC). NY Times reports Lawson at 36.6% of the vote.
In Tennessee Lisa Leeds (endorsed by BTP) has lost her race to Mary Pruitt (DNC). WSMV
is reporting 2,692 votes for about 15% in her race. Daniel Lewis (endorsed by BTP) has lost his race for US Senate. The NY Times reports he received 9,306 votes for 0.4% in his race.
In Texas Ron Darby (endorsed by BTP) has lost his race to the GOP incumbent Fred Brown. Texas says he received 8,052 votes for 17.79% in his race. John Roemer (endorsed by BTP) has lost his race for Brazos assessor/collector. KBTX reports he received 7,360 votes for 16% in his race.
In Utah Joseph Buchman (endorsed by BTP) has lost his race for Congress. Utah reports he received 2.2% or 6,287 votes.
3 November 2008 Here: 614 Facebook: 698
2 November 2008 The party continues to grow, with 605 people here, 684 members on Facebook. See what you can do to startle them!
1 November 2008 Happy All Hallow’s Day to everyone in the Boston Tea Party from your saintly friends. This site shows 602 people have joined. Facebook sez 669 for our main group there. A new recruiting drive for our BTP California Facebook group may some day threaten the national group’s lead in Facebook members. (State affiliates, please see this statement as a challenge to recruit.)
31 October 2008 A happy Hallowe’en to everyone in the Boston Tea Party from your ghoulish friends. This site shows 587 people have joined. Facebook shows 667 members in our largest group there.
30 October 2008 582 people have joined the party on this site. The Boston Tea Party endorsed Jim Buchman for Congress in Utah, an LP candidate. The party endorses a total of 22 candidates from the LP on its voter guide. We have 660 members in our largest Facebook group.
29 October 2008 A total of 578 people have joined the party on this site. There are currently 651 members of our largest Facebook group.
28 October 2008 We have 575 members on this site. Thank you for joining, please invite your friends. The convention went well, thanks. The contact page is up to date with new officers.
I read here that James Reef (aka Jim Casarjian-Perry) had been elected to the Planning Board.
This would have been a good thing, but I live in Billerica and I think I would have heard.
The Billerica website
http://www.town.billerica.ma.us/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=140&Itemid=381
does not list him as a member.
kthx
Yeah, some. We have a new guy out there, he’s looking into it for me.
Speaking of challenges, any luck on the Arizona thing?
Well, George, the contest is on, then. It is an interesting challenge, and I think challenges can be fun. And you are not the most insipid authoritarian jerk on this site, so I’ll see what I can do to keep you informed after the fact.
Stop the wars.
NH has pro and anti national fractions – Mass, current involved members are mostly all anti, so if they secede national will have to organize a new chapter there. They have a lot of ex-members -I don’t know if those would want to get involved again in any large numbers.
From what I’ve read, he “Phillies states,” Mass and NH (where they held a funeral for the USLP, IIRC) do look like the two states most likely to prove me wrong. Mind, you, I’ve heard nothing from a lot of states.
Pretty sure Mass would at least consider. Whether it would pass, I don’t know.
I’m sure a lot of state committee members would like to. But my thinking is that no statecom would dare do such a thing without a convention vote, and no statecom wants to introduce such a motion at a convention; either could blow up in their faces.
I think several states are teetering on the edge.
2009-2012. What happens at that convention could exacerbate the conflict enough that some state conventions vote to disaffiliate then, but that’s impossible to predict.
and (I’ll predict) none will go rogue after.
What’s your time frame for that prediction?
As I think you know, Jim, I was talking about your party’s plan to have state committees substitute Charles Jay for Bob Barr as the Libertarian nominee, effectively disaffiliating from the LP.
That was a rhetorical question: no state committees went rogue during the election, and (I’ll predict) none will go rogue after.
George Dance, who seems to be willing to tolerate any number of lies and any amount of corruption, and who loves his Bob Barr CIA agent and drug war prosecutor, pro-war and pro-killing children candidate, has some questions. So, joy.
“How did the BTP do with getting state LPs to put Charles Jay on the ballot as their nominee?”
Really well, George. A group of disaffected LP members did the work in Colorado. Then a group of disaffected LP members in Florida got together there, including a former state chair, and put BTP on the ballot as an official party, and put our candidate on the ballot there. Finally, a group of disaffected LP members in Tennessee did most of the work there, except what we hired a great team of petitioners to do. These petitioners, who also do work for the LP, also did a great job for us in Florida registering voters.
Why not just look at the results? To date, no state committees have tried to split from the national party. Not one.
Because past performance is not always an indication of future results. Some plans are in the works for state LPs to possibly split off and join the BTP. I was asking those who have concrete information about negotiations which are underway to pass it along, not for general comments.
Why do you think that? Same targets, same goal, same result.
Different mechanics, different time frame.
What campaign was that?
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2008/09/movement-afoot-to-remove-barrroot-from-lp-ticket/
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2008/09/motion-to-remove-barr-as-lp-nominee-has-been-written/
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2008/09/libertarian-party-spokesman-barr-will-not-be-removed/
That was news reporting, not a campaign. We reported on news, and didn’t take a side. If the author(s) took a side in the comments, that is a separate issue.
If I was aware of a move by some Greens or Constitution Party members to replace their ticket, I’d report on it, even though I may not care about which faction wins.
In fact, we did report on at least one such controversy:
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2008/06/california-aip-switches-affiliation-to-new-keyes-backed-party/
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2008/06/american-independent-party-convention-and-national-affilliation/
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2008/07/alan-keyes-on-california-ballot-for-now-anyway/
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2008/07/california-deals-double-whammy-to-constitution-party/
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2008/08/keyes-retains-california-ballot-position/
Sorry for the sloppy editing above.
No worries.
Sorry for the sloppy editing above.
Do you have to ask?
Yes, but I was asking people who might actually know.
Why not just look at the results? To date, no state committees have tried to split from the national party. Not one.
How did the BTP do with getting state LPs to put Charles Jay on the ballot as their nominee?
An entirely separate question.
Why do you think that? Same targets, same goal, same result.
How did IPR do its campaign to get Bob Barr replaced with Jay/Ruwart/Paul/Obama/Milnes or whomever as the nominee?
What campaign was that?
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2008/09/movement-afoot-to-remove-barrroot-from-lp-ticket/
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2008/09/motion-to-remove-barr-as-lp-nominee-has-been-written/
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2008/09/libertarian-party-spokesman-barr-will-not-be-removed/
Do you have to ask?
Yes, but I was asking people who might actually know.
How did the BTP do with getting state LPs to put Charles Jay on the ballot as their nominee?
An entirely separate question.
How did IPR do its campaign to get Bob Barr replaced with Jay/Ruwart/Paul/Obama/Milnes or whomever as the nominee?
What campaign was that?
Do you have to ask?
Yes, but I was asking people who might actually know.
How did the BTP do with getting state LPs to put Charles Jay on the ballot as their nominee?
An entirely separate question.
How did IPR do its campaign to get Bob Barr replaced with Jay/Ruwart/Paul/Obama/Milnes or whomever as the nominee?
What campaign was that?
Do you have to ask?
How did the BTP do with getting state LPs to put Charles Jay on the ballot as their nominee?
How did IPR do its campaign to get Bob Barr replaced with Jay/Ruwart/Paul/Obama/Milnes or whomever as the nominee?
Where are you at on getting state LPs to defect to the BTP?
Snap. I shoulda said “our elected official in Billerica” and “our elected official in Florida.” It’s going to be fun getting used to winning elections.
Tom is correct about our candidate in Billerica, Mass. He is a member of our party and he is not a member of the LP, nor any other party. Our candidate in Florida was endorsed by Boston Tea Party, and was running in a non-partisan race.
Our party has about three dozen Facebook fans. The members of our largest Facebook group number 732 at last look, and many of them are active in the group, posting photos, tracking our statistics, asking questions, giving answers. In neither case are these “Facebook friends,” since only an individual member of Facebook can have friends.
Facebook has been a major resource for us in networking, recruiting, and organising our state affiliates. We have a total of 26 Facebook groups for our party and candidates, including state affiliates and states where affiliates are forming.
Zero Facebook friends? Then you probably don’t know how to work the tool for social networking. That’s cool. We can teach.
I just checked our MySpace group. Sixty-eight people involved, last topic was updated by me in early October. I don’t think MySpace is an effective tool for us. It just seems old-fashioned, now. Maybe MySpace works for bands, and dating, but I don’t see it being helpful to politics. That could change.
One area we are certainly out of touch is Meetup Groups. We ought to put some together. But, they cost money to maintain, and that’s not something our national committee can have any of. Maybe the county and state party groups would like to organise some. We’ll see.
Joey,
So two of your candidates won a precinct. Congratulations (feels good, doesn’t it? I loved winning 24 of 77 precincts when I ran for city council in 1997)!
And two of our candidates (one cross-endorsed, one a member of our party and so far as I know not affiliated with another party) won actual election to office.
Oh, yay is, I presume, where you were going with that.
This isn’t a personal swipe, but when will you people realize that having the most Facebook friends means absolutely nothing?
Or MySpace friends?
Or any other social networking site.
Do you really think that is a barometer of success for a political organization? Seriously?
I admire new parties, especially those that are running candidates already, but you guys are still very much in the un-professional phase if you keep hounding the public with this “oh yay, we have 700+ Facebook friends.”
Learn to be a real organization and a campaign apparatus, not another flash-in-the-pan political debate Internet bulletin board.
Meanwhile, my Libertarian chapter won at least one precinct last night — two of our countywide candidates won Precinct 123, the same precinct I was serving as election judge at.
We have zero Facebook friends, but guess what, we now have a WIN under our belt.
Anyone see where I’m going with this?