For those of you who have been around, as well as anyone new here, we do this every month. Check out past months’ descriptions and comments if you have any questions about what sorts of things usually get discussed in the open threads here. You may also post news tips here; we’ll do our best to post them, but as an all-volunteer group blog, we make no promises. You can also sign up to post stories at IPR; drop a note in the comments here.
To start things off, as I often do, here is latest from Juice Rap News:
Your turn in the comments.
176 responses so far ↓
1 NewFederalist // Oct 1, 2012 at 10:16 am
What is the latest on PA ballot status?
2 paulie // Oct 1, 2012 at 10:26 am
Haven’t really heard anything new.
As of last report I’ve seen, volunteers are still going over each signature, now in Harrisburg.
The LP won on the people who moved within the county and put their current address without first changing it with the elections office. The LP lost on people who did not put the year on their date of signing. Both rulings are being appealed to a higher court.
The ballots have been printed and include the LP. However, if the court rulings go against the LP, those votes will not be counted, and some counties will cross out the LP on their ballots.
That is my understanding of the situation as of right now.
3 NewFederalist // Oct 1, 2012 at 10:33 am
Thanks, paulie. Perhaps Richard Winger will jump in if he has more current info.
4 Curt Boyd // Oct 1, 2012 at 10:58 am
According to local news reports (I’m from Harrisburg), the LP is certified for the ballot, pending the outcome of the Republican’s appeals. With the appealed signatures, the LP has enough to qualify.
The question is, will the LP get damages from the Republicans for court costs?!
5 paulie // Oct 1, 2012 at 11:04 am
Regarding damages, Richard Winger wrote
6 Reed E // Oct 1, 2012 at 11:05 am
From Randall T. Hayes,
As of Oct. 1, 2012, there are 6189 registered Libertarians in Louisiana. That’s an increase of 295 since a month ago. The Libertarian Party in Louisiana has grown 22% since the beginning of the year.
7 Thomas L. Knapp // Oct 1, 2012 at 11:45 am
Barry Commoner, the 1980 Citizens Party candidate for president of the United States, has died at the age of 95.
8 PeterO // Oct 1, 2012 at 1:23 pm
So here’s something I’ve been thinking about lately. I’m a contributing member of the Libertarian Party, since it comes closer than any other established national party to my views and main concerns (civil liberties, non-intervention, etc.), but I’m not really a libertarian on size-of-government issues.
My basic viewpoint is that expansions in government are fine, but that they should only take place through constitutional amendment. I’m actually sympathetic to the idea of socialized medicine, for example, but I think even the half-measure of the Affordable Care Act is probably unconstitutional (Chief Justice Roberts aside). It’s not the policy; it’s how it was implemented.
My reason for thinking this way is pretty simple: The Constitution has served this nation well, and any fundamental realignment of government power needs to be done with great care. People have told me that if these big shifts only happened through amendment, they would not happen, and that’s the point: if a fundamental shift in the federal governing structure is to take place, it should only be with the overwhelming support implied by successfully amending the Constitution. I may like the idea of a federal health insurance system, but I do not feel comfortable with such a big shift happening without a supermajority of my fellow Americans feeling the same way.
What I’m wondering is, why is there no party that has this view — that changing the role of government is fine, but only by following the original rules? It seems like a viewpoint that would have considerable appeal.
9 Darryl W. Perry // Oct 3, 2012 at 12:39 am
It seems Ogle has “revived” the BTP as a plaything of his fantasy parliament.
http://www.usparliament.org/btp.php
10 Darryl W. Perry // Oct 3, 2012 at 12:43 am
I just tried posting a comment, that I believe was marked as spam.
11 Steven Wilson // Oct 3, 2012 at 6:50 am
Just a note during the smaller election cycles that don’t get any notice. A former soldier for Freedom in Missouri has taken her place in her new home of New Hampshire. Her name is Paula Benski and she was the state treasurer for the LP in Missouri. Well done!
http://www.berlindailysun.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=43000:benski-appointed-to-fill-council-vacancy&catid=103:local-news&Itemid=442
12 paulie // Oct 3, 2012 at 7:27 am
DWP
Links to the USP are automatically filtered. It’s a commercial site, thus well within any definition of spam, in addition to Ogle being a spammer in a more colloquial sense. However, I fished it out of the spam filter for you.
As mentioned in previous months threads, it makes no sense for Ogle to revive “BTP” – he doesn’t agree with the platform, gets no ballot access in any state nor any lists of supporters, not even a website domain, no money, nothing. The name itself had become more of an albatross than anything, being mostly confused with a movement that has been by and large taken over by Republicans.
Not that one should expect anything Ogle says or does to make sense.
13 Thomas L. Knapp // Oct 3, 2012 at 10:19 am
@11,
Congrats to Paula! We miss her in Missouri!
14 paulie // Oct 3, 2012 at 11:31 am
Taken from a Jill Stein message about the debates, works for Johnson supporters also:
The Commission on Presidential Debates is launching “The Voice Of ___” which will feature livestreaming, feedback, polling, and more on the following platforms:
yahoo.com/thevoiceof
aol.com/thevoiceof
youtube.com/thevoiceof
YouTube will be livestreaming all of the debates.
Submit text AND video comments!
Tweet! Use the following hashtags to join the conversation:
#Debate
#Presidential Debate
15 Darryl W. Perry // Oct 3, 2012 at 12:42 pm
@12 – I figured it was marked spam because of the link – I just thought it was interesting that he’s using a the name of a party whose original platform he disagrees with.
Seems the Catholic Trotskyist Party is also part of his collection of playthings.
16 paulie // Oct 3, 2012 at 1:01 pm
I think he has more parties than members
17 Darryl W. Perry // Oct 3, 2012 at 2:15 pm
@16 – I’ve heard the same thing about the LP and caucuses
18 paulie // Oct 3, 2012 at 2:16 pm
LOL, you got me there.
Guilty as charged :-0
19 bruuno // Oct 3, 2012 at 3:23 pm
I live in the 1st Congressional District in NY (recently moved back after living in Alabama for eight years or so). I personally know Tim Bishop, the incumbent Democrat,having worked for his first campaign. My personal dealings with him left me feeling very sour and his record in Congress does little to make me overly enthusiastic. The GOP candidate repulses me (Randy Altschuler). The good news, though, is that the Libertarian Party apparently has a candidate named Rick Witt. If anyone could please tell me anything they might know about him and/or convince me to vote for him it would be greatly appreciated. I am looking for someone I can vote for and not have to hold my nose and frankly his website, while nice looking, is a little too boilerplate to provide any real info. Also my brother lives in the MD district where the Dem had to drop out and he is strongly considering voting for the LP candidate (Muir Boda). If anyone can give me some info on him (other than what is on the website) it would also be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
20 bruuno // Oct 3, 2012 at 3:29 pm
Just to be clear I don’t believe Witt made the ballot but I would like to write in a vote for someone.
21 Steven Wilson // Oct 3, 2012 at 4:44 pm
This is being sent out today. Missouri is now a joke because of Todd Massengill for Senate. He offends someone at least once an hour, but I thought I would post the outcome of another poll. Dine is the only third party candidate and he has come a long way since 2010.
The candidates for Senate this fall are Democrat Claire McCaskill, Republican Todd
Akin, and Libertarian Jonathan Dine. If the election was today, who would you vote for? Claire McCaskill 46%
……………………………………….
Todd Akin 40%
………………………………………………..
Jonathan Dine 9%
………………………………………….
Undecided 5%
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2011/PPP_Release_MO_1003.pdf
There has already been one debate for this race. Time for Dine.
22 paulie // Oct 3, 2012 at 5:32 pm
Richard Winger at Ballot Access News:
http://www.ballot-access.org/2012/10/03/missouri-u-s-senate-poll-asks-about-all-three-candidates/
23 What the Duck!? // Oct 3, 2012 at 5:38 pm
What is Robby Wells up to these days?
24 paulie // Oct 3, 2012 at 6:13 pm
As the Republican nominee, he’s preparing for tonight’s debate with President Oba…
Oh, wait…
25 Catholic Trotskyist // Oct 3, 2012 at 6:14 pm
James Ogle and the US Parliament Project have permission to use the Catholic Trotskyist Party’s name as part of our team building on our website. Some members of the Catholic Trotskyist Party have proposed that the party’s name should be changed to the Leftist Conservative Party; however, no decision has been made yet. The decision will be announced on the IPR Open Thread on January 1, 2013. The Catholic Trotskyist Party has decided to endorse Barack Obama and most Democratic candidates in the upcoming national elections under the current illegitimate nonparliamentary system.
26 just just // Oct 3, 2012 at 7:21 pm
Congressman Paul (LP POTUSnom 88) was just on CNBC to say that the only thing that could make tonight’s Obama/Romney show into a real debate would be the inclusion of the LP & GP nominees.
27 NewFederalist // Oct 4, 2012 at 7:46 am
I would guess he left out the CP because of lack of ballot access.
28 paulie // Oct 4, 2012 at 10:14 am
Yes, they do not meet (just barely) the objective criterion of being on enough state ballots to win. I believe BAN reported they are on for 48% of electoral votes and on the ballots of 49.9% of the voters. They had several petition drives ranging from small to large which they tried to do and failed – anything from Arkansas (1,000 valid) to Pennsylvania and in between.
29 paulie // Oct 4, 2012 at 5:13 pm
@1 http://www.ballot-access.org/2012/10/03/pennsylvania-libertarian-petition-challenge-process-likely-to-extend-into-this-coming-weekend/
Pennsylvania Libertarian Petition Challenge Process Likely to Extend Into this Coming Weekend
October 3rd, 2012
The Pennsylvania statewide Libertarian challenge process still isn’t finished. It had been thought that it would be finished by Friday, October 5, but now it appears it can’t finish that fast, and the work will continue into the weekend. The process involves one volunteer from the Libertarian Party forces, and one volunteer for the Republican challengers, examining each signature and seeing if they can agree that the signature either is, or isn’t, valid.
Meanwhile the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has received briefs on the issue of whether certain kinds of signatures are valid. The Commonwealth Court had upheld signatures of voters who moved within the county and hadn’t yet updated their voter registration record, but the same court had invalidated signatures when the signer forgot, or didn’t know, to include “2012? in the date column. The petition form at the bottom says, “Revised Jan. 2012.” Both sides appealed to the State Supreme Court on the issue on which that side had lost.
Even if the State Supreme Court rules against the Libertarian Party on both points, the party may have enough valid signatures regardless. The petition is now only short a few hundred signatures from having enough valid signatures, even without the need to win anything at all in the State Supreme Court, and a few thousand remain to be examined. Thanks to Richard Schwarz for this news.
30 George Phillies // Oct 4, 2012 at 6:35 pm
Readers may recall a recently departed LNC member who endorsed R*mn*y as the dude who would cut taxes, etc. It is amusing to note that R***** appeared in a debate last night and said he would not cut taxes on the rich, and furthermore his proposed tax cuts were revenue neutral.
31 paulie // Oct 4, 2012 at 7:38 pm
UPDATE SENT TO LPPA MEMBERS:
We are now in our 9th week defending our petitions against the GOP challenge and Judge Colins just extended the “drop dead deadline” of Friday, October 5th because there are still 2,700 contested signatures to go through. When I say we are in our 9th week, I mean countless volunteers are putting in days of time to help us defend our petitions. I believe we had 12 people down at the Philly Board of Elections today alone.
The “drop dead deadline” is now Tuesday, October 9th putting us on the eve of the 10th week of petition defense. It is absolutely amazing how the party has come together to rally behind our call not to buckle under the threat of costs, sanctions and attorney fees. Many have come from out-of-state to help us get Gary Johnson and our statewide candidates on the ballot.
So where are we? We need 299 valid signatures out of the 2,700 remaining with the possibility we will need an additional 105 if the GOP wins their motion to eliminate some “valids” because their volunteers “made a mistake”.
We need expert volunteers for Saturday and Tuesday. That should be it. We will know by then whether we made it by a hundred or failed by a hundred hence having to wait for the PA Supreme Court ruling on the NRA and date issue.
However it goes, you can be proud of the LPPA and how we stood up to the Republicans in a way no one expected. We have made third-party history thanks to our dedicated volunteers and LPPA leaders.
When asked how long it would take us to fold, I answered many weeks back that under my leadership the LPPA would fight to the end and would never run away from the battle with our tail between our legs. Well, we’ve given the GOP the fight of their lives and I think we are on track to win.
Thank you all for your continuing friendship and support!
In Liberty,
Dr. Tom Stevens
LPPA State Chair
32 George Dance // Oct 4, 2012 at 10:11 pm
A month after he resigned all of his positions in the Libertarian Party to campaign for Mitt Romney, Wayne Allyn Root is still being identified by FOX News as “chairman of the Libertarian National Campaign Committee”. See:
http://gdspoliticalanimal.blogspot.com/2012/10/wayne-allyn-root-is-still-being.html
33 paulie // Oct 5, 2012 at 8:46 pm
Help the Commission on Presidential Debates
http://manhattanlp.org/help-the-commission-on-presidential-debates/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/134467393362882/
Twitter Bomb SOUTHWEST Tomorrow!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=566143316732667&set=a.540885899258409.125821.539025846111081&type=1&theater
Track tomorrow’s Twitter bomb results
http://hashtaglab.com/hashtag/southwestairlinesfundscorruptdebates/
Contact SOUTHWEST now!
facebook
http://www.facebook.com/Southwest
email
gary.kelly@wnco.com, jeff.lamb@wnco.com, ron.ricks@wnco.com, dave.ridley@wnco.com, kevin.krone@wnco.com, linda.rutherford@wnco.com, ellen.torbert@wnco.com,
Add a CC to your SOUTHWEST email!
newshour@pbs.org, comments@debates.org, jb@debates.org, president@nd.edu, nminow@sidley.com, ahernandez@calfund.org, robin@debates.org, nancy@debates.org, jennifer@debates.org, Investor.Relations@ab-inbev.com, ibwainfo@bottledwater.org, info@bottledwatermatters.org, media@bottledwatermatters.org, kgardiner@crowell.com, sscohen@farrmiller.com, kennedy.library@nara.gov, info@rasmussenreports.com, info@pewresearch.org, newspolls@abc.com, info@ipsos-na.com, foxnewstips@foxnews.com, readers.representative@latimes.com, mediainquiries@msnbc.com, nytnews@nytimes.com, support@wsj.com
Petition SOUTHWEST now!
http://www.change.org/petitions/southwest-airlines-withdraw-sponsorship-of-the-commission-on-presidential-debates?utm_campaign=friend_inviter_modal&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=15855992#
Petition to Include Libertarian Two-Term Governor Gary Johnson in Presidential Debates with Mitt Romney and Barack Obama
http://www.libertarianpetition.com/
Gary Johnson 2012 Campaign Donations
https://donate.garyjohnson2012.com/
Official Gary Johnson 2012 Store
http://www.cafepress.com/garyjohnson
Print Your Own Campaign Materials
http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/downloads
Buy Gary’s Book
http://www.silverlakepub.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Principles-Good-Government-Libertarian/dp/1563439131/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346085952&sr=1-1&keywords=gary+johnson
Gary Johnson 2012 Campaign Events
https://www.facebook.com/govgaryjohnson/events
34 paulie // Oct 5, 2012 at 8:57 pm
35 paulie // Oct 5, 2012 at 9:22 pm
36 Andy // Oct 6, 2012 at 1:07 am
LOL @ the videos in posts 34 and 35!
37 BOBERT GILNES // Oct 6, 2012 at 1:40 am
Seriously guys, what happened to Robby Wells…he keeps updating his Facebook with new “regional coordinators.” for what!?
38 Wobbly Rails // Oct 6, 2012 at 8:24 am
I don’t know about Robby Wells, but speaking for myself, since the Republican delegates totally surprised me by picking someone else I have decided that my next move is to run for Pope.
Benedict is looking kinda old and I thought hey, why not? I probably stand as good a chance as anybody if I apply for the job. Get myself in line as it were.
39 Wobbly Rails // Oct 6, 2012 at 8:26 am
I’m also training to be a fireman and an astronaut.
40 paulie // Oct 6, 2012 at 8:28 am
Dunno. 2016?
41 NewFederalist // Oct 6, 2012 at 9:00 am
OR… the sure fire coaching vacancy at Arkansas!
42 Kevin Knedler // Oct 6, 2012 at 12:00 pm
400- 500 people showed up at Gary Johnson rally at University of Cincinnati. OHIO.
Awesome. It was wild and full of energy.
43 Steven Berson // Oct 6, 2012 at 4:52 pm
NPR hosted a debate between Jill Stein (Green) and Gary Johnson (Libertarian) – audio for this will be posted at 7:00pm EST tonight – you can check it out here:
http://www.npr.org/2012/10/06/162438686/the-npr-third-party-candidate-debate?sc=fb&cc=fp
44 NAP // Oct 6, 2012 at 10:23 pm
Phillies writes:
I found this on Daily Kos, but it is their press release for distribution, so far as I can tell:
Fri Oct 05, 2012 at 07:52 PM EDT
National Atheist Party Response to Mitt Romney’s Presidential Debate Statement on US Relgion+*
by NationalAtheistPartyFollow
73
permalink 18 Comments / 9 New
Official Press Release by
The National Atheist Party
following the October 3rd, 2012 Presidential Debate.
Candidate Mitt Romney Oblivious to Religious Freedom in 2012 Debate.
Florence, Kentucky — October 4, 2012
During last night’s debate, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney talked of all Americans as being of uniform religious beliefs.
During his closing remarks, candidate Romney reminded the audience that the US Constitution declares that Americans are “endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights,” and went on to smugly conclude that “we’re a nation that believes that we’re all children of the same God.”
In a heated presidential race which has seen each candidate trying to out-christian each other, this obtuse statement was seen by many as a gross disregard for America’s wide variety of religious beliefs. “Romney’s statement (that we are all children of the same God) implies that he is either unaware of the religious diversity that exists in this country, or that his vision doesn’t include those of differing ideologies. In either case, he is revealed as a religious bigot without an appreciation for secularism,” responded Troy Boyle, President of The National Atheist Party.
Governor Romney is a former bishop in the Mormon church, the Latter Day Saints. According to the writings of Joseph Smith (the founder of the Mormon faith), Mormons believe that their God was originally a human from another planet, and that by following Mormon precepts, male church members can become gods themselves to rule over other planets in the universe.
Knowing of these beliefs, religious and nonreligious groups alike took to the internet and social media immediately after the debate to protest Mr. Romney’s exclusionary remark. Troy Boyle went on to say that “No matter how much Mr. Romney wishes that to be the case, it is simply an outright lie, and how dare he have the arrogance to even assume such nonsense.”
The National Atheist Party (NAP) is deeply concerned that if elected, Governor Romney will feign ignorance to the civil rights of atheists and agnostics in the United States. Boyle finished by adding that “while we do not wish to inhibit anyone’s practice of the religion of their choice, we do not want government to engage in the practice or the perception of engaging in the practice of promoting any one religion.”
The National Atheist Party is a non-profit, 527 political organization devoted to issue advocacy and guided by the values of secular humanism and evidenced-based reasoning. The party seeks to politically represent U.S. atheists and all who share the goal of a secular government by gathering the political strength of secularists nationwide. To learn more about the party, visit http://www.usanap.org.
Posted Oct 5, 2012
Lance A. Sievert
Press Secretary
The National Atheist Party
Originally posted to National Atheist Party on Fri Oct 05, 2012 at 07:52 PM EDT.
Also republished by Street Prophets .
45 Jose C. // Oct 6, 2012 at 11:02 pm
I have a suggestion for a fundraiser for the Gary Johnson Presidential campaign. This fundraiser ties in with the alternative candidates Presidential debate sponsored by Free and Equal being held October 23.
On October 23 there will be a Presidential debate viewing party / fundraiser. Someone in the city, county, community, etc., will be in charge of the Presidential debate viewing party / fundraiser. A person will be needed who will make the “pitch” during the fundraising portion of the event. There will need to be Gary Johnson for President fundraising forms and envelopes. There should also be Gary Johnson brochures, bumber stickers, etc. to hand out. Someone else can make sure there is food and drinks available to eat during the debate viewing portion of the event. The viewing party / fundraiser will be held at someone’s house. It should be made clear this event is not just a viewing party. Fundraising will occur and those attending will be asked to make a contribution.
The Presidential debate will be viewed by those in attendance. I am assuming the debate will be broadcast by CNN, C-SPAN, etc. Attendance should be from about 15 to 25 people. Most of those attending will be Libertarians. If friends, family members, undecided voters (who know one of the Libertarian attendees), etc., want to attend that is okay. After the debate the fundraising portion of the evening will start. Depending how late the debate starts and what time it is the fundraising portion of the debate may occur before the debate starts.
Once the fundraising portion of the debate begins the person in charge of making the “pitch” will speak to those in attendance and make the fundraising pitch. After the contributions are made they (checks, envelopes, and fundraising forms) will be collected. The following day the contributions will be send via Fed Ex, UPS, Express Mail, etc., to Gary Johnson headquarters.
A report should be done on how well the viewing party / fundraiser went. Information collected will show how many people attended, of those how many gave a contribution, and what was the average contribution given. There should be no need for the names, address’ and amount contributed of those making contributions to be listed.
Obviously Constitution Party and Green Party members can have a similar style event.
I will contact the Libertarian Party of Los Angeles County Chair and work on getting this type of event held in Los Angeles. The United States is a very big country and a lot of money can be raised for the Gary Johnson campaign having many events of this type.
What does everyone think?
46 paulie // Oct 6, 2012 at 11:04 pm
47 paulie // Oct 6, 2012 at 11:12 pm
Viewing party is certainly a logical suggestion.
I wouldn’t assume it will be live on CSPAN (much less shown at all on CNN). We should find out.
48 paulie // Oct 6, 2012 at 11:15 pm
Here’s an idea I’m having, along those lines.
How about another alt-party debate.
Let’s see if we can get a panel of well-known moderators – say Jesse Ventura, Ralph Nader, Ron Paul and Amy Goodman.
Get NPR, the Nation, HuffPo and Democracy Now! all on board since they all have been pushing for Johnson, Stein et al to be included and/or provided venues, as have my suggested moderators.
More ideas on this welcome.
49 Jose C // Oct 7, 2012 at 9:53 am
@46: Follow Up
Enclosed are the Ed Clark for President campaign thoughts on conducting fundraisers of the type I am suggesting we have.
———————————————————–
Factors affecting the success of such events include:
l. The cooperation of local Libertarians. On some occasions, local activists refused even to try to raise money because “all these people are already tapped out.”
2. The person making the “pitch.” An inexperienced or ineffective pitch person — the one making the actual request for funds — usually meant that an urgent need for contributions wasn’t conveyed properly.
3. The physical nature of the event itself. People milling around at a large outdoor cocktail party were more difficult to pitch than people sitting at a banquet.
4. The mechanical procedures followed at the event. Pledge cards accessible, people to collect the cards, the timing of the pitch – poor execution of any of these would affect the success of the fundraising.
The campaign’s experience at trying to raise funds at these events — which are really the backbone of personal fundraising — lead to some of the following guidelines for the future :
l. Any group of Libertarians and their friends is a good prospect for fundraising. The “tapped out already” argument is simply false; sure, some of the people might be tapped out, but the majority in any group of 40-or-so or more are not.
2. Whoever makes the pitch must know exactly what he or she is doing. He should have a mental “script,” give a specific reason to contribute, suggest a specific amount, ask directly for the money with no qualifiers, and coordinate the pitch with the people who are handing out and collecting the pledge cards. It’s worth “importing” an experienced pitch person to a large fundraising event just for this purpose.
3. People in attendance should know ahead of
time that the event will include fundraising. It’s perfectly acceptable for the invitation to include the words “fundraising” on it.
4. Each event, banquet or party should have a formal program during which people should be expected to stop talking among themselves and pay attention. The fundraising pitch must be part of this program.
5. Contribution or pledge cards should be physically handed to each attendee in the case of a cocktail party, and should be distributed at the tables for everyone in the case of a banquet. After the pitch, two or three people should walk around and collect the cards and checks. They should go from person to person, group to group, or table to table in expectation of collecting, rather than wait for people to fill their cards out and write their checks. It is perfectly OK for the collector to ask something like, Are there any contributions ready at this table?” or “Is anyone here ready to give me a pledge card?”
6. Reading off names and pledges is optional, and works best for a small, enthusiastic group. However, it’s extremely important that the first public pledge or contribution be “set up” beforehand, since it will determine the level of all subsequent pledges. If the first pledge is for ten dollars, all the other pledges will be small; if it’s for $100, most of the others will be in that range instead. (If the first pledge is for $1,000, though, the others will probably be small. People figure that “some rich guy who could afford it got us off the hook.”)
50 paulie // Oct 7, 2012 at 10:52 am
Don’t forget to adjust those amounts for 32 years of inflation and GDP growth.
Some other related thoughts on fundraising – particularly accepting different payment methods
http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2012/10/video-gary-johnson-speaks-at-university-of-cincinnati
see #13-14 in the comment thread.
To which I should add, have plenty of different denomination FRNs on hand for making change for cash donations as well.
51 zapper // Oct 7, 2012 at 5:28 pm
@49 To add a but more:
Attendees at Libertarian events want to give money, they want to be asked, and they will be disappointed if we don’t ask and if we don’t do so in a professional way.
Libertarians want to be in the game, they want their views represented, and they will give generously to make that happen.
There are thousands of individuals waiting for the LP to become professional and serious enough to earn their support:
… we should be on major network broadcast TV at a significant level, even if it’s in small states first, one at a time,
we should use funds carefully and not waste them on high paid staff or contractors,
we should make wise and frequent use of volunteers – our members and supporters want to be involved on useful projects,
we have to take on the State – like OH in suing the sec of state, like PA standing up to the Rs on the petition challenge,
we have to go after ballot access – as a party with “Libertarian” on the ballot – even when it’s costly and difficult, as in OK, and not chicken out as in MA,
If we are professional and if we show that we are using the donors funds to build the party first and to do real outreach and real campaigns, then hundreds in every state and tens of thousands nationwide will flock to our banner and fight to dismantle the “cult of the omnipotent state” … they will happily and enthusiastically and proudly join us and give their money and time in our fight for liberty.
52 George Phillies // Oct 7, 2012 at 5:42 pm
Zapper is an idiot.
53 NewFederalist // Oct 7, 2012 at 6:10 pm
Why do you say that, George?
54 paulie // Oct 7, 2012 at 6:32 pm
Zapper is highly intelligent, as is George Phillies, but both are at times (from my perspective) too rigid in their thinking.
Nevertheless, they both frequently make excellent points and do a lot of hard work for the party.
The fact alone that I disagree with either of them at times, or anyone else, does not lead me to believe that they are idiots.
Nor would someone who always agreed with me, if such a person existed, automatically be a non-idiot. In fact, it would be highly likely that such a person would in fact be an idiot, as it would seem highly unlikely that anyone would independently arrive at the exact same conclusion as me on every single question….although I suppose, however unlikely, it is possible.
55 paulie // Oct 7, 2012 at 6:54 pm
56 paulie // Oct 7, 2012 at 6:57 pm
57 Zapper // Oct 8, 2012 at 2:05 am
@52 GP
You just have no concept of how to build and grow a membership organization, nor an understanding of strategy needed to overcome the relatively small obstacles you face in MA.
Your “clever” use of legal technicalities as an excuse for a failed strategy proves that you are anything but an “idiot” but you are unqualified to be in a leadership position in a group that requires identification and motivation of a large, diverse membership.
58 Reed E // Oct 8, 2012 at 9:33 am
Being that I actually help run a state affiliate, and my affiliate has seen 22% growth since the beginning of the year, as well has making history in several areas, let me ask the question: out of zapper, phillies, etc. who has actually run a successful affiliate?
59 paulie // Oct 8, 2012 at 9:40 am
Depends on how you define success.
60 paulie // Oct 8, 2012 at 9:41 am
BTW would be interested in your thoughts on the comment thread at http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2012/10/video-gary-johnson-speaks-at-university-of-cincinnati/
61 Kevin Knedler // Oct 8, 2012 at 9:48 am
@ 58
It would take me a couple hours to go thru the process. Turnaround in Ohio took three years.
Build your teams in the odd-years and prepare for major elections in the even-years. Assuming you have major elections in even-years. In Ohio, the local elections are in odd-years. We push that back to the county affiliates to manage.
62 zapper // Oct 8, 2012 at 10:49 am
I took over a state affiliate by default, there were only 3 active members who came to the statewide reorganizing meeting, including me and a person I brought with me.
Within 3 years we had over 150 active members, a county group in every county, our fundraising grew from a few hundred dollars to over 20,000 per year, we held county meetings in every county, organized official groups by city and town in over 35 localities, set up and manned fair booths at a dozen county fairs, hired a full time coordinator for the summer to hanle logistics, and had ballot status from backing an independent candidate for governor exceeding the 5% requirement. We ran TV ads on the major broadcast networks in all 3 state media markets, radio spots and newspaper ads – only the Broadcast, network TV produced any significant results – it was a good test. As a result our state convention was covered all three days, in all three locations (we held a 3 city state convention) by all three networks from each media market, plus radio and newspaper coverage.
The same can be done by an LP group in MA or any other state using the same techniques.
Kevin Knedler seems to be using some of the same methods in OH and I would love to exchange ideas with him someday. I do advise that they should set up a group in each of Ohio’s 88 counties (a big job but doable, I think it’s 88 IIRC, I ran a ballot drive there) get some broadcast network TV advertising going to make a bigger dent with the media and in the public eye. However, Ohio is a much more costly state, so they will need a bigger budget to do it.
63 Jose C // Oct 9, 2012 at 2:59 pm
@ 45 – 51: Do we know if the alternative party Presidential debate is going to be covered by CNN, C-Span, Fox News, etc.?
I suggest we contact CNN, C-Span, Fox News, MSNBC, PBS, etc. requesting they broadcast the debate. Usually C-SPAN covers events such as this. Many years ago CNN used to cover events (they broadcast one of our Presidential nominating conventions) of this type. Of course this was when founder Ted Turner was in charge at CNN.
We need to help the Gary Johnson campaign and this is one way to do it. Of course supporters of the other candidates can also help out.
64 NewFederalist // Oct 9, 2012 at 3:56 pm
Any word from the PA Supreme Court? I think this is the day they were supposed to issue a ruling regarding LP ballot status. I know the party believes it is okay regardless but I am interested just the same.
65 Darryl W. Perry // Oct 9, 2012 at 8:50 pm
Oh-bomb-aaaaaahhhhhhh! video from Keene, NH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8ZqukcUUDw
PS the video is 29.5 seconds if anyone is interested in having it aired
66 George Phillies // Oct 9, 2012 at 9:24 pm
New Liberty for America magazine is out.
http://libertyforamerica.com/201210.pdf for the issue.
Subscriptions via email are free.
This Issue:
Libertarian Donors Pay Johnson’s Republican Campaign Debts
LNC Votes Against Voting to Replace Root
Other LNC Events
John Jay Myers Condemns Root
Olsen Attacks Myers Re: Root
Ryan Attacks Myers Re: Root
Vohra: Myers Saved the Libertarian Party
Other LNC Notes
Oregon Law Suit
How We Got Here — The Spring 2012 LNC Debate over Wayne Root
67 Dennis // Oct 10, 2012 at 2:09 pm
Chuck Baldwin is still the Kansas Reform Party’s candidate. They failed to file the paperwork to change their candidate to Virgil Goode before the deadline.
68 paulie // Oct 10, 2012 at 5:54 pm
Ballot Access News
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Rules in Favor of Libertarian Statewide Petition
October 10th, 2012
On October 10, the Commonwealth Court Judge in Pennsylvania who is handling the challenge to the statewide Libertarian Party petition ruled that the Republicans cannot seek to re-open the challenge process. The Republican challengers had attempted to persuade the judge to give them another chance to invalidate certain signatures they had already agreed are valid. As a result, the Libertarian Party statewide petition is valid. The State Supreme Court will probably now take a slow approach to deciding whether signatures are valid if the signer forgot, or didn’t know, to add “2012? to the date column; and likewise take a slow approach to deciding if signatures are valid if the signer moved within the county and failed to re-register. These two issues are now moot. Nevertheless, the State Supreme Court will almost certainly decide them, for the sake of future disputes. Sometimes these cases take a year or more to decide when there is no immediate time pressure to decide them more quickly.
69 NewFederalist // Oct 10, 2012 at 6:39 pm
@68… YES!!!!!!!!!!!
70 Chuck Moulton // Oct 10, 2012 at 7:14 pm
Gary Johnson made the ballot in Pennsylvania!
http://www.ballot-access.org/2012/10/10/pennsylvania-commonwealth-court-rules-in-favor-of-libertarian-statewide-petition/
71 Curt Boyd // Oct 10, 2012 at 7:31 pm
I’m glad the Libertarians got on the ballot in PA. There are some good statewide candidates, like Betsy Summers, Marakay Rogers and Rayburn Smith, just to mention a few.
72 paulie // Oct 10, 2012 at 9:43 pm
New from Freedom and Liberty SuperPAC
73 Stewart Flood // Oct 11, 2012 at 6:17 am
Congratulations to the Pennsylvania LP for their victory in the fight to put our candidate on the ballot. A well deserved win over the Keystone State’s Republican thugs.
74 PeterO // Oct 11, 2012 at 1:46 pm
Here’s an interesting bit o’ news from the Last Colony:
http://dcist.com/2012/10/republican_sues_to_keep_non-partisa.php
75 paulie // Oct 12, 2012 at 5:19 am
76 paulie // Oct 12, 2012 at 5:40 am
77 Darryl W. Perry // Oct 12, 2012 at 5:08 pm
National Talk Show Host AND LP candidate for NH State Rep. Detained by TSA
http://www.examiner.com/article/national-talk-radio-host-misses-his-flight-after-tsa-detains-him-twice
78 wolfefan // Oct 14, 2012 at 4:28 pm
Here’s a link to Rick Hasen linking to news on the Indepedence Party’s lawsuit in Brooklyn. If the page has changed, it was posted at 9:26 am on October 11. http://electionlawblog.org/?p=41450
79 paulie // Oct 14, 2012 at 4:34 pm
80 just libertarian // Oct 14, 2012 at 7:54 pm
Former LP VP nominee WARoot is being persecuted by the Obama IRS for exposing Obama’s shady foreign past — http://www.wnd.com/2012/10/columbia-classmate-obama-using-irs-to-punish-me/
81 LibertarianGirl // Oct 14, 2012 at 8:55 pm
good job PA!
82 Wobbly Rails // Oct 14, 2012 at 8:59 pm
@80
Just silly. It repeats every debunked Root talking point and the only one being shady is…Wayne Root.
What kind of shoddy research did the article writer do? Check the claim about Snopes for starters, or the BS about 400 Columbia classmates.
83 Be Rational // Oct 15, 2012 at 3:00 am
“Top-two” heats up at Ballot Access News:
Jim Riley, an outspoken supporter and organizer for the “Top-two” campaign to end free elections in America has basically admitted that “top-two” ends free elections in America with his comment that participation in the “top-two” single party primary is optional – in other words, he states that (paraphrasing and parsing his resonse):
‘You can join the Communist Party, comrade, and be party of the ruling class, or you can sit out the process, stay home and be excluded. You can join the cabal and lose the right to free elections or stay home and lose the right to free elections. Ha, ha.’
From Ballot Access News:
Be Rational Says:
October 14th, 2012 at 5:32 pm
@13 Come on Riley, no one is stupid enough to believe that horseshit argument:
“Jim Riley Says:
October 14th, 2012 at 9:57 am
#10 Participation by candidates and voters in a Top 2 primary is voluntary. Your claim of forced participation is bogus.”
Sure, you can ignore politics and give up your right to choose the leaders of our nations. You can abstain and refuse to vote and let the fascists, like Jim Riley, rule over you unopposed. This is what Jim Riley and his evil cronies hope you’ll do.
The fact is that “top-two” does indeed create a one-party state, with that party controlled by the government itself. It is the same as in the old USSR. To paraphrase Jim Riley: ‘You can join us “comrade” or you can stay home.’
In a free country there is a General Election where every candidate has the option to appear on the ballot without restriction: the candidate can run as an “independent” or seek the nomination of an unlimited and unrestricted number of parties, with every party allowd to place its candidates on the ballot.
In a free country, primaries, conventions and other processes are the means by which each party chooses its candidates, the method being up to the party to choose, and are not subject to regulation or purview of the government or its agents, such as Jim Riley.
The General Election in the United States is in November of even numbered years for most important offices.
The goal of “top-two” and its evil supporters, including its cheerleader Jim Riley, is to make sure that the people who go to the polls have only two state selected and approved candidates to choose from,both selected in a single primary representing a single party where two dominate corporate factions will rule, and that all others are excluded institutionally in advance of the general election.
“Top-two” must be stopped before it is too late.
“Top-two” is NOT a reform.
“Top-two” is a takeover of the entire electoral system by a fascist-socialst-corporate cabal.
Note: “Top-two” will be on the ballot this November in Arizona.
The end of free elections and the creation of a permanent, single ruling party for America is underway.
84 dennis // Oct 15, 2012 at 10:01 am
85 paulie // Oct 15, 2012 at 10:27 am
If you’re trying to post an image or video I’ll need to sign you up to post articles.
86 Green_Liberal // Oct 15, 2012 at 10:37 am
Funny stuff.
The fact is, the Soviets had both elections and constitutions, just like the US. And just like the US, only designated parties were allowed to win. There’s a great book waiting to be written on the many similarities between the Soviet system and the contemporary American system when it comes to politics, elections, and mind control.
87 dennis // Oct 15, 2012 at 1:01 pm
How does one sign up?
88 paulie // Oct 15, 2012 at 1:07 pm
I sent you an invite.
89 PeterO // Oct 15, 2012 at 1:19 pm
The NY Times has a big story on Johnson’s impact (which mentions Goode’s as well) this morning. It’s in the print edition, not just the website.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/us/politics/gary-johnson-the-libertarian-partys-presidential-nominee-worries-republicans.html
90 paulie // Oct 15, 2012 at 1:39 pm
Also, Johnson and Stein were on CNN
http://libertycrier.com/politics/gary-johnson-vs-jill-stein-the-other-presidential-debate-on-cnn/
Articles coming up a bit later if someone else doesn’t get to them first.
91 George Phillies // Oct 15, 2012 at 10:23 pm
North Carolina, New Hampshire Libertarians Doing Well
As spotted on DailyKos, which has a superb daily polling aggregate, including professional comments on the quality of the polling:
NH-GOV (Feldman Group for the DGA): Maggie Hassan (D) 44, Ovide Lamontagne (R) 39, John Babiarz (L) 5
NC-GOV (PPP): Pat McCrory (R) 47, Walter Dalton (D) 37, Barbara Howe (L) 5
92 paulie // Oct 16, 2012 at 12:44 am
93 Al Koholic // Oct 16, 2012 at 5:59 pm
https://rt.com/usa/news/police-jill-stein-debate-589/
Stein, Honkala arrested at debate
94 Al Koholic // Oct 16, 2012 at 6:00 pm
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/10/12/expanding_the_vp_debate_third_party
Honkala, Rodriguez VP Counter-Debate
95 Losty // Oct 16, 2012 at 6:47 pm
Does anyone have a list of the 3rd party candidates and the states they are ballot-Qualified for?
96 Darryl W. Perry // Oct 17, 2012 at 1:42 pm
On October 14, the NH Liberty Party officially nominated a presidential ticket of Dale “NOTA” Everett & Emberlea “Liberty” McCulligh. The idea was to allow voters to vote for “None of the Above” (NOTA) or “Liberty” and have those votes counted. A decision was made to select candidates to be stand-in’s for “NOTA” & “Liberty.” The NHLP’s Presidential Ticket will not be on the ballot due to New Hampshire’s strict ballot access rules. However voters will be able to cast a write-in vote for “NOTA” or “Liberty” and under State & Federal law, that vote MUST be tabulated and filed with the National Archivist.
On October 15, the slate of electors was sent via Certified Mail to the Secretary of State and emailed to the Elections Division of the Secretary of State. According to the Postal Service tracking system the certified letter “was delivered at 11:41 am on October 16, 2012 in CONCORD, NH 03301.”
The Nashua Patch & NHInsider.com have both recently published LTE’s advocating for NOTA. You can read that letter here.
97 Romney Advocates Gun Control // Oct 17, 2012 at 2:18 pm
Romney attacks gun ownership (and has no idea what our laws actually state).
Here is a selling point to some undecided voters about the virtues of Johnson. Romney’s ignorant remarks make clear why he would not want a Libertarian in the debate, namely he would be chopped to ribbons. Also, folks would be reminded that he was inclined in Massachusetts to be a gun-grabber.
“MR. ROMNEY: Yeah, I — I’m not in favor of new pieces of legislation on — on guns and — and taking guns away or — or making certain guns illegal. We of course don’t want to have automatic weapons, and that’s already illegal in this country to have automatic weapons.
What I believe is we have to do as the president mentioned towards the end of his remarks there, which is to make enormous efforts to enforce the gun laws that we have and to change the culture of violence we have. And you ask, how are we going to do that? And there are a number of things.
…..
MR. ROMNEY: Well, Candy, actually, in my state, the pro-gun folks and the anti-gun folks came together and put together a piece of legislation, and it’s referred to as a — as an assault weapon ban, but it had at the signing of the bill both the pro-gun and the anti- gun people came together, because it provided opportunities for both that both wanted. There were hunting opportunities, for instance, that hadn’t previously been available and so forth. So it was a mutually agreed upon piece of legislation.
That’s what we need more of, Candy. What we have right now in Washington is a place that’s — that’s gridlocked. We haven’t had — we haven’t — we haven’t — we haven’t had the leadership in Washington to work on a bipartisan basis.”
98 George Phillies // Oct 17, 2012 at 2:20 pm
Readers will perhaps recall that machine gun ownership is legal in America, if you have the right license. Indeed, one Massachusetts gun club has a machine gun firing range.
99 Jill Pyeatt // Oct 18, 2012 at 1:54 pm
I’m continuing to have only periodic access to IPR. I reaceived a voicemail the AM from Al Jazeera English asking if I or some other writer form IPR would like to fly to Washington DC to comment on the third party debate next Tuesday! Here’s the letter she subsequently sent me:
From: Zuleqa Husain
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2012 15:57
To: ‘contact.ipr@gmail.com’
Subject: Interview request for Al Jazeera English
Hello,
I am a producer for Al-Jazeera English’s award-winning, social media based show The Stream. Our show, which has recently won an Emmy nomination, is a half-hour, live, interactive, daily talk show.
We would love to have someone from IPR on our program as we cover the 3rd party presidential debate on the 23rd of October late evening. Wanted to see if someone familiar with social media would be available that day to participate in our coverage.
If there is a number I can reach you at, we can discuss this further.
More about our show:
Our recent coverage of the presidential debates:
http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/romneys-bindersfullofwomen
WHAT IS THE STREAM?
The Stream is a social media community with its own daily television program, focusing on stories that are ongoing, global, and sourced from social media. The Stream is an aggregator of online sources and discussion, seeking out unheard voices, new perspectives from people on the ground and untold angles related to the most compelling stories of the day. We also share the platform with artists, celebrities and intellectuals who are an integral part of the social media community.
The program is critically acclaimed, having won the prestigious Royal Television Society Award in the UK for ‘the most innovative news show’ and an Emmy nomination in the US for its “best new approaches to news and documentaries”.
The show appears live on Al Jazeera, streams live online (available via YouTube, podcast, Facebook), and repeats at 04:30 GMT, 08:30GMT, 14:30GMT.
Al Jazeera’s global footprint continues to grow, broadcasting to more than 280 million households in more than 130 countries. But, from your perspective, this isn’t just about global viewers – we also have a big (and growing!) American audience: AJE has a reach of around 32 million US viewers in places as diverse as New York, Texas and Vermont. The program will also be available on the Al Jazeera English website, which receives more than 20 million visits per month, approximately 50 per cent of which come from North America. To quote the New Yorker magazine: “Americans have fallen for Al Jazeera English’s authenticity.”
Thanks,
Zuleqa Husain
Al Jazeera English | The Stream
Washington DC – GMT -4
desk: +1 (202) 496-5794 | mobile: +1 (612) 251-5993
Twitter | Facebook
100 paulie // Oct 18, 2012 at 3:14 pm
I’m continuing to have only periodic access to IPR.
That’s not just you. See sitemeter.
101 Jill Pyeatt // Oct 18, 2012 at 4:01 pm
The only thing is I’d like to have conversation about who goes to the debate. I haven’t said no, but I’d like to know from the IPR writers/staff is they think someone better should go. I do think I could handle it.
102 paulie // Oct 18, 2012 at 4:04 pm
There’s some discussion of that in the IPR facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19775570843
103 Trent Hill // Oct 18, 2012 at 4:35 pm
We’re definitely having some trouble with IPR. It’s related to our hosting.
104 paulie // Oct 18, 2012 at 6:40 pm
Any idea when it will be fixed more permanently?
105 Trent Hill // Oct 18, 2012 at 7:40 pm
No. Everytime we get it fixed they tell us they’ve found the problem. And everytime it’s not the real issue.
We might switch hosting servers.
106 Jill Pyeatt // Oct 20, 2012 at 3:53 pm
I’m on Twitter now, folks: JillPyeatt
107 Joshua // Oct 21, 2012 at 1:32 pm
Just for the record, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced its foregone conclusions to only invite Obama & Romney to the Oct. 16 presidential debate on Oct. 12, and to the Oct. 22 presidential debate on Oct. 19. See the press releases at http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=news for the announcements.
108 paulie // Oct 21, 2012 at 3:30 pm
See comments on http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2012/10/updated-rocky-anderson-ballot-access-map/
109 Stewart Flood // Oct 22, 2012 at 9:28 am
Their problem is that the value for max_connections in my.cnf is too low. They may have it still set at the default value, which in most releases of Mysql is 151. I usually use values in the 300-700 range, depending on the anticipated load of the server. Of course they will have to adjust other settings if they increase this value, but if they have even a slight understanding of what they are doing then they should be able to fix it.
On the other hand, they may have you on a very heavily loaded server that they’ve already bumped Mysql setting up on and they just don’t have enough memory left to give to it.
Free advice. The Mysql connection limit is almost ALWAYS the cause of a failure to connect to the database.
110 paulie // Oct 22, 2012 at 10:11 am
Trent now says it’s hackers.
111 Stewart Flood // Oct 22, 2012 at 11:43 am
That’s what they told him. I call BS on that one. But even if it is an attack, they usually attempt to take your server down by sending lots of requests and overloading it. Having a properly configured server will help prevent attacks from affecting your site.
Most hosting companies claim hackers, covering up for their inability to manage their network and/or server.
112 Wes Wagner // Oct 22, 2012 at 12:42 pm
SF @111
+1
This is the most probable answer.
113 Marc Allan Feldman // Oct 22, 2012 at 12:58 pm
Wes @112.
You don’t think it’s . . . Republicans??
114 Wes Wagner // Oct 22, 2012 at 1:59 pm
MAF @113
Nah… they can convince the old LNC to hire a GOP lawyer who is the son of the Oregon GOP vice-chair to attempt to facilitate a coup against the libertarian faction of the libertarian party of Oregon … but I seriously doubt they care about whether this website is up or not.
115 paulie // Oct 22, 2012 at 2:03 pm
http://www.lp.org/blogs/staff/former-lp-presidential-candidate-actor-american-indian-movement-leader-russell-means-die
Former LP presidential candidate, actor, American Indian Movement leader Russell Means dies at 72
posted by Staff on Oct 22, 2012
Russell Means, political activist and actor who appeared in numerous films including The Last of the Mohicans, died today after a year-long battle with cancer at 72.
In 1987, Means ran for the nomination of president as a Libertarian, finishing second with 31% of the vote. He lost the nomination to Congressman Ron Paul.
Means was a leader in the American Indian Movement and also defended the rights of indigenous peoples in Central and South America.
Means said he felt his most important accomplishment was the founding of the Republic of Lakotah to be a sovereign nation inside the borders of the United States. Lakota freedom activists declared that the treaties signed with the United States, some of them more than 150 years old, are worthless and have been “repeatedly violated in order to steal our culture, our land and our ability to maintain our way of life.”
The new country would include parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming and would issue its own passports and driving licenses. Means said, “Living there would be tax-free — provided residents renounce their US citizenship.”
Means published his autobiography Where White Men Fear to Tread in 1995.
His family said in a statement, “Our dad and husband, now walks among our ancestors. As he would say, ‘May the Great Mystery continue to guide and protect the paths of you and your loved ones.’”
116 NewFederalist // Oct 22, 2012 at 4:36 pm
OMG!! First George McGovern and now Russell Means! When will it stop?
117 Jill Pyeatt // Oct 22, 2012 at 5:27 pm
Bite your tongue, NF–
118 Trent Hill // Oct 22, 2012 at 6:37 pm
We’re switching hosting companies this week. Thanks for your patience, guys.
119 Austin Battenberg // Oct 23, 2012 at 2:10 pm
I have a philosophical question for libertarians.
What takes precedent? Contracts or property rights?
The reason I ask is this: I was watching an interview with Thomm Hartmann and Judge Jim Gray, and Gray said the government would honor the contract obligations to those on social security while we over time phase it out.
Remember, this is entirely philosophical and hypothetical.
If property rights take precedent, then that means we can no longer take taxes from individuals. Which means unless people voluntarily give t heir money to the government, those on social security, medicare, etc would not be able to receive the benefits. The older individuals who rely upon the assistance will basically be screwed.
However, if contract obligations take precedent, despite not agreeing to taxation, would the government have to continue to take money from people until they fulfill all the obligations that they promised.
I’m just curious where everyone stands on this.
120 NewFederalist // Oct 23, 2012 at 2:50 pm
Perhaps the government (that is the national government) could sell its vast tracts of land mostly west of the Mississippi River to fulfill its contractual obligations to those dependent on social security. It would be a start at least.
121 NewFederalist // Oct 23, 2012 at 2:52 pm
“Bite your tongue, NF–”
They come in threes you know, Jill.
122 Jill Pyeatt // Oct 23, 2012 at 3:05 pm
I know, NF (@121)! That’s why I told you to bite your tongue–
123 NewFederalist // Oct 23, 2012 at 3:16 pm
Who will be number three? It will probably be somebody from South Dakota to keep things in the natural order. Hmmm… who does anyone know in South Dakota? If I get a vote it will be the SoS of Michigan!
124 Graybeard // Oct 23, 2012 at 3:27 pm
@119 & @120:
@120 is the exact reply Gray will give when asked
125 Trent Hill // Oct 23, 2012 at 4:03 pm
I agree with NF that selling off the massive amounts of property the government has in Alaska, Nevada, Idaho, and other western states would be a GREAT start to paying down the debt/paying off SS obligations.
126 paulie // Oct 24, 2012 at 11:41 am
ROFLOL literally:
Blimp-Like Aircraft With Mitt Romney Ad Crash Lands in Florida
A blimp-like aircraft carrying a Mitt Romney campaign message crash landed in a field in Davie Sunda…
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/Mitt-Romney-Blimp-Like-Aircraft-Crash-Lands-in-Davie-175211681.html
127 Eric Sundwall // Oct 24, 2012 at 12:27 pm
After decrying the top-two system as the dubious first question of the third party presidential debate, Free & Equal than creates a top-two system for their next debate? Don’t vote at all on this one folks . . . Just say’n.
128 paulie // Oct 24, 2012 at 12:42 pm
Not a fan of either top 2 or irv, but i want to see my candidate advance in the F & E debates. As Tim Doran put it in forwarding my email a few minutes ago:
http://freeandequal.org/vote/
Please email this link (and explanation) out to your state volunteers and post on your state facebook pages. We need to make sure we get Gary into the next round.
It will look really bad that we have been complaining about being left out of National Debates by CPD and then don’t even advance in the third party debates!
Thanks,
Tim Doran
Regional Director of the South
129 Gigi Bowman // Oct 24, 2012 at 1:35 pm
If only I could subscribe to the Independent political report then I would not miss a thing!
130 paulie // Oct 24, 2012 at 1:37 pm
Best I know of right now is rss or http://twitter.com/I_P_R
131 From Der Sidelines // Oct 24, 2012 at 9:11 pm
@119: Property rights trump contracts, because without property rights, the ability to contract out one’s property, be it by sale or other exchange, is impossible. That and a contract can voluntarily limit one’s property rights, and if property rights do not trump, then that isn’t possible, either.
132 From Der Sidelines // Oct 24, 2012 at 9:15 pm
@119: Socialism Security is not an enforceable contract as it was not entered into voluntarily for almost everyone. It was entered into coercively from misinformation and fraud, and cannot be exited by the individual.
133 Write Tiffany Briscoe // Oct 24, 2012 at 9:54 pm
Write In Tiffany Briscoe Democrat for President in Maryland Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 24th, 2012 at 6:50 pm
Write In Tiffany Briscoe, Democrat for US President in MD Nov. 6, 2012
Home page: http://tiffanybriscoe2012.weebly.com/
Info Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMEYvtAiInU
134 PeterO // Oct 24, 2012 at 10:05 pm
Tiffany Briscoe’s home page still says “the respectable Kimberly Johnson” is her running mate, and that they are running as independents. Here she says she is running as a Democrat, despite the fact that I’m pretty sure the Democrats already have a ticket on the ballot in Maryland.
135 zapper // Oct 26, 2012 at 1:53 pm
Up. Down. Up. Down.
Where are you now IPR?
Are you being hosted by GoDaddy now?
136 paulie // Oct 26, 2012 at 2:02 pm
Amazon.
137 Jill Pyeatt // Oct 26, 2012 at 2:08 pm
I got the GoDaddy thing to this AM, and was worried we’d lose the domain. I’m glad it’s been fixed.
138 Stewart Flood // Oct 26, 2012 at 2:21 pm
Fun fun fun!
At least it is moved. That’s the worst part. Now we get to see if Amazon’s service is as [un]reliable as they say it is!!!
139 Steve M // Oct 26, 2012 at 6:40 pm
New CNN poll for ohio that includes Johnson and Stein
Obama 48%
Romney 44%
Johnson 4%
Stein 2%
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2012/images/10/26/topoh2.pdf
140 paulie // Oct 26, 2012 at 7:53 pm
New profile, nothing there yet but if anyone here has accounts there and would like to be friends on there also let me know
http://vk.com/id187584560
141 Kevin Knedler // Oct 27, 2012 at 7:30 am
You better believe that the Ohio LP team is going after another 55,000 votes– 1% in Ohio. The vote will be historic no matter what, but 5% guarantees we will be on the ballot as a party in 2014 no matter what the GOP throws at us on ballot access freedoms. Of course the petition law is non existent on the books, because we won in Federal Court.
142 paulie // Oct 27, 2012 at 10:33 pm
143 Jill Pyeatt // Oct 28, 2012 at 2:53 pm
One of our IPR writers, Brian Irving, who is running for Congress in North Carolina, has received an interesting endorsement:
http://libertypoint.org/?p=4271
Congratulations, Brian, on other people recognizing your potential!
144 Jill Pyeatt // Oct 28, 2012 at 3:24 pm
Paulie @ 142: That’s a very chilling video. I posted it both to FB and Twitter. This country is totally f*cked. Things are just getting worse and worse.
145 Libertarian Party Needs Your Support // Oct 29, 2012 at 12:52 pm
Using Dave Leip’s Atlas of US POTUS race numbers, here are the numbers to beat in LP votes and % to set new records. Look at it as a MAJOR VICTORY if your state tops these numbers. (MI and OK excluded of course) I have these listed in order of Electoral College votes, highest to lowest.
’80 CA -148,434 1.73%
’80 TX – 37,643 0.83%
’80 FL – 30,524 0.83%
’80 NY – 52,648 0.85%
’80 IL – 38,939 0.82%
’80 PA – 33,263 0.73%
’80 OH – 49,033 1.14%
’80 MI – 41,597 1.06%
’00 GA – 36,332 1.40%
’08 NC – 25,722 0.60%
’80 NJ – 20,652 0.69%
’80 VA – 12,821 0.69% ’00 – 15,198 0.55%
’80 WA – 29,213 1.68%
’80 AZ – 18,784 2.15%
’08 IN – 29,257 1.06%
’80 MA – 22,038 0.87%
’80 TN – 7,116 0.44% ’08 8,547 0.33%
’80 MO – 14,422 0.69%
’80 MN – 31,592 1.54%
’80 MD – 14,192 0.92%
’80 WI – 29,135 1.28%
’80 AL – 13,318 0.99%
’80 CO – 25,744 2.17%
’80 SC – 4,975 0.56% ’08 7,283 0.38%
’80 KY – 5,531 0.43% ’08 5,989 0.33%
’80 LA – 8,240 0.53%
’88 CT – 14,071 0.97%
’80 OK – 13,828 1.20%
’80 OR – 25,838 2.19%
’80 AR – 8,970 1.07%
’80 IA – 13,123 1.00%
’80 KS – 14,470 1.48%
’80 MS – 5,465 0.61%
’80 NV – 4,358 1.76% ’96 4,460 0.96%
’80 UT – 7,226 1.20% ’88 7,473 1.16%
’80 NE – 9,073 1.42%
’80 NM – 4,365 0.96%
’80 WV – 4,356 0.59%
’80 HI – 3,269 1.08%
’80 ID – 8,425 1.93%
’80 ME – 5,119 0.98%
’88 NH – 4,502 1.00%
’80 RI – 2,458 0.59%
’80 AK – 18,479 11.66%
’80 DC – 1,104 0.63%
’80 DE – 1,974 0.84% ’96 2,052 0.76%
’80 MT – 9,825 2.70%
’80 ND – 3,743 1.24%
’80 SD – 3,824 1.17%
’80 VT – 1,900 0.89%
’80 WY – 4,514 2.55%
Should be EASY hey? I won’t limit anyone’s expectations, but you need to understand in a recent poll 74% of the people still don’t know who GJ is or anything about his past. Thinking 5% of the vote with the almost 100% major media blackout isn’t sensible. If we can top most of these numbers listed above this WILL BE a major SUCCESS in 2012. ALL politics is LOCAL. Use this election to build your local LP and if you do you have been a huge SUCCESS ! Retaining Ballot Access in a down ticket race, in most cases, must always be a prime goal of each state LP! No need for burnout if progress no matter how large or small is made.
CARPE DIEM
-Butch S.
I’ve tried to be accurate, I apologize for any mistakes in the listings.
146 Jill Pyeatt // Oct 29, 2012 at 4:56 pm
At least one of our writers here at IPR, Kimberly Wilder, is at risk due to the impending storm (Sandy, I mean, not the election–we’re all at risk due to that!) I checked her blog and she says she’ll check in as she can:
http://www.onthewilderside.com
147 Libertarian Party Needs Your Support // Oct 29, 2012 at 6:04 pm
Dear Fellow Libertarian,
I have heart-pounding, foot-stomping good news for you.
Only 7 days Left to Get Out the Vote — for Our 567 Libertarian Party Candidates
5 nationwide Presidential polls found that 3% to 6% of likely voters plan to vote for Libertarian Presidential candidate Governor Gary Johnson. In razor-close, Tipping Point states – New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Colorado, and Nevada – Gov. Gary Johnson polls between 2% and 10.6%. Enough to determine the results of the Presidential vote. Seven pollsters and 13 Republican Campaign Operatives tell us: “Your Libertarian Presidential candidate Gov. Gary Johnson could change the outcome in several Battleground/Tipping Point states. No guarantees, but it’s very, very possible.” But None of this makes any Difference –
UNLESS we Get Out the Libertarian Vote for November 6th.
UNLESS you and I and our fellow Libertarian Party members and supporters get our voters to go to the polls and vote Libertarian.
Election Day is the ONLY Poll that Matters.
Are you frustrated and fed up with the Big Government Politicians folding, shredding, and mutilating liberty?
Are you bone-weary of knee-buckling, back-breaking Big Government Taxes, Borrowing, Spending, Legislation, Regulations, and Mandates? Are your family, friends, and neighbors?
Are you straining, sweating, and bleeding week after week – NOT to support yourself and your family – but to shoulder the ever-heavier burden of Big Government?
You can make it stop. You can turn it around.
With your Libertarian Vote – and by helping us to get other Libertarian voters to the polls for November 6th.
Your vote is your voice. When you vote Libertarian.
Want to tell the Washington politicians you’re not going to take it anymore?
Want to Send Them a Message They Can’t Ignore? A Message They’ll Never Forget?
Help us Get Out the Libertarian Party Vote – during these irreplaceable last 7 days until November 6th.
You are one of 93,000 Libertarians receiving this email message.
There are 282,357 registered Libertarian Party voters in America. (Only 30 states permit us to resister Libertarian.)
2,100,000+ votes were cast for Dr. Ron Paul, our friend and hero, in the Republican Presidential primaries and caucuses. Congressman Ron Paul and Governor Gary Johnson are both champions of individual liberty and the Constitution. They are implacable foes of Big Government. Brothers in arms for freedom and small government.
Over 67% of polled Ron Paul activists plan to vote for Libertarian Presidential candidate Governor Gary Johnson – BECAUSE a vote for Gary Johnson is a Vote for Ron Paul.
PLUS there are several million uncompromising Tea Partiers and Independents and new libertarians.
But None of these Numbers Make any Difference –
UNLESS you and I and our fellow Libertarian Party members and supporters contact and connect and convince them to go to the polls and vote Libertarian.
For our Libertarian Presidential Ticket of Governor Gary Johnson and Judge Jim Gray
For our 567 Libertarian Party candidates on the November 6th Ballot.
What We Must Do These Last 7 Days before Election Day.
We must notify or remind every Libertarian to vote. To vote early if they can – in case something comes up on November 6th.
We must publicize and advertise and mobilize every libertarian or libertarian-leaning voter, every Tea Party voter, every Ron Paul or Ron Paul-leaning voter, every Gary Johnson or Gary Johnson-leaning voter to vote for Governor Gary Johnson for President – and vote for every Libertarian Party candidate on the ballot in their state.
We must send a loud and clear call-to-action to several million people these last 7 days.
We must raise $70,000 to $90,000 during these 7 days to have a chance to get the lion’s share of these likely Libertarian voters to the Polls.
Everything that Gary Johnson has done this year, Everything that our 567 Libertarian Party candidates have done this year…DEPENDS on what YOU and I do now. DEPENDS on whether we can contact and connect and convince over a million of us to show up and vote on November 6th.
You and I and our fellow Libertarians can seize this huge opportunity – IF we pour it on these last 7 days before Election Day.
We must move fast – to give YOU the maximum Libertarian votes from this 7-day surge.
Will you help us massively boost our outreach now, our Get Out the Libertarian Vote Avalanche of Activism, pump up our blog promos NOW?
Now is the time. Every dollar you donate – gives 10 times the impact.
If you can possibly donate $10,000 or $5,000 or $2,500 now, you can make a huge difference now. Will you please make this generous donation today?
Will you, can you donate $1,500 or $850 now – during these maximum-impact last 7-days?
If you can contribute $250 or $500 today, will you please?
Or $35 or $85 or $150. Won’t you please help us help you advance liberty?
Please either click and donate now or mail your donation to the address below with “Get out the Libertarian Vote” in the memo.
You and I must raise $70,000 to $90,000 in these last 7 days – to send the Big Government Politicians a Message They Can’t Ignore: Liberty is On the Rise.
Your donation delivers Libertarian votes this November 6th. Thank you.
Yours in liberty,
Carla Howell, Executive Director
Libertarian Party
P.S. We only have 7 days left to promote and publicize our Libertarian Campaign message. We’re nearly broke. Please help our Libertarian Party candidates campaign, get publicity and news coverage, and get votes – NOW. Will you please donate $35 or $85 or $150 or $850? Your donation is our budget.
Paid for by the Libertarian National Committee
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Content not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.
148 George Dance // Oct 31, 2012 at 7:29 am
This looks like major third-party news to me. I couldn’t see it on IPR; excuse me if it has already been noted.
Montana PAC spends $500,000 on TV ad for Liberarian Dan Cox.
http://gdspoliticalanimal.blogspot.ca/2012/10/montana-pac-spends-500k-on-tv-ad-for.html
149 Trent Hill // Oct 31, 2012 at 7:42 am
We made a post on it like 2 days ago. Search for “Dan Cox” should turn it up.
150 PeterO // Oct 31, 2012 at 8:57 am
Any predictions on vote totals? I’ll go with…
Gary Johnson 780,000
Jill Stein 210,000
Virgil Goode 185,000
Rocky Anderson 62,000
Roseanne Barr 45,000
151 Jill Pyeatt // Oct 31, 2012 at 11:14 am
For those of you who would like to be scared out of your wits today, on Halloween (oh glorious day!),
you might wish to read what the Libertarian National Committee has chosen to discuss the last few days. Of course, this is the week before an historic election (so the media keeps telling us) and during one of the largest natural disasters to hit our country:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LNCDiscussPublic/message/2577;_ylc=X3oDMTM2aWcya2I3BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE1BGdycElkAzg0OTg4MzE4BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2MDE2OQRtc2dJZAMyNTk0BHNlYwNkbXNnBHNsawN2dHBjBHN0aW1lAzEzNTE2OTI0NDYEdHBjSWQDMjU3Nw–
152 Jill Pyeatt // Oct 31, 2012 at 11:20 am
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/680335_4082482657551_498634654_o.jpg
153 zapper // Oct 31, 2012 at 11:26 am
@150 Don’t know about the others, but I believe that Johnson will come in with better raw vote totals than Ed Clark but a lower percentage.
Johnson should set a new high water mark for total votes for an LP POTUS candidate in about 40 states – not MI and OK, obviously, and not AK.
Johnson will set a new high water mark for the % of the vote in a handful of states, but nationwide he will be close, but somewhat below, Clark 1980.
In short, Johnson will be the LP’s second best ever.
Despite being a two term governor, his resume and his incredible effort, it is the lack of any sophisticated TV advertising campaign that held him back.
The problems with the Johnson campaign:
1) Overhanging campaign debt.
2) Overpaid campaign manager and staff.
3) No strategic planning, nor the ability to do strategic planning.
(Building credibility and name recognition first, and early in the campaign season is essential. We have to start early with targeted Broadcast Network TV ads in key small states if we are EVER going to break out of the 1% area. We need good strategic planning to choose the states, and staturation targets for free media and growth generated by the ads.)
4) No advertising plan, just random buys without logic or reason.
(Within our strategic plan, we choose individual stations in the chosen markets within budget, produce the spots, and run on major network broadcast TV well before June of the election year.)
5) The inability of the campaign to shift gears and resolve problems 1 through 4 by adapting and changing:
Renogotiate or fire the CM if he won’t change. Institute serious strategic planning by someone who understands both what strategic planning is and the US political system.
Grab hold of a good plan when presented.
Listen to your critical supporters; they will help you more than enemies, non-supporters, sychophants and paid, self-interested campaign staff.
The LP has had breakthroughs in the past: in AK, NH and ME. We should learn from these successes.
154 paulie // Oct 31, 2012 at 12:37 pm
Overpaid campaign manager and staff.
397k spent on a staff of 29, and they have several full time or near full time volunteers.
155 zapper // Oct 31, 2012 at 1:52 pm
I’m sure there are a number of volunteers and low paid dedicated individuals in the campaign. However, the campaign manager is paid through his firm and these amounts are masked by being lumped together with other items. It has long been clear, however, that the “debt” is pay for the CM in a high six figure range. It is also clear that this debt, along with a general lack of strategic planning ability and lack of understanding of the US POTUS system, media, and how to leverage the existing system on an LP sized budget, prevented the consideration of undertaking a real campaign at the critical early stages in the spring of 2012. Is there a breakdown of the amounts paid out as a lump sum to his Consulting firm that show anything different?
156 paulie // Oct 31, 2012 at 2:03 pm
However, the campaign manager is paid through his firm and these amounts are masked by being lumped together with other items.
At this point he has not been paid at all. He’s hoping to recover his money out of government matching funds. The 397k is the entire budget for salaries which would include his own, except that he hasn’t been taking one. The breakdown is at http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/GJ-2012-General-Election-Summary1.pdf with some discussion in the comments at http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2012/10/johnson-campaign-releases-financial-summary/
157 PeterO // Oct 31, 2012 at 2:12 pm
I would be surprised, though happily so, if Johnson/Gray exceeds the 921,128 votes counted for Clark/Koch 32 years ago.
158 George Phillies // Oct 31, 2012 at 2:30 pm
@156 Paulie, your claim and the changes in specific debts for specific purposes on the FEC report Form Ds do not agree with each other.
159 paulie // Oct 31, 2012 at 2:40 pm
That’s what I have been told. As far as I know, payments to NSON and payments to Ron Nielson personally are two different things, even though Nielson owns NSON, and Ron Nielson says he has not been paid personally as of yet. The money that went to NSON was spent 1) on various outside spending as detailed at http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/GJ-2012-General-Election-Summary1.pdf 2) That same file shows 397k for staff salaries; Nielson says he has not been paying himself out of this. Beyond that, I don’t know. The 397k – in addition to paying 29 people – also includes office, computers, phones and general office supplies.
160 PeterO // Oct 31, 2012 at 2:52 pm
This monetary nit-picking seems interesting from members of a party that exalts free markets. It’s a simple matter. If I were to be paid, say, $500,000 to run a campaign that exceeds expectations, I was a good investment. If I were paid half that to run a campaign that does not meet expectations, I was a bad one. The question: What are the realistic expectations for the Johnson campaign, and will the paid staff have met them?
161 zapper // Oct 31, 2012 at 2:52 pm
The $397k for salaries NOT including Nielson are too high for this tiny effort. Likewise, the entire radio ad budget and much of the signage budget should have been redirected into TV.
The first link you provide is a very general summary and not the FEC reported numbers, so more detail is needed. Likewise, detail regarding the use of matching funds is needed. The second link raises questions from either trolls or insiders with knowledge, but has no further detail, except that Joe Buckman.
Cost/benefit analysis would need pages of exact detail to determine which of the expenses (if any) was worth more than the TV ads that should have been run.
If we subtract out ballot drive costs and legal costs listed, and I’ll throw in the travel expenses for the candidates and round off. From the $1 million donated from May 6 through Sept 30, subtracting $400k for Ballot Access. Legal, Travel and a bit more for printing and other leaves at least $600k that should have been managed better – the bulk (no less than half – $300k) should have been spent on targeted TV ads on major broadcast networks in small states. In reality, there is no excuse for spending less than half of the total donations on targeted major network Broadcast TV.
The funding was there to do serious flights in the first 3 to 5 states.
The money was there.
The campaign management was not.
162 paulie // Oct 31, 2012 at 3:57 pm
The money on signs, travel, shipping etc was well spent. It helped build a grassroots support base that will be the nucleus of future efforts.
I hope to see 400 campus speeches each over the next 4 years from Johnson and Gray. We’ll have Ron Paul plus grassroots support with that.
And enough money for the TV ad campaign you envision.
163 zapper // Oct 31, 2012 at 4:23 pm
People who save money know that in order to save, you have to save first. Then you can plan, budget and spend the rest.
For an LP POTUS campaign we have to plan for, set aside and spend on targeted major network Broadcast TV advertising FIRST, then budget and allocate the rest for other things.
These are some of the strategic and real world elements missing from the Johnson campaign and from the LP in general.
164 zapper // Oct 31, 2012 at 4:25 pm
The LP needs to begin the 2016 electoral cycle advertising program in late winter/early spring of 2013 in targeted states.
165 Joe Buchman // Nov 1, 2012 at 1:00 am
I just feel like posting this. At least there’s one restaurant out there I could support:
166 George Dance // Nov 1, 2012 at 5:59 am
@149: Sorry about that, Trent.
Let me substitute the following (even though it’s now November). I searched for this one, and didn’t find it on IPR.
Libertarian Marc Victor Targeted in Arizona Senate Race by Wealthy Super PAC
http://gdspoliticalanimal.blogspot.ca/2012/11/libertarian-marc-victor-targeted-in-az.html
167 Larry West // Nov 1, 2012 at 4:10 pm
@95 — here is my list — I am sure that it has errors in it.
paulie, if you want, could you please post this as a main post, asking for corrections?
2012 Presidential Candidate List:
This list is of the people running for president and which states they are on the ballot. If you see errors in this list, please notify me. A w next to the state means that they are a recognized write-in candidate.
The states of ALw [9], DCw[3], IAw [6], MAw [11], NEw[5], ORw [7], VTw [3], WAw[12], and WYw [3] all appear to not require filing before the election. Some only will count votes if they could possibly win.
The numbers at the end are as follows {electoral votes possible if write-ins not counted/electoral votes possible if write-ins counted/percentage of people who will see them on ballot}
1t. Barack OBAMA (Democrat-Incumbent) All states === {538/538/100%}
1t. Willard “Mitt” ROMNEY (Republican) All states === {538/538/100%}
3. Gary JOHNSON (Libertarian [Ind. in AL & TN]) All states except OK[7], with MIw[16] === {515/531/95.1%}
4. Jill E. STEIN (Green [Ind. in AL]) All states except MT[3], NV[6], NC[15], OK[7], SD[3], with CTw[7], GAw[16], INw[11], KSw[6], MOw[10]?, NEw[5]?, NHw[4], VTw[3], WYw[3] === {436/489-504/83.1%}
5. Ross “Rocky” ANDERSON (Justice) ALw[9], AKw[3], AZw[11], CAw[55], CO[9], CT[7], DEw[3], DCw[3], FL[29], GAw[16], ID[4], ILw[20], IAw[6], KSw[6], KYw[8], LA[8], MEw[4], MDw[10], MAw[11], MI[16], MN[10], MOw[10], MTw[3], NEw[5], NHw[4], NJ[14], NM[5], NYw[29], OR[7], PAw[20], RI[4], TN[11], TXw[38], UT[6], VT[3], VAw[13], WA[12], WVw[5], WIw[10], WYw[3] (All states except AR[6], HI[3], IN[11], MS[6], NV[6], NC[15], ND[3], OH[18], OK[7], SC[9]. SD[3]) === {145/451/28.1%}
6. Virgil GOODE (Constitution) AL[9], AKw[3], AZw[11]. CA[55], CO[9], DEw[3], DCw[3], FL[29], ID[4], INw[11], IA[6], KSw[6], KYw[8], LA[8], MDw[10], MAw[11], MI[16], MN[10], MS[6], MO[10], MTw[3], NEw[5], NV[6], NH[4], NJ[14], NM[5], NY[29], NCw[15], ND[3], OH[18], ORw[6], RI[4], SC[9], SD[3], TN[11], TXw[38], UT[6], VTw[3], VA[13], WA[12], WVw[5], WI[10], WY[3] (All states except AR[9], CT[7], GA[16]?. HI[3], IL[20]?, ME[4], OK[7], PA[20]?) === {257/452/49.9%}
The following do not list ALw [9], DCw[3], IAw [6], MAw [11], NEw[5], ORw [7], VTw [3], WAw[12], and WYw [3], except for Peta Lindsay and Gloria LaRiva:
7. Tom HOEFLING (America’s Party) AKw[3], CA[55], CO[9], CTw[7], DEw[3], FL[29], IDw[4], ILw[20], INw[11], KSw[6], KYw[8], MDw[10], MIw[16], MNw[10], MOw[10], MTw[3], NEw[5], NHw[4]?, NJw[14]?, NYw[29], PAw[20], RIw[4]?, TXw[38], VAw[13]?, WVw[5] === {93/360-395/18.5%}
8. Roseanne C. BARR (Peace & Freedom) AKw[3], CA[55], CO[9], FL[29], IDw[4]?, KSw[6], MIw[16], MNw[10]?, MTw[3], NH[4]?, NJ[14]?, NMw[5]?, PAw[20]?, RI[4]?, UTw[6], WVw[5], WIw[10] === {93/201-262/18.5%}
9. Stewart ALEXANDER (Socialist) CO[9], FL[29], INw[11], MTw[3], OH[18], TXw[38] === {56/167/10.5%}
10. Peta LINDSAY (Party for Socialism and Liberation) ALw[9], AR[6], DCw[3], FL[29], LA[8], MAw[11], MN[10], NEw[5], NJ[14], NY[29], ORw[6], RI[4], VT[3], WA[12], WYw[3] == Candidate under age 35; ineligible to serve {115/152/[28.6%]}
11. Richard A. DUNCAN (Independent) AKw[3], DEw[3], FLw[29], INw[11], KSw[6], KYw[8], MDw[10], MTw[3], OH[18], WVw[5] === {18/155/4.3%}
12. James HARRIS (Socialist Workers Party) CO[9], CTw[7], IA[6], LA[8], MN[10], NJ[14], NYw[29], WA[12] === {59/154/12.0%}
13. Andre N. BARNETT (Reform) AKw[3], FL[29], MTw[3], TXw[38], UTw[6] === {29/138/6.4%}
14. Stephen DURHAM (Freedom Socialist) AKw[3], CTw[7], DEw[3], FLw[29], INw[2 of 11], KYw[8], MTw[3], UTw[6], WVw[5] === { 0/128-137}
15. Jill REED (Twelve Visions) AZw[11], CO[9], DEw[3], FLw[29], INw[11], MEw[4], UTw[6] === {9/132/1.8%}
16. Dennis J. KNILL (Independent [Democratic]) AZw[11], DEw[3], MDw[10], INw[11], KSw[6], KYw[8], MTw[3], WVw[5] === { 0/116}
17. Erin Kent MAGEE (Independent) AKw[3], FLw[29], KYw[8], MTw[3], UTw[6], WVw[5] === { 0/113}
18. Merlin MILLER (American Third Position) CO[9], MDw[10], NJ[14], TN[11], WVw[5] === {34/107/6.7%}
19. Sheila “Samm” TITTLE (We The People) AZw[11], CO[9], KSw[6], LA[8], MTw[3], UTw[6], WV w[5] === {17/ 107/3.3%}
20. Avery L. AYERS (Independent) KSw[6], MTw[3], TXw[38] === { 0/106}
21. Thomas STEVENS (Objectivist) CO[9], FL[29] === {38/ 97/8.2%}
22. Randall A. TERRY (Independent) COw[9], INw[11], KY[8], NE[5], WV[5] === {18/ 97/2.5%}
23. Thaddeaus HILL (Independent) TXw[38] === { 0/ 97}
24. Nelson KEYTON (Independent) DEw [3], MDw [10], INw[0 of 11], MTw[3], UTw [6], WVw [5] === {0/86-97}
25. Will CHRISTENSEN (Oregon Constitution) AZw[11], DEw[3], KSw[6], MTw[3], OR[7], UTw[6]=== { 7/95/1.4%}
26. Jerry WHITE (Socialist Equality) CO[9], KYw[8], LA[8], WI[10] === {27/94/5.6%}
27. David C. BYRNE (Independent) AKw[3], FLw[29] === { 0/ 91}
28. Dean MORSTAD (Constitutional Govt.) AKw[3], DEw[3], MN[10], MTw[3], UTw[6], WVw[5] === {10/89/2.2%}
29t. Andrew Charles CONIGLIO (Independent) FLw[29] === { 0/ 88}
29t. Barbara A. PROKOPITCH (Independent) AKw[3], KYw[8], MDw[10], MTw[3], WVw[5] === { 0/ 88}
31. Paul CHEHADE (Independent) DEw[3], MDw[10], INw[0 of 11], WVw[5] === { 0/77-88}
32. Gloria LaRIVA (Party for Socialism and Liberation) ALw[9], CO[9], DCw[3], IA[6], MAw[11], NEw[5], ORw[6], UT[6], VTw[3], WI[10], WAw[12], WYw[3] === {31/85}
33. Santa CLAUS (Independent) MDw[10], MTw[3], WVw[5] === { 0/ 77}
34t. Darrell HYKES (Independent) DEw[3], MTw[3], UTw[6], WVw[5] === { 0/ 76}
34t. Rick L. ROGERS (Independent) DEw[3], KSw[6], MTw[3], WVw[5] === { 0/ 76}
36. John A. DUMMETT, Jr. (Ind. Republican) INw[9 of 11], WVw[5] === { 0/73-75}
37. Cecil James ROTH (Independent) MDw[10], WVw[5] === { 0/ 74}
38. Jeff BOSS (NSA Did 911) NJ[14] === {14/ 73/2.9%}
39. Michael A. SIMONEAUX, Jr. (Indep.) INw[0 of 11 ], MTw[3] === {0/62-73}
40. Leon Leo RAY (Other) DEw[3], MDw[10] === { 0/ 72}
41. Gerald L. WARNER (Independent) AKw [3], KSw[6], MTw[3] === { 0/ 71}
42. Platt ROBERTSON (Independent) DEw[3], MTw[3], WVw[5] === { 0/ 70}
43. Christina LOPEZ (Freedom Socialist) INw[3 of 11] === {0/62-70}
44t. Missionary-Tracey Elaine BLAIR (Indep.) INw[0 of 11] === { 0/59-70}
44t. Terry Dale JONES (Independent) INw[0 of 11 ] === {0/59-70}
46. Jim CARLSON (Grassroots Party) MN[10] === {10/ 69/2.2%}
47t. Michael David BOYLES (Independent) MDw[10] === { 0/ 69}
47t. Tiffany BRISCOE (Independent [Democratic]) MDw[10] === { 0/ 69}
47t. Theodis (Ted) BROWN, Sr. (Independent) MDw[10] === { 0/ 69}
47t. Fred Donald DICKSON, Jr. (Independent) MDw[10] === { 0/ 69}
47t. Robert William DIETZ (Independent) MDw[10] === { 0/ 69}
47t. Matthew LYDICK (Independent [Republican]) MDw[10] === { 0/ 69}
47t. Gerald WARNER (Independent) AKw[3], CTw[7] === { 0/ 69}
54. Kevin M. THORNE (Independent) AKw[3], KSw[6] === { 0/ 68}
55. Jack FELLURE (Prohibition) LA[8] === { 8/ 67/1.5%}
56t. Jerry Leon CARROLL (Independent) MTw[3], WVw[5] === { 0/ 67}
56t. David Michael CROSBY (Independent) AKw[3], WVw[5] === { 0/ 67}
56t. Louis Todd HOUSE (Independent) KYw[8] === { 0/ 67}
56t. Keith JUDD (Independent) KYw[8] === { 0/ 67}
56t. Joe SCHRINER (Independent) MTw[3], WVw[5] === { 0/ 67}
61. Raymond SIZEMORE (Independent) CTw[7] === { 0/ 66}
62. Barbara Dale WASHER (Mississippi Reform) MS[6] === { 6/ 65/1.0%}
63. Chuck BALDWIN (Kansas Reform) KS[6] === { 6/ 65/0.9%}
64t. Kent W. BUSH (Independent) KSw[6] === { 0/ 65}
64t. Justin MYERS (Independent) UTw[6] === { 0/ 65}
65t. Robert BROWN (Independent) WVw[5] === { 0/ 64}
65t. Cam Ray LEMLEY (Independent) WVw[5] === { 0/ 64}
65t. Beverly SIMMONS-MILLER (Independent) WVw[5] === { 0/ 64}
69. Ron PAUL (Independent [Republican]) MEw[4] === { 0/ 63}
70t. Dennis Andrew BALL (Independent) MTw[3] === { 0/ 62}
70t. Bonnie Lynn Davis GRACE (Independent) MTw[3] === { 0/ 62}
70t. Val KITTINGTON (Independent) MTw[3] === { 0/ 62}
70t. Leah LAX (Independent) MTw[3] === { 0/ 62}
70t. Kip LEE (Independent) MTw[3] === { 0/ 62}
70t. Alexis LOGSTON (Independent) MTw[3] === { 0/ 62}
70t. Terrance James O’HARA (Independent) MTw[3] === { 0/ 62}
77. Jerry LITZEL (Independent) IA[6] === { 6/ 59/1.2%}
168 Libertarian Party Needs Your Support // Nov 1, 2012 at 10:02 pm
Open Letter To All State LP Chairs – >
Thanks for the GREAT work this year ! Please remember: to avoid “burnout” in new members especially, get the totals from the previous races you are contesting (US Cong, State Senate, House, Local etc.) and CLAIM a VICTORY in each race in which the LP candidate increases the vote totals and/or % of the vote over a previous LP candidate in that race. That shows progress, WE WIN by increasing our vote total over the previous best vote for the LP candidate in each race contested. This will bring more excitement for the Watch Partys on an otherwise SAD night when the Ds and Rs win power for another cycle.
In the POTUS race these are the figures you are shooting to defeat – (list of your state POTUS record vote)
’80 CA -148,434 1.73%
’80 TX – 37,643 0.83%
’80 FL – 30,524 0.83%
’80 NY – 52,648 0.85%
’80 IL – 38,939 0.82%
’80 PA – 33,263 0.73%
’80 OH – 49,033 1.14%
’80 MI – 41,597 1.06%
’00 GA – 36,332 1.40%
’08 NC – 25,722 0.60%
’80 NJ – 20,652 0.69%
’80 VA – 12,821 0.69% ’00 – 15,198 0.55%
’80 WA – 29,213 1.68%
’80 AZ – 18,784 2.15%
’08 IN – 29,257 1.06%
’80 MA – 22,038 0.87%
’80 TN – 7,116 0.44% ’08 8,547 0.33%
’80 MO – 14,422 0.69%
’80 MN – 31,592 1.54%
’80 MD – 14,192 0.92%
’80 WI – 29,135 1.28%
’80 AL – 13,318 0.99%
’80 CO – 25,744 2.17%
’80 SC – 4,975 0.56% ’08 7,283 0.38%
’80 KY – 5,531 0.43% ’08 5,989 0.33%
’80 LA – 8,240 0.53%
’88 CT – 14,071 0.97%
’80 OK – 13,828 1.20%
’80 OR – 25,838 2.19%
’80 AR – 8,970 1.07%
’80 IA – 13,123 1.00%
’80 KS – 14,470 1.48%
’80 MS – 5,465 0.61%
’80 NV – 4,358 1.76% ’96 4,460 0.96%
’80 UT – 7,226 1.20% ’88 7,473 1.16%
’80 NE – 9,073 1.42%
’80 NM – 4,365 0.96%
’80 WV – 4,356 0.59%
’80 HI – 3,269 1.08%
’80 ID – 8,425 1.93%
’80 ME – 5,119 0.98%
’88 NH – 4,502 1.00%
’80 RI – 2,458 0.59%
’80 AK – 18,479 11.66%
’80 DC – 1,104 0.63%
’80 DE – 1,974 0.84% ’96 2,052 0.76%
’80 MT – 9,825 2.70%
’80 ND – 3,743 1.24%
’80 SD – 3,824 1.17%
’80 VT – 1,900 0.89%
’80 WY – 4,514 2.55%
- > it was set by Clark in the ’80 race (in most cases, in some Paul, Browne and Barr hold the marks). If Johnson/Gray tops either the vote total or % you can Claim a MAJOR VICTORY in (?) your state as it will be a major success story in ’12.
Overall we of the LP need to and should claim VICTORY if we can hold the POTUS winner UNDER 50% of the vote. It will be much harder to claim some kind of mandate if they don’t even receive 50 % of the vote of the ones who even bother to vote !
Don’t hesitate to claim VICTORY for even these small things. It will go along way in stopping so-called burnout that happens so often after an election where it seems it is hopeless and we are tilting at windmills !
CARPE DIEM
PS. ( Yes, the second and final third-party presidential debate will be held on November 5 from 9:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time, (November 6, 1:00 a.m. – 2:30 a.m. GMT) and will be aired on RT America as well as RT.com and on RT’s YouTube channel.
Thank you for your interest.
Regards,
RT team )
Again, Thanks LP Chairs !
Me
169 just barr the door // Nov 1, 2012 at 11:16 pm
Roseanne Barr ?
@TheRealRoseanne
Why did Jill Stein get arrested for not being allowed into the Presidential debates, yet prevents me from debating her? #hypocritical #AIPAC
170 FAN of Dr. STAN // Nov 1, 2012 at 11:45 pm
The Alternative Voices should have started Debates/Forums in August and weekly until now so more people could have heard your different messages.
Now that would have beed refreshing !
The Two Party Dictatorship: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJnBI_ifSK0&feature=related
What Obama Doesn’t Want You To See – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPXDar_AFBg&feature=share
Explaining the left-right paradigm to a co worker!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Kw7j4lbDB4
Media-?Opoly: http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/1679
171 Matt Cholko // Nov 2, 2012 at 12:41 am
Zapper – I like your general idea of TV advertising. Have you considered starting your own Super PAC in order to make the Zapper plan a reality in 2016?
Alternatively, you could try to sell the GJ campaign, or some other SPAC on your plan.
172 paulie // Nov 2, 2012 at 8:11 am
I may try to put such a superpac together.
173 zapper // Nov 2, 2012 at 1:43 pm
@171 You like it, Pauli seems to like it, a couple of others have indicated an interest.
Perhaps we should talk about this more – not on IPR – after the election, but in November.
174 Trent Hill // Nov 5, 2012 at 1:32 am
IPR PAC?
175 December Open Thread | Independent Political Report: Third Party News // Dec 1, 2012 at 10:50 pm
[...] to say about third parties. For an idea of how it works, check out November Open Thread or October Open Thread . We know many of you have information or ideas you’d like to [...]
176 House Cleaning Supplies // Jan 14, 2013 at 11:19 pm
@174 why not?
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