What’s the #1 benefit that local Libertarian candidates can offer voters if elected?:

- Lower their tax bill so they can pay their bills, make ends meet, save, help others or buy more.
- Give them the freedom to use marijuana, or medical marijuana, without penalty or with less penalty.
- Create more jobs, save businesses, expand businesses.
- Reduce the regulatory burden of Big Government so individuals and businesses can operate more freely with less red tape.
- Reduce the chance of the government taking property by eminent domain.

This is the first LP.org poll of 2012 and the first since Carla Howell took over from Wes Benedict as executive director.

As with past LP polls, non-LP member and non-libertarian visitors of LP.org are able to vote.

Early results at this time:

Lower their tax bill so they can pay their bills, make ends meet, save, help others or buy more.
26% (196 votes)

Give them the freedom to use marijuana, or medical marijuana, without penalty or with less penalty.
13% (100 votes)

Create more jobs, save businesses, expand businesses.
9% (69 votes)

Reduce the regulatory burden of Big Government so individuals and businesses can operate more freely with less red tape.
46% (347 votes)

Reduce the chance of the government taking property by eminent domain.
6% (47 votes)

Total votes: 759

1,792 votes cast, Jill Stein received 1,223 of them, or 68%. Roseanne Barr, who had just entered the race in the last week, picked up 526 votes, or 29%. There were 35 votes for Kent Mesplay, and 8 votes for Harley Mikkelson

GPW reports that Roseanne Barr is very active on Twitter, and had tweeted a challenge to Bill Maher, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to have both herself and Jill Stein on their programs.

They also report that Jill Stein is actively fundraising, has hired at least 3 staff onto the campaign, and has campaigned so far in California, Colorado, Delaware, DC, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, Wisconsin, and other additional states as well.

Jill Stein issued a short statement saying “It is great to have Roseanne Barr on the Green Party team. Let’s bring down the house!” Barr has similarly already made positive statements regarding Stein’s candidacy.

An email from the Stein campaign says that

Dr. Jill Stein, Green Party presidential candidate, begins a three day tour of Indiana and Ohio today with a visit to the Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland, accompanied by Cleveland City Councilman and Green Party elected official Brian Cummins and County Executive candidate David Ellison.

Saturday at 11:30am, Dr. Stein addresses the Green Party of Ohio Presidential Nominating Convention in Columbus.

This Sunday, as part of Indianapolis’ Occupy the Super Bowl protests, she rallies with supporters at the state capitol against anti-labor legislation such as “Right to Work for Less.”

The full itinerary of public events is viewable here: http://www.jillstein.org/events

Dr. Stein is especially interested in the Evergreen Cooperatives for providing one successful model, among many, for how economic democracy can provide employment and prosperity for stressed communities. In her recent People’s State of the Union address, Dr. Stein called for a Green New Deal providing for full employment and an immediate transition to a sustainable, more democratic economy. The Evergreen Cooperatives “are pioneering innovative models of job creation, wealth building, and sustainability,” and are, “employee-owned, for-profit companies are based locally and hire locally.”

On Occupy Super Bowl Sunday, at noon, Dr. Stein will rally with supporters and other labor movement advocates at the Indiana statehouse in Indianapolis. Dr. Stein is not only strongly opposed to so-called Right-to-Work legislation (RTW), her Green New Deal includes a “program of immediate creation of 25 million, publicly useful, sustainable, well-paying jobs,” according to a prepared statement. Stein will be joined at the rally by lifelong labor organizer Anthony Prince, and student activist Erika Wolf, both newly hired members of the Jill Stein for President campaign staff.

The Green Party has put out a press release welcoming Stein and Barr to the presidential race:

The Green Party of the United States welcomes two candidates into the race for the 2012 Green presidential nomination, Jill Stein and Roseanne Barr. Ms. Barr and Dr. Stein submitted paperwork to meet the Green Party’s requirements as of the evening of the Feb. 1 deadline.

“We are thrilled to have two strong women running for President as Greens,” said Darryl Moch, national co-chair of the Green Party. “We look forward to a race based on Green ideas and values, and to showing the Democrats and Republicans how to run without the corrupting influence of fat corporate campaign checks and corporate-funded attack ads.”

“Anyone hopeful about the Occupy Wall Street’s challenge to the status quo or disappointed by the Obama Administration’s broken promises of change now has a pair of candidates to watch. Anyone bored or irritated with the Mitt Versus Newt Show by now will be relieved by the breath of fresh air — maybe a Green gale force of righteousness — that’s about to come,” said Tamar Yager, also a national co-chair of the Green Party.

For more information about the candidates, visit the following sites:

Jill Stein: http://www.jillstein.org

Roseanne Barr: http://www.roseanneforpresident.com

2012 Press Information for Green Candidates http://www.gp.org/candidates/index.php

The nominee will be chosen at the Green Party’s national convention, July 12-15, in Baltimore, Maryland (http://www.gpconvention2012.com)

State Green Parties in California, Arizona, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and possibly Ohio are participating in primary elections. Other state Green Parties will choose the nominee they support and apportion delegates during statewide Green conventions. The Green Party currently has ballot access in 17 states. Greens expect to have the presidential nominee and other candidates on the ballot in at least 46 states and the District of Columbia on Election Day 2012.

Past Green Party convention sites and nominees:

2000: Denver, Colorado; Ralph Nader

2004: Milwaukee, Wisconsin; David Cobb

2008: Chicago, Illinois; Cynthia McKinney

“We consider it important to have strong women candidates at a time when women’s reproductive rights are under assult, from the Obama Administration’s decision on the morning-after pill to the Komen Foundation’s withdrawal of funding for breast cancer screening from Planned Parenthood. We’re proud that our presidential nominee in 2008 was a woman,” said Carl Romanelli, Pennsylvania Green and member of the Green Party’s International Committee.

132 Greens hold public office in the United States, including five mayors. The largest city with a Green mayor is Richmond, California, with Mayor Gayle McLaughlin. The Green Party and its candidates accept no money from corporate PACs.

Many Green candidates are promoting the “Green New Deal” in their campaigns (http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2010/08/11/62-green-candidates-endorse-green-new-deal). Greens have been active participants in the Occupy Movement; both Ms. Barr and Dr. Stein have appeared and spoken publicly at Occupy rallies.

Ballot Access News reports that the Associated Press has this story about Roseanne Barr’s announcement that she is seeking the Green Party presidential nomination; here is a Los Angeles Times story about Barr’s candidacy.

Kent Mesplay was featured in the Bloomington Alternative (H/T Green Party Watch).

This article at Green Party Watch has biographical information about four candidates (Stein, Barr, Mesplay and Mikkelson).

Green Party Watch also reports that Cindy Sheehan wrote

In the last election, I supported the Green Party candidate, Cynthia McKinney and her running mate, Rosa Clemente. Unfortunately, the Party is not entirely functional (which party is?), even if many of us do support its 10 Key Principles.
I have also been impressed by the other woman seeking the nomination, Jill Stein–she is bright, articulate, well-informed, truly progressive and dedicated to public service–but if push came to shove, I would support Roseanne.

Barr was a supporter of Sheehan in her race for Congress.

Newt Gingrich may have won South Carolina. But this wasn’t a Newt victory, as much as it was a devastating rebuke to the national media. 

Study the poll numbers. Yes, Romney really dropped the ball with the tax return and 15% capital gains issues, but the numbers started flipping from a Romney landslide to a Newt Gingrich landslide only after the ABC television interview with Newt’s ex-wife. And voters made the final decision to change their votes only after hearing Newt strongly and courageously scold and shame the media in the South Carolina Presidential debate on Thursday. 

Make no mistake about it- this was a resounding rebuke of the mainstream media. They were kicked in the teeth. 

Read on. I’ll tell you why they deserved it. 

 America may hate politicians, they may hate Congress, they may even give Obama among the lowest ratings in modern history at this point in a Presidency. But the media has now sunk to even lower depths than the politicians.

 And deservedly so.

 Only days ago I pointed out what a travesty it was the media sharks were in a feeding frenzy to destroy Romney over taxes, Gingrich over ex-wives, and Ron Paul over 20 year old newsletters, but seemed to lack the same level of enthusiasm about Obama’s mysterious past. But the biased leftist media doesn’t care. Par for the course.

 This same mainstream media also snickers at the idea that Obama is a socialist. Funny how they ignore a brand new Pew poll that proves that liberal Democrats not only favor socialism over capitalism, but by a wide 59-33 margin they see socialism as a positive. Even more shocking is that the same poll proves that a large majority of African American voters (Obama’s staunchest supporters), by a 55-36 margin, also see socialism as a positive. Shouldn’t alarm bells be ringing in the mainstream media?

 Well, the alarm bells aren’t ringing for a good reason. The mainstream media is made up of radical, extreme, progressive leftists who also see socialism as a positive. Want proof? Let’s head back to my Columbia University days. You know, the same place where my classmate Barack Obama was indoctrinated…oops, I mean educated…in the philosophy of radical socialism.

 Something extraordinary happened on March 30, 1981 at Columbia University. I was sitting in the biggest political science class at Columbia University. Perhaps 200 or more students in a theatre in the round. If Obama was attending Columbia at the time, as he claims, and he was a Political Science major, as he claims, he would almost certainly have been in this class.

 On this date in history my hero Ronald Reagan was shot. The reaction in that large political science class that day tells you all you need to know about the media. Because all these years later, when I read Columbia College Today magazine, with updates on my classmates’ careers, it is extraordinary how many of them are now leading members of the mainstream media.

 As I sat in class that day listening to the professor lecture, a strange loud noise came from the back of the room. The entire class turned around. The doors in back burst open and a breathless student ran in and screamed, “They just shot Reagan. President Reagan has been assassinated.” Can you imagine what the response was at that moment of horror from the future leading members of America’s media? Take a wild guess.

 A standing ovation. Wild celebration. High fives. Cheering. Fists pounding the air. My classmates were jumping up and down and hugging each other like they had just won the lottery. It was the happiest day of their lives! And I can’t forget the words wafting through the air in the midst of this celebration, “YES, they killed that bastard Reagan!”

 Reagan was my hero. He felt like a second father to me. I got sick to my stomach and ran out of the class. I raced into the bathroom and vomited, then sat on the bathroom floor with tears streaming down my face. I thought my hero President Reagan was dead. Worse, I realized my ultra-liberal classmates were not just your run-of-the-mill leftists. They were socialists and Marxists who openly hated America, despised capitalism, and were cheering for the death of a man simply because he was a conservative and capitalist. I was dazed, disgusted and disillusioned.

 Please keep in mind that many of these same men and women now run the American media. They are at the very top of many of the most important television news shows and news organizations. And they proved that day (and throughout my 4 years at Columbia) that at their core they despise conservatives, conservatism, patriotism, and the exceptionalism of America.

 This is the same media expected to give a “fair shake” to a conservative Presidential candidate like Mitt, Newt or Ron Paul? Not a chance.

 Now you know why the media is so desperate and obsessed with digging up dirt on Newt’s ex-wives, Mitt’s old taxes, or Ron Paul’s 20-year-old newsletters. But this same media seems to have no interest in digging up Obama’s mysterious and questionable past. They sit across from Obama, tingling, lobbing softball questions, while gazing into their fellow socialist’s eyes. Now it all makes sense. Now the pieces of the puzzle fit.

 The sudden turnaround in South Carolina after a media “hit piece” on Newt is the first sign that the American people are finally starting to understand how biased the media really is.

 Now you know why the mainstream media had their teeth kicked in on Saturday in South Carolina.

 And…they deserved it.

 Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian VP nominee and the author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian.” He now serves as Chairman of the Libertarian National Campaign Committee. He’s a regular guest on Fox News and hundreds of television and radio shows across America.  His syndicated column has appeared on Newsmax and Forbes.

He’s also a gun-slinging, riverboat gambling, entrepreneur and capitalist evangelist. His web site: www.ROOTforAmerica.com

Ron Paul matches Romney’s performance against Obama, also trailing by 5 points at 47-42. Beyond those two Newt Gingrich trails by 7 at 49-42, Rick Santorum has an 8 point deficit at 50-42, and Rick Perry trails by 11 points at 51-40.
Stephen Colbert wants to run for President but he’s not on the ballot in South Carolina. Americans Elect is on the ballot in a lot of states but doesn’t have a candidate. Could Colbert and Americans Elect’s interests intersect? We find Colbert getting 13% in a hypothetical third party run for President, compared to 41% for Obama and 38% for Romney. A Colbert bid could be a blessing in disguise for the GOP. His voters go for Obama over Romney 52-38 in a straight head to head, so his presence as a potential candidate works to the Republicans’ advantage.

36% of voters have a favorable opinion of him to 28% with a negative one. His 36% favorability is better than the entire GOP field. Romney’s at 35%, Santorum at 30%, Paul at 27%, Gingrich at 26%, and Perry at 21%. Colbert’s popular with Democrats (47/21) and independents (43/26) but not with Republicans (18/39) despite his best efforts to run as one of their Presidential candidates.

In a more plausible third party scenario Gary Johnson gets 7% as the Libertarian candidate to 47% for Obama and 40% for Romney. His voters go 33-27 for Romney in a head to head so his bid is of slight benefit to Obama.

Full results here

As far as I know, Colbert has not announced any interest in the Americans Elect nomination, nor has there been any indication whether the group’s candidate credential committee would find him “acceptable.”

The results for Johnson, while far higher than anything the Libertarians have ever actually pulled in a presidential race, are not out of line with what hypothetical Libertarian tickets have polled at this stage in past cycles. For example, following his announcement, Rasmussen Reports had Barr polling at 6% nationwide; he ended up with 0.4% of the vote – and every Libertarian presidential ticket since 1984 has ended up between 0.3% and 0.5% in actual votes.

While the poll shows Johnson pulling slightly more from Romney, Johnson himself has repeatedly speculated in TV interviews that he might pull more votes away from Obama.

http://www.lp.org/poll/which-one-of-the-following-libertarian-positions-strikes-you-the-most-as-being-too-extreme

Which one of the following Libertarian positions strikes you the most as being “too extreme”?:

-Ending prohibition of marijuana.

-Ending the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya.

-Cutting government spending across the board.

-Cutting taxes.

-I think all of the above positions are too extreme.

-I don’t think any of the above positions are too extreme.

For the first time, the Greens emerged a point ahead of the Social Democrats (SPD), considered the other main opposition party, with the pair combined scoring 10 per cent more than the current centre-right coalition.

The Greens and SPD jointly scored 47 per cent in the survey by TNS Emnid, compared to just 37 per cent for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s current coalition.

Merkel’s coalition of Christian Democrats, Bavaria’s Christian Social Union and the Free Democrats (FDP) is in power until the next general election, due in 2013.

In the survey of 4,000 voters, the CDU/CSU polled 32 per cent, SPD 23 per cent, the Greens 24 per cent, the FDP 5 per cent and the Left Party 9 per cent.

Gallup tells us 58% of Democrats approve of Dems in Congress.  Republicans give them 8%.  Average that, and you get 32%.

Independents give an approval rating to the Dems of 24%  The same story for the Republicans.

Third Party, Independent and unaffiliated voters taken as a whole, disapprove of Congress more than voters who affilate with either of the two Stale Old Parties.

“…conducted March 25-27, 2011, with a random sample of 1,027 adults, aged 18 and older, living in the continental U.S…”  “ 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.” 

http://www.gallup.com/poll/146948/Americans-Give-Equally-Low-Ratings-Parties-Congress.aspx

We’ve found a lot of brutal poll numbers for Sarah Palin so far in 2011: down in South Dakota, down in South Carolina, down in Arizona, only up by 1 point in Texas, only up by 1 point in Nebraska to name a few. But this has to be the worst- independent voters say they would support Charlie Sheen over Palin for President by a 41/36 margin. Seriously. . . .

There’s been some speculation lately that Palin could run as an independent or third party candidate, although that apparently contradicts statements she has previously made elsewhere.

I haven’t seen any news of Charlie Sheen considering a Presidential run. Mark Seidenberg of the American Independent Party of California has said in numerous comments at IPR and Ballot Access News that their party is likely to put Sarah Palin’s husband Todd on their ballot for President, regardless of whether he likes it or not.

-Paulie

Yesterday at CPAC, the big conservative conference in D.C., Ron Paul supporters and other libertarians in the crowd spoiled a sweet Bush-era reunion by launching a shouting match and protest action. First, Donald Rumsfeld was brought onstage, where CPAC was to present him with, unbelievable as it sounds, its “Defender Of The Constitution” award. Many Ron Paul supporters immediately got up and walked out en masse. When things settled down, the host introduced the presenter for Rummy’s award, former VP Dick Cheney. A majority of the audience stood and cheered but, as Cheney stood at the podium soaking up the love, boos from some libertarians could also be heard, as well as shouts of “Where’s bin Laden?” and “You’re a war criminal!” That led the pro-Cheney majority to shout down the libertarian hecklers with the always-original old favorite, “USA! USA!”

It’s the second time this week that libertarians in the GOP have done something American lefties agree with. Earlier in the week, a startling temporary coalition of liberal Dems and libertarian Republicans squelched the re-authorization of parts of the Patriot Act, in protest of the law’s disregard for Americans’ civil liberties. It’s often been noted that serious liberals and serious libertarians agree on several major issues, including civil liberties and a “take care of America first,” non-interventionist foreign policy. Here’s hoping the two factions get together and find areas on which they can cooperate in Congress. One suggestion: Start work on shutting down many of the nearly 1,000 foreign military bases our government operates at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars every year. Meanwhile, here’s a video of Cheney’s reception at CPAC

In somewhat related news, Boston Tea Party national chair Darryl Perry writes

Not only would a Mubarak trial look bad for the government of the United States of America for supporting his regime for the past 30 years, such action would likely embolden those who support war crimes trials for George W. Bush & Dick Cheney. [..] On several occasions people have tried to perform a “citizens arrest” on the former VP, and he was recently heckled to shouts of “war criminal” at CPAC. In December 2008 and again in February 2010 Dick Cheney even admitted to war crimes and has yet to be held accountable for his crimes. According to the U.S. Army’s Law of Land Warfare (Field Manual 27-10) both Cheney & Bush should be held trial for war crimes.

Ron Paul was the 1988 Libertarian Party presidential candidate, and remains a life member of the Libertarian Party, saying recently that “I believe the Libertarian Party has done a great service in promoting the libertarian philosophy, and I continue to have many friends and supporters in the Libertarian Party…”

Other CPAC 2011 coverage on IPR:

Huffington Post on CPAC Straw Poll: Ron Paul wins Again! Gary Johnson tied for third place

Jimmy McMillan is at CPAC

Third Party CPAC Roundup 2/10/11

Libertarians at CPAC present Republican Wall of Shame

Supporters of former Libertarian candidate Ron Paul and one time possible Reform Party candidate Donald Trump clash at CPAC

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) came out on top in the much-anticipated 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll, according to Fox News.

Human Events confirmed that the Republican congressman won the vote before the results were officially announced. Here’s a breakdown of the numbers:

Ron Raul: 30%, Mitt Romney: 23%, Gary Johnson 6%, Chris Christie 6%, Newt Gingrich: 5%, Tim Pawlenty 4%, Michele Bachmann 4%, Mitch Daniels 4%, Sarah Palin: 3%, Herman Cain 2%, Mike Huckabee 2%, Rick Santorum 2%, John Thune 2%, Jon Huntsman 1%, Haley Barbour 1%

According to CNN, 3,742 votes were cast at the event held in Washington, DC.

Paul also emerged ahead of the pack in the CPAC straw poll at last year’s conference.

Full Story from  ww.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/12/cpac-straw-poll-2011-ron-paul_n_822412.html#s237999&title=Rep_Michele_Bachmann

Ron Paul is a Life Member of The Libertarian Party since 1987. He was the Libertarian candidate for President in 1988 and came in third. He has drawn support from a wide range of libertarians, conservatives, constitutionalists and antiwar activists in his 2008 bid for the Republican nomination.

Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson tied for third place with support from activists in the Republican Liberty Caucus and other libertarians. Gary Johnson is on the Advisory Board of Students for Liberty, a national college based organization with ties to The Cato Institute.

The San Francisco Chronicle has a story on the Straw Poll results @ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=82973

  December 20, 2010

Dear Friend of Liberty,

Our world faces serious issues, and we’ll get back to those shortly.

On a lighter note, we’ve put a new poll on our website:

What do YOU want from Santa Claus this year?

• Tickets to Janet Napolitano’s Nude Security Theater (in 3-D!)
• U.N. brand WikiPlugs for the Internet, FCC neutralized
• A year’s supply of foreign bogeymen
• A Ponzi-style retirement plan like our own Social Security plan
• Worldwide violence and ill-will towards men
• $14 trillion in credit card debt
• 535 congressional fruitcakes
• My front door smashed in by 8 SWAT reindeer at the wrong house
• An Obamacare Bear
• A veto pen

Sincerely,

Wes Benedict
Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee

ST. LOUIS, Nov. 4 — According to the Associated Press, 90 million Americans — only 42% of registered voters — pulled the lever for a congressional candidate on Tuesday. That’s just a hair under 29% of the US population of 310.6 million.

“So much for the consent of the governed,” says Thomas L. Knapp of the fledgling X2012 Project. “In a typical district, the next US Representative was chosen by, at most, one out of four or five registered voters and less than one in six of his or her alleged constituents.”

“A majority of those who could have voted refused to. A supermajority either chose not to vote or weren’t allowed to vote,” says the edgy and contemplative media coordinator and senior news analyst for the Center for a Stateless Society. “Yet for the next two years, that politician will claim to ‘represent,’ and to possess legitimate authority to rule, all of them.”

The X2012 Project, which hopes to build grassroots support for a massive boycott of the 2012 general election, aims to put the lie to those claims. Launched as the polls closed on Tuesday evening, X2012 is a “branding campaign” which allows non-voters to dispute the conventional wisdom that their abstention is rooted in apathy or that it constitutes implicit consent to the existing system of government.

By the time 2012 rolls around, the project hopes to have millions of non-voters on the record as non-consenting.

A July Rasmussen poll found that only 23% of Americans believe the US government functions with “the consent of the governed” — the criterion of legitimacy set forth by America’s founders in the Declaration of Independence.

“Thomas Jefferson didn’t say ‘a majority of the governed,’” says Knapp, a longtime third-party activist who ran for vice president on the nascent Boston Tea Party in 2008 while simultaneously garnering 8,628 votes as the Libertarian Party’s nominee for Congress in Missouri’s 2nd congressional district.

”Even a significant minority of dissenters calls the legitimacy of a government into question,” says Knapp. ”Some estimates say that fewer than one third of Americans supported the Revolution at its beginning. We’ve got a better case against John Boehner, Harry Reid and Barack Obama than Tom Paine had against George III.”

Darcy G. Richardson is the author of six books, including five volumes of a planned seven-volume history on independent and third-party politics in the United States.

From Rasmussen, via KintlaLake:

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 31% of likely primary voters say they are at least somewhat likely to consider supporting a third-party candidate for president if former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is the GOP nominee. That includes 17% who say it is Very Likely. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

If ex-Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who unsuccessfully sought the nomination in 2008, is the 2012 nominee, 24% say they are at least somewhat likely to consider a third-party candidate, with 11% who say it is Very Likely.

Twenty-eight percent (28%) are at least somewhat likely to consider a third-party option if another 2008 hopeful, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, wins the party’s presidential nomination. This finding includes 12% who say it is Very Likely.

With former House Speaker Newt Gingrich as the nominee, 27% say they’d be likely to consider a third-party contender, including 13% who say they would be Very Likely to do so.

Wayne Root Profiled by AOL News today as 2012 Presidential Contender

Excerpt:

Sports Handicapper Gambles on Becoming President

Now that the Democrats have suffered a historic defeat on election day, a sports handicapper is doubling down on his goal of becoming President in 2012.

Wayne Allyn Root is a well-known Vegas sports handicapper and the current front runner to be the Libertarian Party’s nominee for the 2012 presidential race after being the running mate to 2008 nominee Bob Barr.

He may seem a long shot, but Root believes that enough Americans would embrace the Libertarian philosophy if they were exposed to it — and to him.

“The system is tilted toward two parties,” he told AOL News. “Especially when you have to spend so much time and money just for ballot access. During 2008, around July and August, we had 6 to 7 percent of the vote. For some reason, we weren’t included in the presidential debates, and if we had been, I think things would have tilted in our direction.”

Root points to England, where a third-party candidate was able to make an impact in the most recent election based on a great debate performance.

Read more here.

Ⓧ VOTERS: IT’S NOT APATHY, IT’S NON-CONSENT

Coming out of the 2010 mid-term elections, it’s too early to compile exact statistics — but odds are a majority of Americans didn’t cast ballots on Tuesday.

Some are disenfranchised by age restrictions, incarceration or other legal obstacles. Others simply choose not to vote. The conventional wisdom writes them off as apathetic. The Ⓧ2012 Project begs to differ.

“Our reasons for not voting are our business,” says Thomas L. Knapp. “Construing the majority’s boycott of elections as ‘apathy’ toward politics makes no more sense than construing the fact that I haven’t specifically told you not to take my car as ‘apathy’ toward grand theft auto.”

Knapp formally launched The Ⓧ2012 Project on Tuesday as polls closed on the west coast. Its goal is to mobilize 10 million Americans to publicly declare that their refusal to vote in November, 2012 constitutes non-consent rather than apathy. “Ⓧ2016′s goal will be 50 million,” he says.

“The consent of the governed is the standard of a government’s legitimacy,” says Knapp, 43, of St. Louis, Missouri, citing the Declaration of Independence. “Without your consent, it has no right to rule you. And this government lacks the consent of a lot of people.”
In support of his claim, Knapp points to a July poll by Rasmussen in which only 23% of those surveyed said the US government enjoys “the consent of the governed.” Knapp notes that even those who say some consent to be governed don’t necessarily say they themselves so consent.

The Ⓧ2012 Project raises and spends no money, depending on its supporters to act on their own to promote “active non-consent.” Knapp declines any title beyond “that guy who started the web site.” He began running ad campaigns on social networks and other web sites — “in the low double digits, for now, from my personal resources,” he says — as the polls closed on Tuesday, and expects that other supporters of the project will do likewise. The project’s web site offers graphics and advice. “It’s a grassroots,
open-source/crowd-sourced effort,” says Knapp. “Everything conventional politics claims to be but isn’t.”

The Ⓧ2012 Project:
http://x2012.us

In the final WMUR/UNH election poll, 49 percent of likely voters say they will vote for Lynch, 41 percent prefer Stephen, 2 percent favor Libertarian John Babiarz, 1 percent prefer some other candidate, and 7 percent are undecided.

The poll was conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, which interviewed 885 randomly selected New Hampshire likely voters between Oct. 27 and Oct. 31. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.3 percent.

Babiarz needs 4% to get ballot access for the Libertarian Party in 2012.

According to the Libertarian Donors Club, “the New Hampshire LP has won ballot status here before, at 3%, so the big-party legislature raised the requirement to 4%.”

The other states where the Libertarian Party performance today will determine 2012 ballot access: Illinois, where they need 5% in any statewide race; New York, where they need 50,000 votes for gubernatorial candidate Warren Redlich; and Iowa, where they need 2% for gubernatorial candidate Eric Cooper.

New York and Illinois are among the highest populated US states, New York is a national and world media capital, and both require large numbers of signatures within a short time frame to get on the ballot for parties that fail to qualify through vote totals. Iowa and New Hampshire are notable for being the two earliest contests of the major parties’ presidential primaries.

Win, lose or Draw…It was a great campaign – Special thanks to the guys who made this campaign such a terrific team effort: Kevin Takenaga, Beau Cain, Terry Floyd, Dana McLorn, and Wayne Allyn Root.

Here are the poll results as they stand last check:

Get out and vote! To find your voting location and sample ballot information go to: http://elections.co.el-dorado.ca.us/lookup.fwx

For more general voting information from the California Voter Information Guide go here: http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov/

Hope to see you out there casting your ballot! Also be sure to come to our after election party being held at the Coyote Grill!

Thanks everyone!

Note from paulie: the poll is a self-selecting sample; no random polls on the race have been conducted to my knowledge.

In the race for governor, Republican Nathan Deal leads Democrat Roy Barnes 47 percent to 40 percent, with Libertarian John Monds getting the support of 6 percent. Seven percent are undecided, according to the poll by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc.

By law in Georgia, if no candidate gets 50%, there will be a runoff election between the top two candidates.

North Carolina’s Libertarian candidates are optimistic that regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s election, their campaigns have made a difference. They are optimistic because of the reaction they’ve received from voters unhappy with the two major parties.

“Voters are quite polarized this year, so my results are going to depend on turnout of unaffiliated and disenchanted Republican voters, plus a low Democrat turnout,” said Lon Cecil, candidate for U.S. House District 12. “Third party candidates are often considered a spoiler for one of the two old party candidates, but the odds seem better this year to spoil both old parties.”

During early voting Cecil said three men “who were clearly World War II generation” told him they were going to vote Libertarian because they couldn’t trust “either of the old parties.” Cecil recently was endorsed by the Rhinoceros Times, a Greensboro newspaper.

John Sams has also won the endorsement of a local paper, the Elizabeth City Daily Advance, in his race for Chowan County Commission District 3. The paper praised Sams for being “among the first county residents to question the county’s finances” and has “demonstrated his commitment to being fully informed on the county’s fiscal situation by attending budget deliberations.”

In the contentious race for U.S. House District 2, Tom Rose said he was most proud that he managed to get into one televised debate. Both Democratic incumbent Bob Etheridge and Republican Renee Elmers have spent enormous sums running attack ads. Rose said he’s swayed many Democrats and Republicans to vote for him by convincing them he can win and spend less the $5,000 in campaign funds.

“I feel like I have a good chance to win this race because I’m picking up many of the moderate Democrats votes,” Rose said. “I’ve had Republicans, including one General Assembly candidate, tell me that they have voted for me, and have had Democrats and Republicans fed up with their parties making phone calls for me.”

Rose’s candidacy may have on impact on what appears to now be a close race. A recent Civitas poll had Elmers leading Etheridge 46 percent to 41 percent, with Rose at 6 percent and 7 percent undecided.

Barry Coe hasn’t spent any money other than the filing fee in the race for state Senate District 24. He said he focused on attending forums and responding to surveys. “Many voters congratulated me for my ability to say, in clear terms, how they feel,” Coe said. He expects the race to be close.

A frequent comment he gets from people who say they agree with him is that they fear voting for him will be a wasted vote and elect the Democrat. Coe’s response is to explain that voting is about expressing a choice. “Don’t blame me if your candidate cannot motivate popular support,” he tells these voters.

Stephanie Watson thinks there will actually be a low voter turnout in her race for state Senate District 16, but that she’ll benefit from the candidacy Dr. Mike Beitler in the U.S. Senate race at the top of the ballot.

“I think Dr. Beitler could draw 5 to 10 percent in our district, and I’m predicting that my own race will reflect the same results,” she said. “He’s done an excellent job with limited resources of demonstrating the principles that voters can apply to most down-ticket Libertarian candidates across the state. I hope that translates into wins in many state and local races and impressive showings for our Congressional candidates, too.”

Voter dissatisfaction with the two-party duopoly was also evident in other ways, especially to some veteran Libertarian candidates. “This time people listened and agreed. This time no one walked away or disagreed.” said Richard Evey, a candidate in state Senate District 44. “I got some great feed back from some unlikely sources.”

Support from unlikely sources is also reflected in the fact that Beitler scored well with unaffiliated and liberal voters in several polls of the U.S. Senate race.

State party chair Barbara Howe said that Beitler has built on the success of the 2008 gubernatorial campaign, and she expects he will do as well as previous Libertarian candidates for U.S. Senate.

“Because of the campaign we ran in 2008 and because of the kind of candidate we’re running in 2010, where we have put forth articulate, smart candidates who really could serve if elected, we’re helping build the credibility of the party”she said.