TX: Libertarians Seek Ron Paul's House Seat

From Libertarian Strategy Monthly:

Within hours of Representative Ron Paul’s announcement that he will not seek re-election to Congress to focus on his bid for the Republican nomination for President, three Libertarians announced their intent to seek the Libertarian Party of Texas nomination for the seat. . . .

Libertarian Party of Texas Chair Pat Dixon said “Dr. Paul has served honorably for 12 terms as ‘the Libertarian’ representative in Congress. The Libertarian Party is proud to offer the voters of District 14 a representative in Congress who will continue to uphold the same principles to which Dr. Paul has remained committed, and that are completely absent in the Republican and Democratic parties.”

PA-15: Jake Towne Receives 8% Support in Independent Bid for US House

From Jake Towne:

From the not-yet-100%-official results from the state elections board, 15,241 votes were cast in favor of freedom in the district yesterday, for about 8% of the total.  I suppose the bad news (and sorry to be blunt) is this means 92% of the votes were cast for more debt, war, taxes and reckless government spending.

The volunteers have all my thanks, for without them, there would simply be no campaign.  Close to 70 volunteers staffed many of the major polling stations for the day, and at most reported the GOP or Dem workers  were not present – or got cold or left after several hours.  Also, many thanks to the owner of Pies On Pizzeria in Catasauqua for holding the Victory Party, the place was packed!  I am very humbled by all the support from voters, volunteers, and the 1,019+ donors who backed the campaign.  You are all my heroes/heroines.

Study: Highest Number of Third Party Candidates for US House Since 1934, Libertarians "Lead the Way"

From Eric Ostermeier at the Smart Politics blog at the University of Minnesota, link sent in via email:

A Smart Politics analysis of more than 17,000 general election U.S. House contests since 1932 finds there are more third party and independent candidacies in the 2010 election cycle than in any midterm election since 1934 . . .  In total, there are 443 such candidates on ballots across the nation, up 42.4 percent from 2008 and 56.5 percent from the last midterm election in 2006. . . . In 2010, the Libertarian Party leads the way with 153 candidates across the nation, or 35.2 percent of all U.S. House seats (1 candidate for every 2.8 districts). 

Read the whole thing for stats, graphs and analysis.

MS: Constitution Party candidate, Giaramita, profiled in Desoto Times

From the Desoto Times:

Gail Giaramita, a Constitution Party candidate in the 1st U.S. Congressional District race, said America needs to "turn back to God" and adhere to the tenets of the U.S. Constitution.  In her DeSoto Times-Tribune editorial board interview, she opened her remarks with a prayer.

Giaramita previously ran for Mississippi State Representative as a Republican. "We have storms coming," Giaramita said. "If we don't turn back to God quickly, we won't have the foundation we need to face them."  Giaramita called for less government intervention in the lives of ordinary Americans.  "The framing fathers envisioned we would be in control of our own lives and our money," she said.

CT: Green Candidate for House "Swings from the Hip"

From the Bristol Press:

Ken Krayeske, the 38-year-old Green Party congressional contender, one of four people seeking the 1st Congressional District seat, relishes the opportunity to challenge the conventional wisdom.  At a debate this week, for example, he got tossed what for most politicians would be a softball on whether to move ahead with the proposed Coltsville National Park that would bring jobs, tourists and recognition to Hartford. Swinging from the hip, Krayeske fired back that he opposes “building a museum that honors genocide” and pointed out that Elizabeth Colt’s five children all died before her. He said she considered it a curse for having made guns that led to so many deaths over decades. Krayeske said he would rather see other Hartford factories singled out in a park to showcase the rise of American manufacturing. . .

CA: Independent Makes Final Push Against Democrat Sanchez

From Politico:

There’s a Latina independent candidate in the competitive race for Rep. Loretta Sanchez’s Orange County House seat, and her bid will further strain a race that’s so far been all about ethnicity.

Cecilia Iglesias, a former local government official, started running $12,000 in Spanish-language TV ads on Univision over the weekend. She’s running as an independent, but used to be a registered Republican: She voted in the 2006 and 2008 Republican primaries, which are closed.

IN-5: Indianapolis Star Endorses Libertarian for House

From the Indy Star:

Libertarian Chard Reid . . . represents the best of Libertarian small-government ideals. He would be a refreshing departure from the incumbent's complacency and cavalier attitude toward ethics.

AR: Corporatist Democrat Blasts Green Party Opponent as "Extremist"

From KSPR:

Democratic Congressman Mike Ross is attempting to portray himself as the man in the middle between two extremist candidates — Republican Beth Ann Rankin and Joshua Drake of the Green Party.

VA: Modern Whigs Endorse Independent Candidate for House in VA-2

From the press release wire:

Kenny Golden (www.kennygolden.com) and the Modern Whig Party (www.modernwhig.org) announced today at a joint press conference they will be cooperating to help Kenny Golden bring solutions oriented public service, and end partisan bickering in Washington D.C., to the people of Virginia’s 2^nd Congressional District.

Kenny Golden is the third Modern Whig candidate this year and the second candidate in Virginia to carry the banner of the newly reorganized Whig party.  Revived by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, the grassroots movement has quickly attracted tens of thousands of members.

Kenny Golden had this to say about joining forces with the Modern Whig Party, “I was quite impressed with the philosophy of the Whig Party. It matched well with my own philosophy and beliefs. I believe the Democrats and Republicans are out of touch with the electorate and concern themselves far too much with getting re-elected, instead of doing what is right for the country.”  He further stated, “It is time to end the partisan bickering in Congress.  The only way I know to do that is to put ideology and party loyalty in second position behind the people’s business,” Golden said.

FL-8: Third Party Tea Party Candidate Challenges Two-Party Duopoly, Draws Ire of Republicans

From Town Hall:

Peg Dunmire is running for Congress under the name of a political organization called the TEA Party. Under this designation, Dunmire is winning six percent of the vote in Florida’s eighth Congressional district against Democrat Alan Grayson and Republican Daniel Webster, according to a recent poll.. . .

Dunmire, a 63-year old grandmother and consultant, is resentful at the suggestion that she might be dividing the base, or that she is the member of a subversive third party. . . .

You’re repeating exactly what the Republican mantra is: going to siphon off the votes, you’re going to be a spoiler,’” she said in an interview, when asked about the possibility of her splitting the vote. “That’s Republican jargon, that’s their view.”

“This two-party system is only about power — not about solving our country’s problems. It is power, power, power,” said Dunmire. “What I talk about is taking power away from the legislators and giving it back to the people. And that is absolutely not what the Republican Party wants to do.” 

MT: Libertarian Candidate for Congress Provides Voters with Choice Other than Business as Usual

From the Great Falls Tribune:

Mike Fellows wants Montana voters to know that they have a choice in the Nov. 2 election for U.S. representative.  They can choose to vote for five-term incumbent Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg, a man Fellows said voted consistently to expand the budget and raise the national debt during the eight years George W. Bush was in office.

Voters also could choose to vote for Democratic challenger Dennis McDonald, a candidate Fellows said is "way too far in left field" for Montana, and is a big spender.  Fellows, a Libertarian and the only third-party candidate on the ballot, said his candidacy gives voters a better choice this election season.

Libertarian Congressional Candidates Release Joint Proposal to Balance Federal Budget by 2012

A press release from Travis Irvine, Libertarian candidate for US House in Ohio's 12th district, emailed to TPID:

In an effort to give voters a real alternative to the big-spending politics of the Democratic and Republican parties, two Libertarian candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives have developed a federal budget that completely eliminates the federal budget deficit in one year.

Travis Irvine, the Libertarian candidate in Ohio’s 12th District, teamed up with Mark Grannis, the Libertarian candidate in Maryland’s 8th District, to produce the budget for fiscal year 2012 (the fiscal year that begins October 1, 2011, and the first fiscal year for which the next Congress will prepare a budget).

The Libertarian Balanced Federal Budget Proposal relies on a mix of spending cuts and revenue increases, though it increases revenue by eliminating tax loopholes rather than changing tax rates.  The proposal balances the budget despite keeping 2010 tax rates in place for all taxpayers.

Watch an introduction of the budget here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHXfh-3k3f4

FL-8: Republicans Babble Incoherently in Opposition to Tea Party Candidate Peg Dunmire

From a recent comment at TPID:

The Teaparty Political Party Peg is running under is not the Tea Party... Teaparty Political Party in not the TeaParty....Teaparty Political Party in not the TeaParty....Teaparty Political Party in not the TeaPaTeaparty Political Party in not the TeaParty..Peg drop out stop this divide.

Peg Dunmire is the Tea Party candidate for Congress in Florida's 8th congressional district.

FL-8: Grayson Refuses to Debate Unless All Candidates are Included in any Forum, TEA Party Candidate Dunmire Profiled

From Ocala.com:

Grayson, the freshman incumbent, has declined to debate his chief rival, Orlando Republican and former state lawmaker Daniel Webster, unless the debate includes the other three candidates in what could be the most closely watched election in the country.

While it remains to be seen how that plays out, here’s a look at those others in the District 8 race.

For all the momentum the Tea Party activists appear to have in Republican political circles, Peg Dunmire of Orlando is an actual candidate from the Florida TEA Party — which, state records show, has 333 members across Florida, including seven in Marion County.

CT: Green Campaigns on "Green New Deal"

From Green Party Watch:

Thomas MacMillan at the New Haven Independent has written a detailed profile of  Charlie Pillsbury’s Green Party run for US House of Representatives in Connecticut’s 3rd district. Pillsbury has made the call for a Green New Deal the central theme of his campaign.

MI: Independent and Green Candidates Complicate Duopolist Strategy in MI-1, Green is Only Pro-Choice Candidate in Race

From the Michigan Messenger:

Now that Stupak’s seat is open, Republicans are eager to win it back, Democrats are struggling to hang on to it, and candidates from outside these parties are trying to get voters to rethink the fundamentals of how government operates. . . . Glenn Wilson, owner of a telecom business in the small Northeastern Lower Peninsula town of Rose City, is running as an independent . . . Wilson campaign manager Rich Carlson, one of the founders of the Northern Michigan Liberty Alliance, a coalition of Tea Party groups from across Northern Michigan . . .

The Green Party candidate in Dist. 1, Charlevoix labor attorney Ellis Boal, has some specific pro-environment and anti-war policy ideas that could potentially draw Democratic voters or others that are focused on these issues. Boal is also the only pro-choice candidate in the race and the only to support repeal of the recent federal health care reform in favor of a single payer “Medicare for all” system.

PA-15: Is Charlie Dent an Anti-Government Extremist?

As noted here yesterday, in Pennsylvania's 15th congressional district, incumbent Republican Charlie Dent has begun grasping at straws to keep independent Jake Towne out of any and all debates at all costs. From Poli-Tea:

Over the weekend, Dent announced that he would not take part in any forum that included Towne, and demanded that his Democratic rival do the same, on the grounds that one of the numerous bands slated to play at a Towne campaign event celebrating their successful ballot access petition drive has been deemed "extremist" by the Anti-Defamation League. . . . Simply put, the Dent campaign alleges that Towne is an anti-Semite, a bigot and an anarchist based on a loose association with a popular local rock band [i.e. Poker Face] that has made controversial statements.

Imagine that, a rock band with controversial views. Ironically, as the post goes on to point out, Dent is a strong supporter of Arizona's new anti-immigration law; the Anti-Defamation League has denounced this law as "misguided, bigoted, biased . . . and un-American." According to his own logic, one might justifiably wonder to what extent Dent should be considered a misguided, bigoted, un-American racist. But is Dent also an anti-government extremist? His relations to the local music scene might prove revelatory in this regard. On his official website, Dent celebrates the Bethlehem, PA, Musikfest, calling it part of the area’s “cultural richness” and “America’s Music Festival”:

Historic Bethlehem is a culturally rich area of Northampton County . . . Musikfest, dubbed America’s Music Festival, is a 10-day event each August, which showcases music from every genre imaginable.

This year, Musikfest is being headlined by Sublime with Rome and special guests The Dirty Heads and The Movement. One of The Dirty Heads' well-known tunes is entitled “Lay Me Down.” It is a love song about a couple who kill a local sheriff while on the run from the police. From the song's second verse:

They wouldn't stop running till They found a paradise/ But the sheriff finally found them with his eyes seeing red./ So the lovers had to shoot him down And fill em full of lead/ They were finally free To find a place to lay their head.

Is this the sort of culture that Dent endorses when he praises Bethlehem's Musikfest as part of the area's "cultural richness"? In lauding Musikfest as "America's Music Festival," does Dent endorse the killing of police? Is Dent an anti-government extremist? According to the logic of the Dent campaign, we may well have to answer all of these questions in the affirmative. I wonder what's on Dent's iPod. Is he willing to stand by every statement ever made by all the individuals in his favorite bands?

Of course, only the most intellectually and morally bankrupt individuals would denounce someone for controversial statements allegedly made by someone else. But that seems to be the Dent campaign's mode of operation at the present moment. And it reeks of desperation.

NE: Independent Candidate for Congress Calls for Conservative Leadership

From the Grand Island Independent:

Dan Hill of Grand Island officially announced his candidacy as an independent candidate for Nebraska's 3rd Congressional District Tuesday and came out swinging against Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., as being too "timid" as a leader.

Smith is seeking re-election for a third two-year term. His Democratic challenger is Rebekah Davis of Alliance.  Hill said he is a lifelong Republican conservative and if he was currently serving Nebraska's 3rd Congressional District, his voting record would nearly be identical to Smith's now.

But, Hill said, his problem with Smith is not his voting record, but that Smith "... is not a leader."  "He is quiet," Hill said. "He is a wallflower in the House of Representatives. The real choice in this election is between two conservatives, one of which is timid."

Hill said there's an urgent need for leadership in Congress and "bold action."

CO: Independent's Campaign for US House to Focus on Jobs

From the Coloradoan:

Ken "Wasco" Waszkiewicz will be an independent candidate on this fall's 4th Congressional District ballot, the Colorado secretary of state announced Thursday, meaning Northern Colorado voters will have a choice of five congressional candidates. . . . Other candidates who will be on the 4th Con- gressional District ballot are Democratic incumbent Betsy Markey, Republican Cory Gardner, American Constitution Party candidate Doug Aden and Libertarian Jassen Bowman.

Waszkiewicz, 38, works for the Fort Collins city traffic department. He said his daughter's birth in November prompted him to run for Congress.  "I think that was when I realized that I no longer can dodge this, the problems I see with the government, the way the country's going. Now I have more responsibility," he said.  He said the nation's biggest issue is jobs.



"I would start with the electrical grid ... to be able to get that up to speed so that, say, the East Coast isn’t running out of power because there’s a heat wave going on. That’s ridiculous. I don’t think in 2010 we should be having power outages,” he said.

VA: Libertarian Matthew Mosley Nominated in CD-8

From PR Web:

Matthew Mosley of Oak Hill, VA, has received the nomination of the Libertarian Party of Virginia to be its candidate in the election for the U.S. House of Representatives in Virginia’s Eighth Congressional District on Tuesday, November 2, 2010.


Libertarians believe in the constitutional principle that all people should be able to live their own lives as they choose, without interference, as long as they do not harm other people or their property. To that end, Libertarians call for reduced government spending, lower taxes and real respect for civil liberties.

Mosley said, “As an entrepreneur and small business owner, I believe that anyone who is willing to work hard can shape their own future. Unfortunately, millions of hard-working Americans are struggling or unemployed today due to government policies that favor special interests and wealthy corporate executives over the average working family. I am running for Congress because I believe that the innovation and drive of the American people represents the engine of our economy, and in order to grow we must reduce the size of government and lower the tax burden on individuals and small businesses.”