WI: The Case for Voting Independents into our State Legislatures

From the Madison Cap Times, an op-ed by Torrey Jaeckle, an independent candidate for state assembly:

It is time to recognize that if we are to achieve Lincoln’s view of “government of the people, by the people, for the people” it will mean turning away from career politicians in favor of electing thoughtful and creative citizens with successful private sector experience.


As an independent, I am tied to no party. I believe good governance should be about ideas and not about politics, power and special interests. Democrats and Republicans frequently work harder at playing political games than at solving the real issues facing our state. It’s time to move beyond the two-party system that so frequently leads to bitter divisions and partisan bickering. Let’s talk ideas, pushing forward those that make sense and are cost effective.

The Third Rail Movement: Building the Opposition to the Two-Party State

An article by A.J. Arias, published here in its entirety with permission from the author

“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.” –George Washington, 1796 Farewell Address

Washington had it right when it came to a two-party division of his country. Fast forward two hundred years and you will see a nation “divided and conquered” over its fiscal and military policy and that President Washington’s dire omen of “domination” has come to pass. America still needs an “outside the parties” movement (a third rail movement, if you will) to undo the damage of encroaching “despotism” since 1796. Americans need an “outside the parties” movement to secure the blessings of Liberty and Peace for our families, our children, our land, our income and our food.  Big Brother Government has been on the move to grow the Empire and expand our wars – and all we can expect is more tyranny, economic collapse and danger from the unintended consequences of politicians.

What is a “third rail”?  I define “third rail” as an issue so controversial or offensive that a civilized person generally avoids bringing it up in conversation. Today, third rail issues which incite great controversy include abortion, homosexuality, teen pregnancy, slave reparations and exit strategies to never-ending wars. But none of these tomfooleries are worthy of our time on a grand-scale.

There is one third rail issue which matters to all of us. It remains taboo in the media while whispered about in the halls of State Legislatures and pubs and homes all across America. America’s most pressing and sorely-needed third rail issue is the total defiance and defeat of the Two-Party System which controls both sides of the aisle and ensures tyranny over us all.

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.

CA-Gov: Green Party Candidate Finally Garners Media Attention Following Her Arrest Outside Debate from which She was Excluded

From Green party Watch:

California Green Party gubernatorial candidate Laura Wells finally got some attention from the media this week when she was arrested for attempting to attend a debate at Dominican University in San Rafael. Here are two high-profile media reports:
San Jose Mercury News: Gubernatorial candidate arrested outside debate Tuesday night
KCRA Sacramento: Green Party candidate ejected
Laura Wells’ facebook page has plenty of pictures and news from Tuesday night.

IL: Whitney Asks Supporters to Pressure Debate Organizers

From Green Party Watch:

Illinois Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney is asking supporters to take action to get him into two debates that debate sponsors are threatening to exclude him from. Whitney received over 10% of the vote for governor in 2006, establishing the Green Party as a major party in Illinois. He is an excellent, well-spoken candidate with a comprehensive platform to fix the Illinois budget and ensure that everyone in Illinois has access to quality jobs, education, and healthcare. . . .

NY-Gov: Green Party vs. Two-Party Circus

From the Huffington Post:

On Monday, October 18, Howard Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for governor of New York, will face-off in a debate against two candidates vying for Tea Party support, Republican Carl Paladino and Democrat Andrew Cuomo. While Hawkins and the Greens have argued for a Green New Deal to end the economic crisis, unemployment, and environmental decay, Paladino and Cuomo are shouting about who is the real "Italian-American," who could do a better job cutting taxes for the affluent and vital social services for everyone else, whose extra marital affairs were more destructive to their families, and whether a man who made a fortune milking the state for millions of dollars in sweet-heart real estate deals (Paladino) or a man who has been a political insider since childhood (Cuomo), could best clean up corruption in Albany.

Exclusive: Interview with Darcy Richardson, Independent Candidate for Lt. Governor of Florida, Part III

As noted in the introductory post of this series, this week TPID is publishing a lengthy interview with historian and long-time independent political activist Darcy Richardson, who is a candidate for Lt. Governor of Florida running on Farid Khavari's Independent gubernatorial ticket.  This post contains the final portion of the interview, in which Darcy discusses Farid Khavari's economic proposals for the state of Florida, the difficulties of overcoming mainstream media bias, and the general outlook for independent and third party politics this year and beyond.  See also Part I and Part II.    

TPID: Given that Khavari is an economist, it is no surprise to find that the centerpiece of his candidacy is a robust economic plan for the Sunshine State. The two key components of that plan are the foundation of a state bank and the implementation of a "zero-cost" economy. Would you briefly describe these two aspects of the economic proposal and explain how they are interrelated?

Richardson: As the first candidate for public office to seriously promote the idea of a state-owned bank since the Great Depression, Dr. Khavari's state-owned bank — relying on the commonly accepted practice of “fractional reserve banking” — would provide fixed-rate, fifteen-year mortgages at two percent and credit cards at six percent, while providing much-needed credit to Florida's struggling small and medium-sized businesses.

The Bank of the State of Florida would also provide attractive rates on car loans and other consumer borrowing while offering CD’s yielding a 6 percent return.  It could be the catalyst, says Khavari, for an “economic miracle” in Florida.

The bank’s profits would be used to reduce and eventually eliminate property taxes in Florida while helping to fund the state government, which faces a $5 to $6 billion budget shortfall in 2011, in much the same manner that the Bank of North Dakota regularly contributes to that state’s budget.

In the past decade, for example, the nation’s only state-owned bank plowed nearly $300 million into North Dakota’s treasury, enabling the state legislature to mandate property tax reductions.  Consequently, it’s one of the few states that doesn't find itself in a fiscal crisis. In 2009, North Dakota — one of the reddest states in the country — enjoyed a record $1.3 billion surplus.  It's not surprising, therefore, that North Dakota also boasts the lowest unemployment rate in the nation. Incredibly, the state’s jobless rate was only 3.7 percent in August.

I’ll frankly admit that I initially struggled to understand Khavari's concept of a zero-cost economy. The basic idea is to create wealth by freezing, then reducing and in some cases eliminating costs altogether so that individuals can save and invest for their retirements. It's designed to create what Dr. Khavari calls a "carefree economy."

The idea of a state bank is directly related. Imagine the potential savings, for example, if you had a two percent interest rate and could pay off your mortgage in ten to fifteen years instead of thirty years. Homeowners would save hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Of course, it'll never happen as long as the existing commercial banking industry — the ones responsible for our current economic plight — continues to have its way, but it could be a reality once state banks are established throughout the country.

A bold and imaginative thinker, Farid Khavari is the guy who can make it happen — at least here in Florida.

Fortunately, a number of other candidates around the country are also advocating the idea of state-owned banks, including Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, the Democratic nominee for governor of Michigan. Several Green Party candidates, including New York’s Howie Hawkins and Rich Whitney of Illinois, are also vigorously championing the idea. 

TPID: Since the mainstream media often act as if they are the public relations arms of the Democratic and Republican parties, it can be quite difficult for third party and independent candidates to get a fair hearing for their ideas. Will you and/or Khavari be allowed to participate in any of the officially organized debates or candidate forums for this race? If not, will you be participating in any independently organized debates or forums?

Richardson: Farid has been invited to a couple of candidate forums, but for the most part invitations have been few and far between. In fact, we were excluded from Friday's Univision debate between Alex Sink and Rick Scott — an hour-long exchange in which the major-party candidates traded jabs and insults while saying little about how they might fix Florida's ailing economy.

Dr. Khavari also hasn't been invited to participate in a debate sponsored by Leadership Florida and the Florida Press Association to be held Oct. 20 at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Florida, as well as another debate sponsored by CNN and the St. Petersburg Times on October 25.

The criteria for the October 20 debate sponsored by Leadership Florida and the Florida Press Association is an arbitrary and virtually insurmountable fifteen percent threshold (with a +/- 4% margin of error) in a recent Mason-Dixon Poll.

We're exploring our legal options, but I'm not holding out any hope that Dr. Khavari will be participating in any televised debates with his major-party opponents between now and Election Day. 

TPID: As a historian of the third party and independent political tradition in the United States, could you speak to the prospects of the third party and independent political movement in Florida or nationwide in 2010 and beyond?

Richardson:  Well, my favorite third-party candidates in this election cycle — a political potpourri that includes Dan La Botz in Ohio, Howie Hawkins in New York, Arizona's David Nolan and Christina Tobin, who's running for California Secretary of State, to name a few — probably won't be rewarded by the voters to the degree they clearly deserve. The same is true of the Green Party’s Rich Whitney in Illinois.

They're all legitimate — and attractive — third-party candidates with long personal histories of battling the increasingly corrupt duopoly, but most voters will inexcusably ignore their candidacies.

The strongest showings on Nov. 2, I suppose, will be posted by a handful of major-party personalities like Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island and Florida's Charlie Crist, career politicians whose motivation for running as independents, in almost every instance, has more to do with self-preservation that any deep or lasting commitment to the idea of open politics in this country.  Regrettably, their sudden conversion to alternative politics is a matter of convenience more than anything else.

In conclusion, I'm not particularly optimistic about 2012, but if the Republicans, as expected, take both the House and Senate and a majority of governorships on Nov. 2nd, and are then widely viewed as the governing party — presiding over an ever-deepening depression while continuing to coddle the nation’s wealthiest citizens — then maybe, just maybe, the American people will finally have had enough and will seriously begin looking for an alternative. 

Hopefully, there'll still be something to salvage at that point. 

Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions Darcy!

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.

VA: Four Third Party and Independent Candidates for Congress Profiled in Roanoke Times

From the Roanoke Times:

Polls suggest that people are unhappy not just with Democrats, who hold majorities in both houses of Congress, but also with Republicans. The four men running for Congress under independent and third-party banners in Western Virginia's three House districts share that frustration.

Jeff Clark in the 5th District and Jeremiah Heaton in the 9th are running as independents with the ability to perhaps at least influence the races between the major party candidates, while Libertarian Stuart Bain and Modern Whig Jeff Vanke both hope the absence of a Democrat in the 6th District will give them an opening against Republican incumbent Bob Goodlatte. All four are decided underdogs. But each is convinced that he can tap into voter discontent.

FL-8: Tea Party, Independent and Whig Candidates Debate Alan Grayson, Republican Refuses to Participate in Debate with Independent and Third Party Challengers

From the Orlando Sentinel:

U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, the firebrand Democrat fighting a conservative onslaught to boot him from office, sat next to an empty chair during the campaign's first debate Tuesday night. His Republican opponent, Dan Webster, didn't attend. . . .  Grayson shared the stage with Peg Dunmire of the Florida Tea Party; George Metcalfe, an independent; and Steven Gerritzen, a write-in candidate from the Whig Party.

Webster cited a scheduling conflict in not attending the debate sponsored by the Central Florida Urban League at the Citrus Bowl's Varsity Club. But his campaign has also made it clear that he won't debate unless the match-up includes only him and Grayson.

So Webster says he couldn't make it because of a scheduling conflict, but it turns out that even if there were no supposed conflict he still wouldn't have shown up because he thinks he is above an exchange of ideas with third party and independent candidates.  Professional political elitism at its worst.  

IL: Chicago Tribune Interviews Green and Libertarian Candidates for US Senate

From the Chicago Tribune, a lengthy video of their endorsement interviews for the US Senate race in Illinois, link via reader Dominik:

Watch the entire endorsement interview of the four candidates for Illinois' open U.S. Senate seat. The candidates are from left to right: LeAlan Jones (L), Alexi Giannoulias (D), U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R) and Mike Labno (L). The interview was conducted on Oct. 4, 2010.

GA-Gov: Libertarian John Monds in Television Interview for Fox Atlanta

Link from My Fox Atlanta, sent in by reader Chris:

John Monds is a stay-at-home dad, who is home-schooling his children. Monds is also hoping to make history as a Libertarian party candidate for governor.  Monds made Libertarian party history two years ago when he got more than a million votes in a Georgia public service commission race.  Now, Monds is striving for another breakthrough based on a message about the role of government.

Exclusive: Interview with Darcy Richardson, Independent Candidate for Lt. Governor of Florida, Part II

As noted in the introductory post of this series, this week TPID is publishing a lengthy interview with historian and long-time independent political activist Darcy Richardson, who is a candidate for Lt. Governor of Florida running on Farid Khavari's Independent gubernatorial ticket.  In today's installment, Darcy discusses campaign strategy and Farid Khavari's remarkable biography.

TPID: Since Independent Bud Chiles withdrew from this race, support for an alternative to the Republican and Democratic candidates seems to have collapsed, judging from recent polls. What is your strategy as we head into the final weeks of the campaign season?

Richardson: Great question. Chiles should have stayed in the race, if only to chip away at both major parties. In the end, however, the pressure from the Democrats was simply too great.  Sadly, you're absolutely correct in observing that support for an alternative in Florida's gubernatorial contest appears to have completely collapsed. At this point — and let's be completely honest here — we're not even registering in the polls.  

Money, alas, has been a major problem.  Farid initially hoped to raise $200,000 or more from the Iranian-American community, but it hasn't materialized — at least not yet.  Consequently, we've only spent about $40,000 so far, making it somewhat difficult to get our message out.  That said, Farid hasn’t ruled out the idea of loaning his campaign $100,000-120,000 for our final push. Needless to say, it would be a huge investment.

As for myself, I plan to spend the final weeks of the campaign promoting the idea of a state-owned bank while trying to familiarize Floridians with Farid's remarkable life story. It's a really compelling — and moving — saga.

Khavari’s father was murdered by the radical Islamic regime of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1980 for refusing to renounce his Bahá'í faith, and his first wife died as the result of medical malpractice, but Farid doesn't harbor even the slightest trace of bitterness.

He's one of the most optimistic — and passionate — people I've ever encountered in politics.  His sincerity — his noble sense of purpose and the sheer conviction of his deeply-held beliefs — shines through every time he speaks. He's not a politician.

Farid recognizes that recession-ravaged Floridians are hurting, and they're hurting badly. He genuinely wants to help them. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Florida was one of only two states that experienced a spike in unemployment in August, reporting an official jobless rate of 11.7 percent, compared to 9.6 percent nationally. Unofficially, the unemployment rate — the U-6 rate —is much higher, well over twenty percent in several Florida counties.

Florida also has the second-highest foreclosure rate in the country, more than twice the national average. We experienced 544,000 foreclosures last year. Moreover, some 46 percent of all residential mortgages in Florida are currently “underwater” — and market values are expected to drop another thirty percent.

That's a lot of economic pain and suffering.

The hopelessly indebted classes in this country — the working poor and the dwindling middle-class — have suffered enough during this seemingly never-ending economic crisis while the most affluent Americans have seen their portfolios improve considerably.

According to Forbes magazine, the richest 400 Americans, sharing a combined wealth of $1.37 trillion, saw their wealth increase by 8 percent over last year, while a vast majority of Americans are struggling to make ends meet.

We need radical economic change — and somebody who’s willing to fight for America’s better self to make it happen. 

In the next post in the series, Darcy discusses Khavari's economic plan, including the idea of founding a state bank and that of a zero-cost economy. 

A Progressive Case for Political Independence

From FireDogLake:

When I was a registered Democrat, both major parties despised me — the Republicans because I was a Democrat, and the Democrats because I am a true lefty and they’ve moved so far to the right that they may as well be Republicans, and they can’t stand being reminded that their base expects them to represent the left. Now that I’m a Green, they can’t get enough of my ass. This is confusing because neither major party has bothered to do its homework on independent voters. Rather than recognize us as the ideologically disparate people we are, with some holding left-wing beliefs while others hold right-wing ones, they lump us into some indescribable muddle . . .

as Democrats, you are absolutely nothing to your own party. You vote how you’re told to vote, and if you dare complain about woefully inadequate policy positions, you’re "on drugs", "whiny", "irresponsible", "petulant" "children". Re-register as a Green, or a Socialist, or a Progressive, or a Communist, or Libertarian or Constitution, and watch how fast the major party politicians flood your mailboxes.

NV: David Curtis is the Green Party Candidate for Governor of Nevada

David Curtis is the Green Party candidate for Governor of Nevada.  A campaign video via Green Party Watch:

NY-Gov: Howie Hawkins (G) Calls for Rapid Clean Energy Transition

Via Green Party Watch:

From New York Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins:

• Make New York State a Leader in the Fight to Drastically Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• Create “Climate Jobs” – in both the public and private sectors
• Scale Up Renewable Energy — 100% by 2020
• No to Hydrofracking, Nuclear Power, and “Clean Coal”

The Green Party of New York State is committed to a rapid Clean Energy Transition that will create hundreds of thousands of good jobs, stimulate economic recovery, advance social justice, and eliminate greenhouse gas emissions in a decade. In 1931, what became the federal New Deal was initiated in New York State by Governor Roosevelt, Francis Perkins, and Harry Hopkins with a public jobs program as the Great Depression deepened. It is now time for New York State to again lead the nation in the face of persistent high unemployment and pending climate catastrophe, this time with a Green New Deal in which a Clean Energy Transition is the centerpiece

IL: Chicago Tribune Profiles Rich Whitney, Green Candidate for Governor

From an article in the Chicago Tribune:

As he emerged from a governor's debate at the downtown Union League Club, Green Party candidate Rich Whitney chided Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican rival Bill Brady for skirting the issue of the state's $13 billion budget deficit. "Let's get real," he said, using a favorite interjection. The electoral reality for candidate Whitney, however, is stark. Whitney was forced to watch that debate from the audience because he had not fared well enough in opinion polls to appear on stage.

Four years ago, Whitney scored a surprising 10.4 percent of the vote — good enough to qualify the Greens as an established party that made it easier for candidates to get on the ballot. Whitney thought he might fare even better this time around because the 2006 winner, Democrat Rod Blagojevich, faces retrial on political corruption charges.

CO: Republican Gov Candidate Supports Democrat over Conservative Tancredo on Economic Issues

From the Denver Daily News:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes said in a radio interview that he believes Democrat John Hickenlooper would be better for the economic health of the state than third party candidate Tom Tancredo. Maes made the comment on the Cari and Robb Show, a talk radio show “for independent Americans.”

“I would say that John absolutely brings that kind of moderate business acumen and business experience that Republicans in Denver proper really like,” said Maes of Hickenlooper. “We’ve seen several major Republican businessmen back John Hickenlooper, so I would absolutely trust the mayor when it comes to the economic health of our state and the business community more so than I would Tom.”

Exclusive: Interview with Darcy Richardson, Independent Candidate for Lt. Governor of Florida

Darcy Richardson is a veteran independent political activist, a historian of the third party and independent political tradition in the United States, and an Independent candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Florida, running on the gubernatorial ticket of economist and author Farid Khavari.  He is well known in third party and independent political circles for his multi-volume history of third party politics in the United States, entitled Others, as well as for his numerous articles on historical and contemporary political underdogs, many of which can be found at Uncovered Politics, a political news and opinion website he co-founded earlier this year.  Darcy was kind enough to provide Third Party and Independent Daily with a lengthy interview on his political career, the state of the campaign for governor in Florida, Khavari's economic plan and the current outlook for third party and independent politics in the United States.  The interview will be published here in a number of installments over the course of the week.  In the first part, he discusses the arc of his political career and, in the process, provides a short history of the Consumer Party. 

TPID: What made you decide to join Farid Khavari's independent gubernatorial ticket? Have you run for any elected offices before? What campaigns have you previously been involved with?

Richardson: I began following Dr. Khavari's campaign about fifteen months ago, shortly after he declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination. I was initially attracted to his proposal for a state-owned bank modeled after the powerful Non-Partisan League’s state-owned bank in North Dakota, the 1919 brainchild of Arthur C. Townley, a cigar-chomping ex-Socialist Party organizer.

It wasn't until shortly after he dropped out of the Democratic primary and filed as an independent a few months ago that Farid asked me to be his running mate. Needless to say, I was deeply honored to be considered.

Not to date myself, but I made my political debut in 1979 when I ran for commissioner in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. At the time, I was a Democratic precinct committeeman.

The following year, in 1980, I ran for Pennsylvania Auditor General on the Consumer Party ticket, an affiliate of the newly-formed Citizens Party. The Citizens Party nominated environmentalist Barry Commoner for President that year. I was 24 at the time.  Prior to that I had volunteered in Eugene McCarthy's 1976 independent presidential campaign and had managed my father's unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant-governor of Pennsylvania in 1978.

The Consumer Party was founded by Max Weiner and a few other activists in 1967 as the political arm of the non-profit Consumer Education & Protective Association (CEPA), one of the country's first consumer protection organizations.  A red-diaper baby and one of the nation's first consumer activists, Weiner founded CEPA a year earlier, shortly after Ralph Nader first burst onto the scene with his book, Unsafe at Any Speed.

For years, the raspy-voiced Weiner could be found shouting into his bullhorn on the east side of Philadelphia’s historic City Hall, railing for lower utility rates and mass transit fares and against shady business practices and political corruption. He was a folk hero to thousands of ordinary Philadelphians concerned with pocketbook issues.

In any case, I have quite a few fond memories of the 1980 campaign. I had been an alternate delegate to the Citizens Party's founding convention in Cleveland, Ohio, earlier that spring and also served as chairman of the Citizens Committee of Montgomery County, the party's national ballot access fundraising committee.

The Philadelphia-based Consumer Party sent a team of experienced petitioners headed by Lance Haver — the rabble-rousing and feisty Weiner’s eventual successor at CEPA — around the country to place the Citizens Party ticket on the ballot. A skilled community organizer, Lance had joined CEPA fresh out of college in 1978. He’s currently the city's Director of Consumer Affairs, a cabinet-level position created by Mayor John F. Street in 2003.

If memory serves me correctly, the party eventually qualified for a spot on the ballot in 29 states and the District of Columbia.  The Citizens Party attracted some outstanding individuals, among them author Studs Terkel, Maggie Kuhn of the Gray Panthers, a close ally of the Consumer Party, and Sidney Lens, a prolific writer, peace activist and labor organizer who ran for the U.S. Senate on the party's ticket in Illinois. Lens, who died in 1986, was a veteran of Dr. Benjamin Spock’s People’s Party in the early 1970s and was one of the leading lights on the American Left.

Failing to convince former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark to accept the party’s presidential nomination in 1984, the Citizens Party faded away shortly after Sonia Johnson’s ill-fated presidential candidacy that year — a race in which the ex-communicated Mormon finished in fifth place, about 6,700 votes behind reclusive perennial candidate Lyndon H. LaRouche.

The Consumer Party, on the other hand, was a fixture in Philadelphia politics for more than a quarter of a century. The party's high-water mark occurred in 1987 when party founder Max Weiner — I called him "Mighty Max" — polled 133,826 votes, or 21.6 percent, in a bid for an At-Large City Council seat. Everybody thought he would win.

Two years later, Max was leading his Democratic and Republican rivals in a bid for City Controller when his heart gave out two weeks before the election. He was leading in all the polls at the time of his death. His grieving widow, Besse — a remarkable woman in her own right — was substituted in his place and received nearly a quarter of the vote.

Altogether, I was active in the party for about a dozen years, running for the U.S. Senate as the party’s nominee in 1988 — the same year I managed the late Eugene McCarthy’s fourth bid for the presidency — and briefly mounting a campaign for Congress on the party's ticket in a special election in Philadelphia's 2nd congressional district in 1991.

I withdrew from the latter race in October of that year and gave my place on the ballot to Chaka Fattah, a young African-American State Senator who wanted to run on our ticket. Fattah, who eventually captured the seat when he defeated the incumbent congressman in the Democratic primary three years later, finished second in the special election, garnering 28 percent of the vote in a four-candidate field.

In addition to waging a handful of other local races, I also managed Dr. John Logue's campaign for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania in 1982. The Yale-educated Logue, who finished second in a three-way primary that year, was the founder and director of Villanova University's Common Heritage Institute and published extensively on UN reform, law of the seas and international relations.

The white-haired Logue, who had previously taught at Fordham and Notre Dame, was an active World Federalist — he co-founded the Philadelphia chapter of the World Federalist Association — and believed strongly in global governance. Restructuring and strengthening the UN was the centerpiece of his frequent bids for the U.S. Senate.

I've remained politically active since relocating to Florida in 1993, running briefly for Duval County Supervisor of Elections as an independent in 2005 and managing Brian P. Moore's independent antiwar candidacy for the U.S. Senate in 2006.

In 2004, I vigorously defended Ralph Nader’s candidacy against the mean-spirited and obstructionist tactics of Democratic operatives trying to keep the longtime consumer activist off the ballot in as many states as possible, taking part in at least fifteen radio interviews across the country.

More recently, I also provided some behind-the-scenes assistance to Brian Moore's 2008 presidential campaign on the Socialist Party ticket and dabbled briefly in the Boston Tea Party, a Libertarian offshoot founded by the edgy and contemplative Tom Knapp of St. Louis in 2006.

Tune in tomorrow for the next portion of TPID's interview with Darcy Richardson.

ME-Gov: Race Will Be Decided by the Undecided, the Case for Cutler

From the Portland Press Herald:

it looks as if the election will be determined by the way the unusually large bloc of undecided voters (26 percent) moves. Mitchell may get some, but it is Cutler who will likely start picking up real support. This is just about where independent Angus King was in 1994 when he started to make his move. Why do I think the undecideds will start moving to Cutler? Because he is the one candidate who can deliver on an agenda to change Maine – as he says, "to make Maine the comeback state of the next decade."

LePage talks a change game, but has neither the grasp of real solutions nor the temperament to make change happen. Libby Mitchell would simply hope that things get better. I believe the next governor of Maine needs to be able to address four questions. I have listened to the candidates in debates and have reviewed the programs they propose on their websites. These are the grades I give them on each of the questions . . .