Thursday, October 22, 2009

Next questions

Question #1

Is Sarah Palin:

a) About to break the Republican Party to its conservative faction's leash; or

b) About about to just break the Republican party, period?

[Hat Tip -- The Other McCain]

Either outcome represents bad news for the GOP, but possibly good news for libertarians.

So hey, she turned out to still be useful for something after all.

Question #2

Why doesn't the Libertarian Party's web site mention Joe Kennedy, Libertarian for US Senate from Massachusetts?

He's running under the label "Liberty" rather than "Libertarian" on the ballot, but there's a good reason for that -- actually, 45,000 good reasons. Massachusetts has perverse ballot access laws that make it much more expensive ($60k versus $15k) for an "established party" candidate to get on the ballot. Kennedy is a dues-paying member of the national LP, and is a board member of, and endorsed by, the Libertarian Association of Massachusetts.

It's not like there's a crowded nationwide field of US Senate candidates that LP News has to winnow down for lack of time and space to cover. This is a special election to replace the late Ted Kennedy ... and Massachusetts is a state where Libertarian Senate candidates have done well in the past. Michael Cloud polled 16.7% in 2002 versus John Kerry. I'm pretty sure that's the standing LP record for best performance in a US Senate race.

Is LNC/LPHQ punishing Massachusetts for the refusal of favorite son George Phillies to sit, roll over and play dead on command from the Watergate? Inquiring minds want to know.

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