Weld draws flak for attending GOP event

Bill Weld Didn’t Renounce Libertarianism by Supporting A Former Cabinet Member For Governor - Jack News:

October 12, 2017 - "An article last Thursday by Frank Phillips for Boston Globe said that former Gov. Bill Weld of Massachusetts was somehow betraying his Libertarian Party affiliation by appearing at an October 3 event with other prominent Massachusetts Republicans, including incumbent Gov. Charlie Baker, whom Weld has endorsed for re-election....

"Governor Weld’s friendship and support for Baker has never been a secret. After all, Baker served in two different cabinet positions during Weld’s own governorship. Weld noted that he would continue to support Baker, and other individual candidates as he saw fit regardless of party affiliation, to Libertarians at the 2016 convention in Orlando....

"In the 2016 US Senate race, the Alaskan State Libertarian Party’s ballot line had been hijacked by a pro-Trump candidate named Joe Miller. Weld instead endorsed incumbent Sen. Murkwoski, and didn’t hesitate to denounce the ostensible Libertarian Party candidate who was instead campaigning for Donald Trump.

"There’s nothing surprising or transgressive of any commitment here. As with Republicans and Democrats, Libertarians can endorse candidates in other parties when it suits them. Indeed, it’s not uncommon for Libertarians to support some like-minded candidates who are running as Republicans or Democrats....

"Additionally, the Globe article implies that Gov. Weld compounded this by not attending his home state’s Libertarian Party convention.... By the time the Massachusetts Libertarian convention was announced, Gov. Weld already had made other commitments, he explained. It was a simple scheduling conflict....

"Since the 2016 election, Weld has helped to secure support and fundraising for several Libertarian candidates and causes.... He’s also spoken at libertarian events, including an upcoming major speech at the regional conference of Students for Liberty in New York City on November 4th.

"As Gov. Weld told Reason magazine: 'I think in 8 to 12 years the Libertarian Party could become the number-one party in the United States, and I intend to participate in that.'"

Read more: http://www.thejacknews.com/politics/political-highlights/bill-weld-did-not-renounce-libertarianism-supporting-charlie-baker-cabinet-member/
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Libertarian Senatorial candidates set vote records

Joe Miller Shatters Libertarian US Senate Record While 8 Others Set New State Party Marks | Smart Politics - Eric Ostermaier:

November 20, 2016 - "The nation’s third largest political party notched by far its most successful election cycle in races to the nation’s upper legislative chamber....

"Alaska’s Joe Miller ... was an 11th hour recruit by the Libertarian Party in September 2016 and his brief, two-month campaign won him an impressive 29.4 percent of the vote in the general election.... Miller not only far exceeded his polling numbers (which usually had him in the mid- to high teens), but he demolished his party’s mark for its all-time best showing in a race for the office....

"Party records were also set in:

• Arkansas, Frank Gilbert (3.98 percent): Gilbert nearly doubled the 2.03 percent won by Nathan LaFrance in 2014. Gilbert and LaFrance are the only two U.S. Senate candidates to get on the general election ballot in the state under the Libertarian Party banner. 
• Colorado, Lily Williams (3.61 percent): Williams, the seventh U.S. Senate nominee for the party in state history, eclipsed Gaylon Kent’s 2.59 percent record from 2014 by just over a point. 
• Florida, Paul Stanton (2.12 percent): Stanton more than quadrupled the support received by the party’s only other nominee for the office in state history – Alexander Snitker in 2010 (0.46 percent). 
• Georgia, Allen Buckley (4.16 percent): Buckley broke a 20-year record held by 1996 nominee Jack Cashin (3.60 percent). Libertarians have fielded U.S. Senate nominees in 10 elections in the Peach State since its first nominee in 1992. 
• Iowa, Chuck Aldrich (2.71 percent): Aldrich, the seventh nominee fielded by the party for the office, broke 2010 nominee John Heiderscheit’s record (2.27 percent)....
• North Dakota, Robert Marquette (3.08 percent): Marquette almost doubled the party’s previous best showing in the state in a U.S. Senate race – Keith Hanson’s 1.63 percent in 2010. 
• Oklahoma, Robert Murphy (3.00 percent): Murphy – the first nominee to gain ballot access under the Libertarian banner in 20 years for the office – crushed the party’s previous best mark of 1.23 percent set in 1996 by Agnes Reiger. 
• Wisconsin, Phil Anderson (2.96 percent): Anderson bested Joseph Kexel’s 2012 campaign (2.07 percent) by nearly a full point. None of the other seven U.S. Senate Libertarian nominees in the Badger State over the decades had reached one percent.... 

"An additional six other 2016 nominees turned in the second best Libertarian U.S. Senate performance in their respective states: Robert Garrard in Kansas (5.52 percent), Edward Clifford in Pennsylvania (3.84 percent), Sean Haugh in North Carolina (3.56 percent, 0.18 points shy of his own record), Kent McMillan in Illinois (3.22 percent), Richard Lion in Connecticut (1.14 percent), and Alex Merced in New York (0.65 percent).

 "Libertarian U.S. Senate candidates outperformed their party’s presidential nominee, Gary Johnson, in seven states: Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Indiana, Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. "

Read more: http://editions.lib.umn.edu/smartpolitics/2016/11/20/joe-miller-shatters-libertarian-us-senate-record-while-8-others-set-new-state-party-marks/
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Joe Miller gets highest Libertarian Senate %age

Former Tea Party Republican Gets Libertarians Their Highest Ever Federal Senate Percentage [UPDATED] - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Brian Doherty:

November 11, 2016 - "Joe Miller earned the Libertarian Party (L.P.) its highest-ever vote percentage in a federal Senate race this week, with his 30 percent in Alaska.

"Generally when an L.P. candidate gets into double digits it is because one of the major party's isn't contesting the race at all. But Miller impressively got this 30 percent L.P. total coming in second place against a Republican (winning incumbent Lisa Murkowski, 44 percent), with a Democrat (Ray Metcalfe, 11 percent), and an independent (Margaret Stock, 14 percent) far behind him. Miller beat the combined total of the Democrat and the 3rd place independent.

"Miller pulled this off possibly despite the Libertarian label more than because of it; he was well-known to Alaskan voters, having been the official GOP Senate candidate in 2010. In that race he famously was beaten by the incumbent Murkowski, who Miller exceeded in the primary.... Yet in the general election she triumphed via write-in....

"Miller did not start off this election season necessarily intending to contend with his old foe Murkowski again, but in September the L.P.'s original candidate for the Senate seat, Cean Stevens, dropped out and the Party substituted Miller, after what Associated Press reported as failed past attempts on the L.P.'s part to recruit him.

"Miller's ability to win what must have been normally Republican votes is a vivid sign of major party disenchantment that the L.P. should try to further capitalize on, said Jon Watts, the Alaska state L.P.'s chair, in a phone interview this week.

"It's an example of how 'moving forward there's a huge opportunity to enlarge our tent,' Watts says. 'As much as we talk about open borders,' Watts says (Miller's Tea-Partyish belief in border walls was a sticking point with many Libertarians), 'we want folks to come in to our Party, to assimilate and actually become libertarians and understand the non-aggression principle and self-ownership and negative individual rights and the whole platform'....

"Despite Miller's early high polling, the Libertarian National Committee (LNC) declined to help Miller's campaign with money; LNC member Daniel Hayes noted in an LNC business email list post that he's 'not looking to enable a Republican retread just looking for ballot access that plans to caucus with the Republicans' though admitting he hadn't done a deep dive into Miller's specific beliefs....

 "Miller for his part said in a phone interview this week that he's been, even when he was a Republican, 'talking about the corruption of the two-party system since the '90's' and is mostly happy with his new Libertarian Party home. Miller's web page, though, mostly refers to him as the 'liberty candidate' without explicit L.P. branding."

Read more: http://reason.com/blog/2016/11/11/former-tea-party-republican-gets-liberta
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Weld in Alaska, where ticket last polled 18%

Libertarian vice presidential candidate makes pitch for Alaskans’ votes - Alaska Dispatch News - Nathaniel Herz:

October 28, 2016 - "The Libertarian Party on Thursday began a last-minute blitz on Alaska, sending vice presidential candidate Bill Weld to make his ticket's small-government case in a state where it's drawing double digits in polls.

"Weld, in an interview and later speaking at an Anchorage rally that brought 150 people to the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, pitched a pragmatic libertarian philosophy. His program made room for climate change regulation, status quo military spending, and a near-endorsement of Lisa Murkowski, the incumbent Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, whom Weld described as 'dynamite' — and who's running against an official Libertarian candidate, Joe Miller.

"Weld is spending two days in Anchorage less than two weeks before the election, with Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, a former Republican governor of New Mexico, expected to visit Wednesday.

"Weld is a former Republican governor of Massachusetts and an avid outdoorsman who initially tried to fit a trout fishing trip into his Alaska schedule. He said the two running mates see their Libertarian ideology and love for 'wide open spaces' aligning with Alaskans who want to keep government at arm's length....

"An Alaska Dispatch News poll conducted at the end of September and early October had Johnson drawing 18 percent. Murkowski's own polling put the Libertarian candidate at 10 percent....

"The Libertarian presidential campaign sees Alaska as fertile ground, given widespread dissatisfaction with the two major [parties'] nominees and the 53 percent of voters who don't register with a political party. But they haven't been working with the Alaska Libertarian Party, which chose a social conservative and former tea party Republican, Joe Miller, as its U.S. Senate candidate....

"Weld referred to socially conservative policies as 'mean-spirited' at the rally and said Miller effectively 'took over' the Alaska Libertarian Party.

"'He doesn't speak for us or the national party,' Weld said in the interview. Instead, he praised Murkowski, who condemned Donald Trump's candidacy earlier this month. Weld said Murkowski was 'absolutely terrific' and said he agreed with her support for oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

"A spokesman for Miller, Randy DeSoto, didn't respond to a request for comment."

Read more: https://www.adn.com/politics/2016/10/27/libertarian-vice-presidential-candidate-makes-pitch-for-alaskans-votes/
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Alaska Libertarian in 2nd in U.S. Senate race

Libertarian Running a Close 2nd Place in Alaska Senate Race - Kody Fairfield, Libertarian Republic:

September 30, 2016 - "In a poll run by The People’s Pundit Daily (PPD) of 317 likely Alaskan voters who are going to vote in the Senate race in November, the results are quite promising for Libertarian candidate Joe Miller.

"In the poll, which was conducted according to level 1 AAPOR standards of disclosure and WAPOR/ESOMAR code of conduct, Republican incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski is at 38% to Libertarian Miller’s 30%. It shows Democratic candidate Ray Metcalf at 13% and an undecided vote above him at 19%.

"As a result of the polling and subsequent data, the Alaska Senate race is rated a 'BATTLEGROUND' on the PPD 2016 Senate Election Projection Model. PPD will revisit the race with more polling surveys in the near future.

"Miller is definitely benefiting from being the Tea Party GOP choice for Senate in 2010, though he lost to Murkowski’s write-in campaign under shady circumstances, prior to his run as a Libertarian this year. He is the only pro-life candidate in the race and has recently received the endorsement of conservative radio talk show host Mark Levin.

"Keep an eye on Alaska, as public opinion, and projections show a contested contest is likely. The nation may elect its first U.S. Senator under the Libertarian banner."

Read more: http://gdspoliticalanimal.blogspot.ca/2016/09/alaska-libertarian-in-2nd-place-in.html
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Joe Miller is Alaska Libertarian Senate candidate

Alaska Libertarians select Joe Miller as Senate candidate | McClatchy DC - Becky Bohrer, Associated Press:

September 6, 2016 - "Joe Miller wants to again attempt to unseat U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, but this time he's planning to try it as a Libertarian.

"Miller announced Tuesday that he will become the Libertarian's replacement candidate in Alaska's U.S. Senate race in another face-off with the incumbent Republican.

"Six years ago, Miller upset Murkowski in the GOP primary only to see her retain her seat in a general election write-in campaign marked by a lengthy hand-count of ballots.

"In a statement, Murkowski said she has been preparing for her re-election bid for several years and looks forward to 'a spirited campaign on the issues that matter to Alaskans most."

"Alaska Libertarian Party Chairman Terrence Shanigan confirmed in an interview with The Associated Press that Miller is the party's choice to replace Cean Stevens on the ballot after she withdrew from the race. He said Miller has registered as a Libertarian and is a good fit for a party that believes in such things as limited government.

"The party had unsuccessfully courted Miller to be a candidate in 2010 and 2014, he said. 'I think this race is less about party, but it's so much about ideology and philosophy,' Shanigan said.

"Miller is a high-energy candidate with name recognition who is more measured and deliberative than he was in 2010, Shanigan said....

"Division of Elections Director Josie Bahnke said by email Tuesday that election officials were processing the paperwork submitted to put Miller on the ballot. If certified, Miller would become the Libertarian candidate instead of Stevens."

"Miller issued a release saying that low voter turnout in last month's primary shows that Alaskans want another choice. If elected, the release states, Miller said he will caucus with Republicans."

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article100276312.html
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