Dunn runs for Senate as Libertarian in NM

Libertarian Aubrey Dunn joins Senate race | Legislature | New Mexico Legislative Session | santafenewmexican.com - Steve Terell, Santa Fe New Mexican:

February 6, 2018 - "State Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn Jr., who recently changed his voting registration from Republican to Libertarian, filed to run for U.S. Senate on Tuesday against incumbent Democrat Martin Heinrich and Republican building contractor Mick Rich.

"Dunn, who won the land commissioner race four years ago, is one of an entire slate of Libertarians who filed for congressional and state offices on Tuesday. Dunn’s son, A. Blair Dunn, is running for attorney general, while other Libertarians are running for secretary of state, land commissioner and two of New Mexico’s three seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"The Secretary of State’s Office last week designated the Libertarian Party as a major party in New Mexico. The party won that [status] after former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson’s relatively strong showing in the 2016 presidential election in this state. Johnson, who was a Republican when he was governor between 1995 and 2002, got about 9.3 percent of the vote in the state, which is the best a third party has done here since independent presidential candidate Ross Perot won 16 percent of the state’s vote in 1992.

"Although Libertarians appeal to some on the left because of the party’s liberal views on social issues such as marijuana, abortion rights and gay rights, they tend to hurt Republicans because of their strong views on easing regulations, lowering taxes and shrinking government. The emergence of an active Libertarian Party in the state raises the question of whether GOP candidates will suffer.

"'I think I’ll pull equally from both my opponents,' Dunn said Tuesday. "Progressives in this state have made strides in taking over the Democratic Party, leaving many conservative Democrats behind'.... 'This is a winnable race for Libertarians,' he said, pointing to a recent poll that showed Heinrich with an approval rate of less than 50 percent....

"Besides Dunn, the best-known Libertarian candidate to file Tuesday was former state Rep. Sandra Jeff, who is running for secretary of state.... Jeff is a former Democrat from Crownpoint. She often sided with Republicans during her three terms in the state House....

Read more: http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/legislature/libertarian-aubrey-dunn-joins-senate-race/article_781091a1-54ca-5b7f-b0c0-2abb91987b97.html
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Roy Moore allegations boost Libertarian's write-in campaign

Libertarian has 'Most Awesomest' Plan in Alabama Senate Race - Rod Kackley, PJMedia:

November 17, 2017 - "Libertarian Ron Bishop told PJM his write-in campaign for Senate has skyrocketed since the line of women accusing former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore of sexual harassment and assault started forming. Bishop is one of two candidates running write-in campaigns in the Dec. 12 special election to fill the seat of former Sen. Jeff Sessions....

"'We’ve gotten more press. We have more people looking at us now. Our social media sites are getting a lot more hits,' Bishop said. 'There are a lot more messages from people who say, "Thank God there’s a third party out there."’

"Bishop, who works as a 'self-taught IT professional' in Birmingham, said even before the Roy Moore sexual misconduct scandal engulfed the special election there were plenty of people who were not fans of Justice Moore.

"'He’s a character here in Alabama. He’s been thrown out of the Alabama Supreme Court twice, and folks just weren’t happy (with Moore),' Bishop said....

"Bishop said there is an active core group of Republicans who will vote in GOP primary elections. But he maintained that most of Alabama voters are independents who don’t care for either the Democrats or the Republicans....

"He just has to convince GOPers who don’t like Roy Moore but can’t stomach the idea of voting for Democrat Doug Jones to pick the Libertarian. Bishop also needs to woo independents who dislike both the Democratic and Republican parties and convince them that it’s worth the time and trouble to get to a polling place and write the name 'Ron Bishop' on the ballot....

"Bishop also pointed out the only reason he has to run a write-in campaign is Alabama’s 'draconian law, enacted after Ross Perot’s presidential campaign' that makes it all but impossible for a third-party candidate to break the Republican-Democrat duopoly of power.

'Scenarios like the Alabama special election are why ballot access is so very important,' said Libertarian National Committee Ballot Access Committee Chair Ken Moellman. 'The election is a train wreck, and the people of Alabama are in this pickle partially because of intentionally onerous ballot access laws meant to prevent voters from having other choices – including Libertarian choices,' Moellman added."

Read more: https://pjmedia.com/election/libertarian-awesomest-plan-voters-salvation-alabama-senate-race/
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2016 a good year for the Libertarian Party

2016 a Big Year for Libertarian Party - Bacon's Rebellion - James A. Bacon:

December 14, 2016 - "Unless you read the LP News, you probably didn’t realize that 2016 was a record-breaking year for the Libertarian Party. The national news media tuned out Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson after he suffered his “Aleppo moment,” and his poll numbers fell in the last weeks as the race tightened between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Yet he still won nearly 4.4 million votes — more than three times the previous number garnered by the Libertarian candidate in 2012.

"Other third-party candidates have fared better — anyone remember George Wallace and Ross Perot? But the Libertarian Party represents a movement that is bigger and longer lasting than any one candidate. Nearly 500,000 Americans are registered as Libertarians, a new high. Nearly 1.7 million votes were cast for Libertarian candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, also a new high. In Alaska, the Libertarian candidate won 30% of the vote, beating the Democratic candidate. Dues-paying member have passed the 20,000 mark, the highest level since 2005.

"Among other signs of progress, the Libertarian Party now has presidential ballot access in 37 states — more states than after any election in the party’s history. Ballot access means the party’s presidential candidate in 2020 will automatically qualify to run in those states without the necessity of accumulating enough signatures to qualify. The $760,000 it cost the Libertarians to get on the ballots of all 50 states this year may be pocket change to Republicans and Democrats, but it looms large for an independent party.

"Libertarians made progress in Virginia, too. Libertarian Jessica Abbott won 59% of the vote in a nonpartisan race for Virginia Beach City Council. Noting that city spending has increased 90% over the past decade while median household income has remained flat, she opposed a proposed $343 million light rail project in the city. As a certified flood insurance agent, she also promised to use her expertise to help Virginia Beach cope with coastal flooding.

"Another Virginia Beach Libertarian, Robert Dean, lost the race but won a healthy 41% of the vote."

Read more: http://baconsrebellion.com/2016-a-big-year-for-libertarian-party/
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U.S. TV news 'blacking out' Johnson, 3rd parties

MRC Study: Challengers to Clinton and Trump Get Just 0.03% of TV News Airtime Rich Noyes, MRC Newsbusters:

September 6, 2016 - "Not since Ross Perot in 1996 has a third-party presidential candidate polled as strongly as Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson is right now.... In spite of this, the broadcast network evening newscasts are essentially blacking out the existence of alternatives to Clinton and Trump....

"MRC analysts examined all 1,713 campaign stories on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts from January 1 through August 31 (1,472 full reports, 104 brief items and an additional 137 stories on other topics that included some discussion of the campaign or candidates).

"Not surprisingly, Trump has drawn most of the attention: 1,773 minutes of evening news airtime during the first eight months of the year, far ahead of Clinton’s 1,020 minutes of coverage. Since the primaries ended on June 7, the networks’ focus has stayed on Trump, who received 705 minutes of coverage — much of it about various controversies — vs. 437 minutes for Clinton....

"Johnson has received a mere 11 seconds of evening news coverage — just a single sentence on the NBC Nightly News as he was formally nominated back in May. That means Clinton has received more than 5,000 times more coverage than Johnson, while Donald Trump garnered nearly 10,000 times more evening news airtime than his Libertarian challenger.

"To date, neither ABC nor CBS has mentioned Johnson’s candidacy on their evening newscasts, although  ABC has hosted him on This Week, and he’s been discussed on CBS’s Face the Nation and CBS This Morning.

"Green Party candidate Jill Stein has fared even worse, drawing a paltry three seconds of discussion in August on the NBC Nightly News. Stein’s name wasn’t even mentioned.... While Stein was a guest on ABC’s This Week, like Johnson, ABC and CBS evening news viewers have yet to hear about her candidacy.

"The story is similar for conservative independent Evan McMullin.... When he launched his candidacy in early August, ABC’s World News Tonight devoted 32 seconds of a larger campaign segment to McMullin.... Constitution Party candidate Darrell Castle, who is on the ballot in 29 states, has received zero coverage from the Big Three evening newscasts.

"There’s been some coverage of these candidates on cable news (CNN has hosted town halls for Johnson and Stein, for example), but the totals pale in comparison to the coverage of Trump and Clinton. And entrepreneurial voters who want to learn more about these candidates can get additional information from alternative news sources, social media and/or the candidates’ own Web sites.

"But it’s the day-to-day mass media coverage that validates candidates in the eyes of most voters.... Without significant media coverage, most voters probably won’t even consider the alternative candidates of 2016, no matter how dissatisfied they are with the two major party nominees."

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/rich-noyes/2016/09/06/mrc-study-challengers-clinton-and-trump-get-just-003-tv-news-airtime
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Libertarian ticket on all 50 state ballots

Johnson/Weld to Appear on All 50 State Ballots - Josh Guckert, Libertarian Republic:

September 9, 2016 - "Earlier today, the Libertarian ticket of Gary Johnson and William Weld achieved ballot access in Rhode Island. The feat is important in that it marks the first time since 1996 that any third-party ticket will appear on all 50 state ballots (plus the District of Columbia).

"Twenty years ago, both the Reform Party ticket of Ross Perot and Pat Choate, as well as the Libertarian ticket of Harry Browne and Jo Jorgensen, appeared in all 50 states. Though the Libertarians accomplished universal ballot access with Browne as the nominee again in 2000, L. Neil Smith instead appeared as the party’s presidential candidate in Arizona.

"Since the turn of the century, ballot access has become increasingly difficult for third-party candidates. For this reason, this year’s accomplishment by the Libertarians is fairly important. By being in position as a serious third-party ticket, Johnson and Weld are able to receive as many votes as possible.

"Further, they increase their odds of reaching the ever-important 5% of the popular vote, which would ensure matching federal funds in future elections. Nader in 1996 was the last candidate to reach this mark.... that 5% goal is simply the next step toward long-term victories for the Libertarian Party, after this success of universal ballot access."

Read more: http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/johnson-weld-50-states/
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The Libertarian down ticket is the key to liberty

The Libertarian Down Ticket is the key to Liberty - Keith Komar, special to GDPA:

August 12, 2016 - With all the excitement around the presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson has emerged as the third party alternative this cycle. What no one is talking about though, is the vast amount of candidates running down ticket for the party. The Libertarians have over 550 candidates running for various positions all the way from city council up to Governor. Electing Gary Johnson as president would be a major step towards liberty, but without support in the Senate and the House of Representatives, real change will be a very difficult battle.
   
As we draw closer to the presidential debates in September, there is an upward trend in the polling of the Johnson/Weld ticket, reaching as high as 26% in Utah's fourth district in a four way poll conducted by the Republicans internally. It will be impossible to keep them off the debate stage with those numbers and this will bode very well for the party's exposure, and a lot of attention is being paid to this by the party right now to ensure inclusion on the national debate stage, and rightly so. Inclusion in the debates is the number one way to gain national exposure and is paramount to the liberty movement happening right now.
   
That being said, the only way to truly make this change in sentiment live and grow is through electing as many people of principle into office as possible down ticket. As we have seen in the past in the third party runs of Ross Perot and Ralph Nader, without a ground swell of down ticket support, the message gets lost. This is exactly why the Libertarian movement is different from the aforementioned presidential runs. “It is the meat to go along with the potatoes” so to speak. The ultimate potential of this election cycle is to literally rout out the old guard. Electing a Libertarian Senate and a Libertarian House of Representatives would mean more to liberty than Johnson winning a Vegas-style million-to-one long shot at the presidency. With a solid down ticket of Libertarians to support a Johnson/Weld presidency, you would see a lot more of the policy changes that this ticket ultimately espouses. Without having Libertarians in congress you won't see any legislation to repeal income tax, or disband the IRS. Without Libertarian senators there won't be any true oversight of spending.

The alternative to that is voting for those people running in your district who embody these principles of liberty. Even with a Trump or Clinton presidency, that Libertarian minded legislation will exist and will have to be debated. Those people will be there as the checks and balances against the great fears people have in electing either of the establishment candidates. If you are truly scared that either Clinton or Trump will take the White House this election, you must then consider the Libertarian down ticket as the Praetorian Guard against the status quo.
   
True change this cycle isn't in voting for Johnson alone, but in finding your principled candidates down ticket and voting them into office as well. 

Johnson polls best for a 3rd party in 20 years

Blog: Libertarian Johnson polling better than any 3rd-party candidate since Perot - Rick Moran, American Thinker::

May 25, 2016 - "The 2012 Libertarian candidate for president, Gary Johnson, is showing surprising strength in early polls against Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

"Johnson received less than 1% of the vote in 2012, but he got 1.2 million votes – a Libertarian party record. He is vying for the nomination against two lesser known candidates – radio talker and activist Austin Peterson and former fugitive John McAfee.

"But with the strong negative feelings by voters against both Trump and Clinton, Johnson, if he gets the nomination, has an opportunity to upend the race.  He is currently polling at 10%, which is the best showing by a third-party candidate since Ross Perot in 1996...

"How have third-party candidates polled recently? Johnson ran as the Libertarian candidate in 2012, and won about 1 percent of the national vote, becoming the most successful Libertarian candidate ever; in polls done in May and June of 2012, he was polling at 2 percent. Bob Barr, the Libertarian nominee in 2008, also polled at 2 percent in the late spring of that year.

"Johnson, the former Republican governor of New Mexico, may not be the most dynamic candidate in the race, but he has experience running a national campaign and may have access to some big donors. His pick for vice president, former Massachusetts governor William Weld, was the attorney for casino mogul Steve Wynn, who is likely to back the Libertarian candidate this election cycle. Considering that Johnson raised only $2 million in 2012, a big infusion of cash into his campaign would certainly make him more visible and potentially competitive in some states.

"The question of whom he would draw more votes from, Republicans or Democrats, is unanswerable at this point. Conventional wisdom says he would take far more Republican votes away from Trump. But this election is different. It is shaping up to be a non-ideological election, so Johnson has the potential to take a rougly equal number of voters from both sides.

"What usually happens with third-party candidates is that they poll well in the spring and the summer and then fade away to nothing in the fall. But nothing about this race is 'usual,' which is why the Libertarian Party convention next [weekend] bears watching."

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/05/libertarian_johnson_polling_better_than_any_3rd_party_candidate_since_perot.html
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Is Johnson/Weld just the ticket for Libertarians?

A Libertarian Ticket Sane Republicans Can Get Behind - David Boaz, Cato Institute:

May 20, 2016 - "Lots of Republicans are looking for a sane alternative to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and it looks like the Libertarian Party has just given it to them, now that former Massachusetts Governor William Weld has joined former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson’s ticket.

"It’s the first time two governors have shared a presidential ticket since ... 1948. Many observers think experience as a governor is the best preparation for the job of president. Johnson and Weld would bring 14 years of gubernatorial experience to the White House.... Johnson and Weld were both elected and re-elected in Democratic states, and dealt with heavily Democratic legislatures.

"Neither Johnson nor Weld is a purist libertarian, and both have come under fire within the Libertarian Party, which will nominate its candidates in Orlando over Memorial Day weekend. Johnson displeased many libertarians (including me) by saying that government should ban discrimination on the basis of religion, including requiring a Christian baker to bake and decorate a cake for a same-sex wedding. Weld has supported some gun control measures.

"But they will present a clear alternative to Trump and Clinton: strong and coherent fiscal conservatism, social liberalism, drug-policy reform, criminal-justice reform, reining in mass surveillance, ending executive abuse of power, and a prudent foreign policy that is neither promiscuously interventionist nor erratic and bombastic — all grounded in a philosophical commitment to liberty and limited government.

"They acted on those ideas as governors, with the usual accommodations to political reality. Johnson was called 'America’s boldest governor' by the Economist for his push for school choice. And that was before he came out for legalizing marijuana and moving away from the war on drugs. He vetoed more than 700 spending and regulation bills and left the state with a $1 billion surplus. Weld cut taxes, constrained state spending, and created a domestic partners program for gay state employees.

"In the Cato Institute’s biennial Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors, both Johnson and Weld earned A’s and B’s each time they were graded. Cato’s fiscal policy analysts are tough graders, and very few governors ever get an A....

"But neither Johnson nor Weld is a celebrity on the order of Trump or Ross Perot.... Neither has ... the kind of money that can buy national television ads and large staffs. Johnson has not yet shown an ability to draw huge crowds.... Johnson has already hit 10 percent in a couple of polls, but right now that’s probably a 'none of the above' vote. He still has to convert it into actual support.... Johnson and Weld have a steep hill to climb.

"But Trump and Clinton are the least popular major-party nominees in memory. In some polls a majority of voters say they’d like to vote for someone else. That’s the golden opportunity awaiting some alternative candidate, and it looks increasingly as if Gary Johnson will be the only alternative on all 50 ballots."

Read more: http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/libertarian-ticket-sane-republicans-can-get-behind
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Libertarians, Greens to sue debates commission

Libertarians, Greens ready lawsuit against Commission on Presidential Debates - Washington Post -  David Weigel:

September 24 - "The Libertarian Party and Green Party and their 2012 candidates for president are readying a legal complaint against the Commission on Presidential Debates, hoping that a new legal argument -- an anti-trust argument -- will break the 'duopoly' that's dominated the stage.

"The legal complaint, which was sent early to The Washington Post, argues that a 'cognizable political campaign market' is being corrupted by the commission's rules. The commission, a private entity set up after the League of Women Voters' 1992 debates allowed third party candidate Ross Perot to participate, has withstood yearly assaults from the likes of Ralph Nader, Pat Buchanan, and former Congressman Bob Barr. None of them have gotten past a 1999 commission rule: No candidate gets onstage unless he or she is polling at 15 percent or better.

"Bruce Fein, the attorney for the new plaintiffs, argues over 43 pages that keeping them out of a 'multi-billion dollar' market violates 'antitrust laws, the First Amendment, and District of Columbia tort law.'

"'The unlawful agreement among Defendants has several illicit purposes,' writes Fein. 'The first is to acquire, maintain, and exercise duopoly control of the multi-million dollar market in organizing, promoting, sponsoring, and fundraising for holding national general election presidential and vice-presidential debates to artificially advantage the Democratic and Republican Party candidates... the second illicit purpose is to acquire, maintain, and exercise duopoly control over, and to exclude and severely undermine competition in, the multi-billion dollar market of organizing, promoting, fundraising for, and engaging in general presidential and vice-presidential election campaigns'....

"When the complaint is filed in the District of Columbia next week -- the precise date is pending -- Fein and his plaintiffs will join a crowd of people asking for lower debate thresholds. In March, with some fanfare, a few dozen old political hands launched a group called Change the Rule, asking for no real change to the commission beyond the softening of the 15 percent rule.

"Fein's group is going further, asking a court to rule that 'the fifteen percent criterion used by Defendants continues to violate the First Amendment' and for 'an order compelling the dissolution of the Commission and an injunction against any further boycott or other agreement in restraint of trade between the RNC and the DNC or any of their candidates or their agents.'"

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/09/24/libertarians-and-greens-ready-lawsuit-against-commission-on-presidential-debates/
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North Dakota LP attains ballot access for first time

North Dakota LP attains ballot access for the first time in its history | Libertarian Party:

November 10, 2014 - "For the first time in party history, the North Dakota Libertarian Party has met the vote test to attain ballot access.

"In a non-presidential general election, the candidate for attorney general or secretary of state must get at least 5 percent of the vote for automatic ballot access.

"Roland Riemers, the LPND candidate for secretary of state, received 5.3 percent of the vote in the election...

"This is only the second time a minor party has met the vote test in North Dakota, the other time being the Reform Party in 1996, when Ross Perot was its presidential candidate, according to Ballot Access News.

"In addition, Jack Seaman, candidate for the U.S. House, received 5.8 percent, and the candidate for tax commissioner, Anthony Mangnall, got 6.4 percent. Both candidates were in three-way races with Democrats and Republicans."

Read more: http://www.lp.org/blogs/staff/north-dakota-lp-attains-ballot-access-for-the-first-time-in-its-history
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The 'conservative movement' an obsolete model

PJ Lifestyle » No to Corporate Neoconservatism, No to Paleo-Libertarian Anarchism, Yes to Augustinian Realism - Dave Swindle, PJ Media:

August 9, 2013 - "Here’s the problem: on foreign policy today’s 'Conservative movement' is an obsolete model. And more importantly, a misnomer ... the 'Conservative Movement' is more accurately understood as a tool of the Anti-Communist movement. Defeating the Soviet Union is what animated William F. Buckley, Jr. and Ronald Reagan. The building of the Conservative Movement was just a means to that end.

"The philosophy of Fusionism was developed by ex-Communist Frank Meyer in the pages of National Review in the 1950s. The goal: get national defense conservatives, business conservatives, traditionalist conservatives, libertarian conservatives, and religious conservatives to unite around the common threat of Communism.

"Over the course of decades this ideological movement grew until it elected politicians, took over the Republican party, elected Ronald Reagan as president, and then successfully implemented the needed strategies to defeat the Soviet Union, freeing the millions of people enslaved within it. Reagan spoke publicly of his debt to Meyer and how he implemented the strategy. But without the unifying threat of the Soviet Union the coalition came apart in 1992. The Chris Christie vs Rand Paul fight of a generation prior was George H.W. Bush vs Ross Perot. The result of that split in the coalition was 8 years of Bill Clinton and a Conservative Movement adrift without a purpose anymore.

"Nowadays the three legs of the conservative stool squabble over which is the most important – foreign policy, economics, or social issues. There is no longer a consensus on who the enemy is or how to defeat them."

Read more: http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2013/08/09/no-to-corporate-neoconservatism-no-to-paleo-libertarian-anarchism-yes-to-augustinian-realism/
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