According to an anonymous third-party expert, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain is in talks with Frank McKay, the chairman of the Independence Party of New York, to receive the Independence Party ballot line. The Independence Party typically cross-endorses candidates for lower offices, but has run non-major-party candidates for president each of the past three elections.
New York is one of a few states that utilizes “fusion,” the process by which the same candidate can be listed on multiple ballot lines. John McCain’s appearance as an Independence candidate as well as the Republican nominee would allow New Yorkers uncomfortable with voting Republican to give him their support. This could potentially put the reliably blue state of New York into play for the GOP.
The Independence Party of New York gave its ballot line to Ross Perot in 1996, John Hagelin of Natural Law Party fame in 2000, and Ralph Nader in 2004.
Oh! And in retaliation the NYS Conservative Party can nominate Alan Keyes! Or soem other neocon. That’s be interesting,
The NY IP doesn’t really have an ideology, I wonder if Frank McKay wouldn’t support a yellow dog if only it were wiling to be the party’s nominee!
yeah – the only reason McCain will visit New York is for fundraising events.
OK, I remembered that right after I typed my first erroneous comment…thanks for verifying my suspicion. Sorry to mislead.
I was just too lazy to look up the codes again đŸ™‚
I believe ballot experts could verify that the Presidential ticket would have no direct effect on permanent status for the LP in NY.
In NYS, it is dependent only on voting for governor. Unfortunately.
As desirable as additional ballot lines are, it is difficult to imagine a 3rd candidate receiving 10%+ of the vote in NYS to put the state in play.
possible correction, I’m going from memory here, but as for the 50,000 votes getting permanent status, I don’t remember if that applies as well to presidential votes or if it is limited to statewide officer votes…
Unless there has been some recent change in the law in New York, it’s done by petition.
Almost certainly McCain has more bucks to give IP county chairs and state officers back there more of a “deal” than Barr could offer. In New York, there is a well established pattern of small ballot qualified parties selling their “persuasion” with the voters. Since they no longer have any real control over voter lists, they probably sell themselves more cheaply.
Fusion has holes in it.
Petitioning begins in the first week or so of July and goes for about 6 weeks. I think it’s still 15,000 valid sigs and I think they still have a reachable but stupid distribution requirement.
Since New York has eliminated some of the more onerous petition requirements which existed last time I ran one in that state, I’d say it’s really no problem for Barr or any party with a reasonable ballot access bankroll.
Probably NY ballot access will cost somewhere from 60,000 to 90,000.00 per party, assuming they don’t have a really good volunteer base.
I’d count on the Barr people being up on whether or not going for one or more extra lines in New York is worth it.
If I’m not mistaken, New York has not eliminated the real carrot on the stick here. If Barr/Root gets 50,000 or more votes in the state I think that gives “permanent” status to the LP.
That should be the focus, and probably is at least for New York Libertarians.
Well, I hope he’s aware of this.
Well in ’04 Nader got 84,000 votes on the IP line, and only 15,000 on the Peace and Justice line – the one he actually put on the ballot that year. Must be worth something.
Andy – I think it would probably help A LOT. After all, if McCain wants it, then it must be worth something.
What’s the relationship between LPNY and the IP like? Could Barr make a serious grab for it, appealing to the Ron Paul types?
Seems like something that wouldn’t help a whole lot, but it would help enough compared to the (possibly) minimal effort required to be worth it.
Earlier in the year, right after Mike Bloomberg closed the door on a presidential run, McKay started making posts on his MySpace page courting Ron Paul for the IP nomination.
My understanding is that the decision is actually made by convention. Might be nice if Cain goes for it and a third party rips it out from under him.
Perot. Natural Law. Nader. Now McCain?
I detect a possible break of ideological continuity here.