From the Tampa Bay Times:
A federal judge Tuesday rejected arguments by Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Adrian Wyllie that he should be allowed to take part in a debate Wednesday night with Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic challenger Charlie Crist.
U.S. District Judge James Cohn, in a six-page ruling, refused to grant a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction that would have required debate organizers to allow Wyllie into the televised debate.… Read more ...
Charlie Crist is a former Republican Governor of Florida who is now an Independent. In 2010 he ran for US Senate in Florida and changed his registration to “Non-Party Affiliated”. Crist recently endorsed Barack Obama’s re-election campaign for President.
… Read more ...Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican-turned-independent, continued his political makeover Sunday by endorsing President Barack Obama’s re-election and calling him “the right leader for our times.”
“President Obama has a strong record of doing what is best for America and Florida,” Crist wrote in an op-ed column in Sunday’s Tampa Bay Times, “and he built it by spending more time worrying about what his decisions would mean for the people than for his political fortunes.
Eliot Cutler, the 2010 independent gubernatorial candidate that lost by less than two percent of the vote to now-Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) told Hotline On Call Saturday that it’s “unlikely” that he will challenge Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) in 2012.
While he did not definitively rule out a future run for any office, Cutler did not sound at all like a Senate candidate, saying he has “no desire to live in Washington.”
He did leave the door open to future runs for office, including Governor in 2014.… Read more ...
from Ballot Access News
(where there is a great discussion with 20 comments going on this topic)
Emory University Law Professor Michael Kang has a guest blog post at ElectionLawBlog, suggesting that it would be good policy to ease ballot access laws for the general election, and also to repeal “sore loser” laws.
From http://www.uncoveredpolitics.com/:
Charlie Crist: Ninth on the Ballot, First in Your Heart? by Austin Cassidy:
… Read more ...Charlie Crist supporters will need to do a little extra digging on Tuesday when they head to the polls. Normally, Crist’s name would appear first or second on the ballot as the nominee for the Republican Party.
Darcy Richardson at Uncovered Politics:
The poll, conducted between October 18 and October 21, showed Rubio, an early darling of the Tea Party movement, leading with 39.6 percent of the vote to 33.3 percent for Crist, who broke with his party in April to run without party affiliation. Democrat Kendrick Meek, whose candidacy has failed to gain momentum, even among hardcore members of his own party, was languishing in a distant third with a meager 18.1 percent.… Read more ...
(excerpt from) The Washington Times
3rd-party candidates could tip tight races
It’s ‘good year for independents‘
by Valerie Richardson / October 24, 2010
… Read more ...Even political junkies might not be able to identify LeAlan Jones, Shawn Moody, Scott Ashjian and Ceci Iglesias, but all four could have a major effect on the political balance of power after Election Day.
Press release:
The grassroots candidate will run ads during NBC’s Meet The Press debate for the Florida U.S. Senate seat from which he is excluded, and is seeking an injunction against the show, while his supporters plan statewide protests.
TAMPA – Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Alex Snitker did not make the cut to be included in the nationally-televised debate scheduled this Sunday on NBC’s Meet The Press.… Read more ...
On August 30, a Florida state court judge refused to issue an injunction, forcing Governor Charlie Crist to return certain campaign donations made by people who now say they would not have given those contributions if they had known he would leave the Republican Party and run as an independent.… Read more ...
In a stunning upset, Tea Party activist and Sarah Palin-endorsee Joe Miller appears to have upset incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) in Tuesday’s Republican primary election. Though there are still around ten thousand absentee ballots yet to be counted, analysts agree it is unlikely Murkowski will be able to close her 1,668 vote deficit.… Read more ...
A Florida state court will hold a hearing on August 30 in Morton v Crist, the case over whether people who contributed money to Governor Charlie Crist when he was a Republican may demand refunds. See this story.
Crist is currently running as an independent candidate for US Senate.… Read more ...
SEMINOLE, FLORIDA – A curious thing happened to an online poll for Florida’s U.S. Senate race on the Bay News 9 website Thursday, which has sparked the ire of a vocal group of voters. The poll originally included candidates Marco Rubio (R), Kendrick Meek (D), Charlie Crist (NPA), Alexander Snitker (L), and a choice for “other.”
But some time around mid day yesterday, Bay News 9 made a change to the poll.… Read more ...