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Libertarian Adrian Wyllie got shut out from the governor's debate at Broward College on Wednesday, so he went to a Holiday Inn Express instead.

Wyllie planned to set up shop in a conference room, a production crew in tow, and answer the same questions posed to Republican Gov. Rick Scott and former-Republican-governor-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist. Wyllie planned to have his crew perform some technical wizardry and re-cut the debate to make it appear as if he were onstage. Then he planned to post it on the web.

Kind of poetic: A Libertarian taking liberties with reality to protest a debate co-sponsored by a press association that tramped down on free speech.

"The reason I'm being excluded has nothing to do with the public interest, and everything to do with protecting a corrupt, good-old-boy duopoly," Wyllie told me Wednesday.

One day earlier, a federal judge struck down Wyllie's bid to take part. The two groups sponsoring the debate (the Florida Press Association and Leadership Florida) set a 15-percent threshold in a September poll as the benchmark, and Wyllie who's been polling as high as 12 percent fell short.

"They keep moving the bar just out of reach of third-party candidates," Wyllie said. "Back in 2006, it was seven percent. Now it's 15 percent. If I was at 18 percent, I'm sure they'd move the threshold to 20 percent."

I feel bad for the guy and worse for democracy in general. And I feel especially ashamed that a press association which is supposed to support a free exchange of ideas acts more like a bouncer for the establishment, keeping out ideas that might be too different or radical.

"The major political parties and media insiders are controlling what Floridians can hear," Wyllie said. "If I was a fringe candidate that everyone could get a chuckle out of, they probably wouldn't mind. But the fact that I'd be the only one telling a lot of truth, that's what they're terrified of."

I'm not saying I like or agree with Wyllie's platform, which includes eradicating property taxes for homesteaded Floridians, slashing the state budget by 30 percent, blocking federal regulatory oversight of Florida-only businesses, legalizing marijuana, allowing gay marriage and granting unfettered access to guns. He told me that philosophically he'd be OK with legalized cocaine and prostitution, too.

I'm just saying that with all the negativity and scripted talking points coming from Scott and Crist, voters could have used Wyllie's fresh air. It would have been interesting and perhaps illuminating to see how Scott and Crist reacted to the live grenade in their midst. (UPDATE: Although this debate did give us plenty of unscripted fresh air, in the form of Crist's fan and the swirling controversy it triggered, with Scott initially refusing to take the stage at the start in protest.)

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Blocked from debate, Wyllie finds room at the (Holiday) inn

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) A federal judge has denied a request by the Libertarian Party candidate for governor that his party affiliation appear next to his name on the ballot. Instead, Daniel Lewis will be listed as an independent.

That's because the Libertarian Party of Tennessee has not collected the more-than-40,000 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot under Tennessee law. Individual candidates need collect only 25 signatures to appear on the ballot, but they appear as independents if their parties have not also qualified.

The party is suing over the signature requirement, claiming it is onerous.

The order filed last week by U.S. District Judge William Haynes denied a temporary injunction that would have allowed Lewis be listed as a Libertarian on the ballot while the lawsuit works its way through the courts.

2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Libertarian candidate will appear as independent

3 Questions: Chicago #39;s Progressives
Dan Mihalopoulos answers three questions about Chicago #39;s Progressives and their potential run for Mayor.

By: Early Often | Politics

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3 Questions: Chicago's Progressives - Video

The All Progressives Congress has accused the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State of planning to deliberately cause crisis in the state with its interpretation of the ruling of the Appeal Court.

The Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy of the APC in Osun State, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, who said this in a statement on Wednesday called security agencies in the state to be at alert to prevent the opposition party from throwing the state into confusion.

The Court of Appeal had thrown out the appeal filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Ambassador Rufus Akeju for being incompetent.

The PDP interpreted the striking out of the appeal to mean that all elections conducted by the REC had become invalid, therefore state lawmakers and members of the National Assembly from the state should be sacked.

The statement read, Security agencies should be prepared to nip in the bud the threat to peace and security which the Peoples Democratic Party has become over the issue of the Appeal Court ruling in Akure which struck out INECs appeal against its Resident Electoral Commissioner, Amb. Toyin Akeju, from supervising the 2011 legislative elections in the state.

From competent information we have and the intelligence deductions we could make from the PDP chairman, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwas statement to forcefully stop the lawful business of the State House of Assembly, it is obvious that the PDP planned to orchestrate mayhem in the state.

Had there been a declaration, ruling or judgment on the 2011 legislative elections by the Federal High Court, Osogbo? We should ask the mischievous PDP people: what was the issue the INEC appealed against? Did it include that pertaining to the elections for which the High Court did not restrain it from conducting? In fact, the High Court refused that prayer.

We therefore appeal to the security officials not to allow illiterate people who are currently leading the PDP in the State to throw Osun into confusion.

We are particularly grateful for the response of the State Police Command which put stop to PDPs attempt to create mayhem at the State House of Assembly on Monday and we also like to emphasise that the threat to peace and security from the PDP is not over yet.

The Chairman of the PDP in the state, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa, had said that the implication of the appellate courts ruling was that lawmakers produced by the election which Akeju supervised should be sacked.

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APC accuses PDP of planning chaos in Osun

The All Progressives Congress in Cross River State has expelled nine of its members over alleged constitutional breaches and disloyalty.

The nine members were said to have dragged the party before a court as a fallout of the Junes state congress of the party.

The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the National Vice Chairman South-South, Mr. Bassey Ita, who disclosed in Calabar on Thursday, said the expelled members also rebuffed all appeals and attempt by the party hierarchy to ensure an out-of-court settlement of the matter.

He gave the names of those affected to include Ramsey Ndep; Chris Egbe; Innocent Eneji; James Enyam; Sam Iya; Bassey Ene Ekpo; Anthony Ekpeyong; Onen Obono and Rosemary Onah.

He said, Article 9.5 of the party constitution provides that membership of the party ceases for anyone on account of death, resignation or expulsion.

Also Article 21(D) provides that any member who files an action in court of law against the party or any of its officers on any matter or matters relating to the discharge of the duties of the party without first exhausting the avenues for redress shall automatically stand expelled from the partyand no appeal against expulsion shall be entertained until the withdrawal of this action from court by the member.

The aforementioned members had dragged the party to court alleging the June congress was fraught with discrepancies.

Ita said following the development, the national leaders of the party through the South-South zonal office issued an ultimatum dated September 2 appealing to the affected members to withdraw the litigation against the party or risked sanction.

He said the ultimatum, which was signed by the National Vice Chairman, South-South, Mr. Hilliard Eta, stated in part, I am further directed to inform you that failure to adhere to these directives will lead to full invocation of the relevant sections of our party constitution.

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APC expels nine in Cross River for suing party