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Three Senate candidates debate issues

By GARY D. ROBERTSON, Associated Press

WILMINGTON, N.C. U.S. Senate candidate Sean Haugh relishes his current job delivering pizzas because it brings joy to hungry families anticipating his arrival.

But the former Libertarian Party leader from Durham also enjoys take out more specifically taking out North Carolina from under a two-party system he says narrows messages voters receive and breeds candidates who must rely on outside groups for campaign funds and support to be successful.

"We have two corporate special-interest candidates, and there's me," Haugh said in an interview.

Haugh and other Libertarian leaders are hopeful his candidacy in November will mark the most successful showing ever for the party in a North Carolina statewide election.

Some polls have shown him receiving a percentage of the vote in the high single digits. Even getting 2 or 3 percent, like the Libertarian candidates for U.S. Senate in 2008 and 2010, could be enough to alter the outcome of the tight race between Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan and Republican state House Speaker Thom Tillis.

"I am here to provide an alternative that other people really aren't hearing," Haugh said during his only television debate appearance in Wilmington. "I get to go all across the political spectrum, to all different kinds of audiences, with the exact same message stop all war and stop spending more money that we have."

The optimism reflects recent progress for North Carolina's only other certified state party, which preaches limited government and staying out of people's personal business, as well as low approval numbers for his two competitors.

For decades, the state Libertarian Party had to collect tens of thousands of signatures routinely to keep its candidates on the ballot because nominees for governor or president didn't receive the 10 percent of the vote needed to remain an official party. When they fell short, state officials converted registered Libertarian voters to unaffiliated.

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Libertarian Haugh could shift NC Senate race

A federal judge has denied Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate David Patterson's request to force a public broadcaster to include him in Monday night's debate between Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell and Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes.

U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove ruled that Kentucky Educational Television did not exclude David Patterson from its Kentucky Tonight program solely because of his political views. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled public broadcasters can exclude candidates based on their level of support but not because of their political views.

"The First Amendment is not a rule of quantity at any cost," Van Tatenhove wrote. "Voters may actually benefit by a forum or debate that includes only those candidates that have a realistic chance of winning rather than many voices competing for very limited time. What KET cannot do is pick and choose candidates based on their viewpoints. KET has not done so here."

Libertarian Party of Kentucky chairman Ken Moellman said he was not happy with the decision but said the state party does not have enough money to appeal the ruling. Patterson, in a news release, criticized KET for requiring candidates raise a minimum of $100,000 to appear in the debate.

"That means you must be rich or have rich friends to even stand a chance," Patterson said. "Kentuckians now have their hard-earned tax dollars being used to deprive them of knowing their options when they walk into the ballot box."

Van Tatenhove said the legitimacy of the $100,000 threshold "is not presently at issue." But he did note in a footnote that former Kentucky Congressman William Natcher, who died in 1994 and served 44 years in Congress, refused to accept campaign donations, thus making him ineligible to appear on Kentucky Tonight based on the current criteria.

Patterson argued that KET had discriminated against him based on thousands of pages of emails where KET officials discussed tightening the criteria to participate in the debate so as to exclude non-serious candidates. The emails included one from Mike Brower, KET's senior director of production operations, who wrote the goal of the criteria "is to have a way to defend not including only the most extreme cases, like out of state crusaders, or wacky people who paid the $50 and got 2 names on a form to qualify as a candidate."

But Van Tatenhove pointed to other emails, where KET's executive director wrote their intent was "to follow the law, be fair to all concerned, (and) protect and maintain KET's integrity and reputation for inclusion and fairness."

"When taken as a whole, the picture that emerges is of an institution trying to do the right thing," Van Tatenhove wrote. "Maybe the language of these electronic conversations was at times unartful. Maybe the private thoughts of KET executives, now made public, have the feel of prejudging viewpoints. But it cannot be said that these conversations, many early in a process that included careful consultation with legal counsel, constitute viewpoint discrimination."

McConnell and Grimes are scheduled to appear on KET Monday night at 8 p.m.

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Judge denies Libertarian's debate request

The Chairman of the Enugu State Chapter of All Progressives Congress, Dr. Ben Nwoye, has promised that the party will field credible candidates for all elective offices in its bid to wrest power from the Peoples Democratic Party in 2015.

Speaking with journalists after a meeting of the partys state National Working Committee, Nwoye said the APC would resist any form of rigging during the election.

According to him, the APC taking its time to produce credible candidates that will wrest power from the PDP in 2015 at all levels of government.

Nwoye disclosed that, ahead of the polls, several aspirants have expressed interest in contesting different elective positions in Enugu State, such as the 24 constituencies of the state house of assembly, the federal house of representatives, senate and governorship elections.

Specifically, he said two members of the party in the state, namely Dr. Okey Ezeah, and Dr. Ifeanyi Asogwa, have expressed their intention to contest the governorship election, while others are also ready to pick the nomination forms.

The Enugu State APC chairman added that the party has set November 8, 15, 24 and 29 for the house of assembly, governorship, house of representatives and senate primaries, respectively.

Nwoye stressed that there would be no imposition of candidates in the party, even as he admitted that the APC constitution allows for adoption of consensus candidates.

Our constitution allows for consensus candidates but not imposition an imposition is where one or two persons decide that this or that person will be the candidate, he explained.

He further explained that before any aspirant could emerge as a consensus candidate, he will have to tell party members why he wants to vie for whatever position he is running for, in order to win the confidence of the stakeholders.

Nwoye in the same vein restated his earlier assertion that the party is not a dumping ground for disgruntled politicians from other parties, especially from the PDP, who fail to actualize their political aspiration aspiration during the 2015 elections.

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2015: APC to present credible candidates

Yves here. Its good to see Gaius Publius, a regular fixture at AmericaBlog, now writing at Down with Tyranny, Howie Kleins blog. Among other things, Howie helped raise funds for a 2010 MMT conference. As Lambert says, Hes one of the good guys.

Theres one small sour note in this otherwise fine piece, that of calling Elizabeth Warren a progressive. The fact that Gaius feels compelled to include her speaks to the dearth of individuals who can be accurately described as progressive in roles of any prominence in the Democratic party.

By Gaius Publius, a professional writer living on the West Coast of the United States and contributing editor at AmericaBlog. Follow him on Twitter @Gaius_Publius and Facebook. Cross posted from AmericaBlog

As documented frequently by Howie Klein and others, Steve Israel, the DCCC, and to a lesser extent the DSCC, have been disasters for the Democratic Party, if success means taking or keeping control of Congress and disaster means failing to try to do that. These Democratic train wrecks have been well document on these pages for example, here and here. But click any link tagged Steve Israel or DSCC to get the gist.

You also know that corporate-aligned Democrats, including most party leaders and many who work with them, are more than eager to excoriate any progressives who dare to consider forcing neoliberal Dems out of office, especially if hurting neoliberals also hurts party chances in elections. Attacking the party from the left and attacking neoliberal rule of the party are cardinal sins, almost hanging offenses. The venom goes very deep.

The magic phrase, the one you hear the most, is Ralph Nadar! but excoriation comes in other flavors. Like: Do you really want Romney to be president?! Or: The one thing that would make me vote for Hillary Clinton Jeb Bush! Or these days: OMG, it will be your fault if we lose the Senate! Always with the exclamation point. Always with the scorn, the flecks of virtual spittle, the virtual hair on fire.

The main idea if theres one bridge too far, its risking the party to gain an intra-party advantage. Its intolerable, according to party leaders, to use Tea Party tactics against corporate Democrats. Which leads to the question in the title: Are Democratic Party leaders already Tea Partying progressives?

An Exercise In Taxonomy

Consider this an exercise in taxonomy, in naming and classifying things. In other words, is one thing like another? Not: Is this thing good or bad? Just: Are these two things alike?

1. We know what it means to Tea Party Republicans, what the term means. It means that one party faction, in this case Koch-funded Tea Party candidates, mounts a campaign to remove its party rivals from power even at the cost of party success as measured by winning elections and controlling institutions like Congress.

Read more from the original source:
Gaius Publius: Are Democratic Leaders Already Tea Partying The Progressives?

A former Governor of Kwara State and chief of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Bukola Saraki, has suspended his 2015 presidential ambition.

According to a statement by his media aide, Bamikole Omisore, made available to journalists in Ilorin on Sunday, Saraki said he decided to suspend the ambition in the interest of the nation and that because the political outlook for 2015, according to him, is complicated.

He stated that party primaries in any healthy democracy would always leave several contenders disappointed and, sometimes bitter, as there would be only one winner.

According to him, the party will then invest so much energy and time afterwards managing and reconciling various interests.

He said, Even though his Presidential interest has sparked widespread excitement across the country, and has received major support from key stakeholders and youth groups, based on his leadership profile, characterised by infrastructural development, economic growth and striving social well being; Senator Saraki says he is deciding to step down his ambition because Nigerias political outlook for 2015 is very complicated and this is the time for every patriotic politician to situate his personal ambition in the context of the countrys overall interest.

I dont think our party can afford too much internal rancour going into next years election. I therefore think some of us need to make the sacrifice and be part of the solution rather than part of the problem of the party.

I have always maintained that I did not leave the ruling party to join the opposition because of any personal interest. Anyone who understands Nigerias politics would know that it takes courage and self-sacrifice to do that.

Therefore, whether it is on the issue of the party or all other issues that I have been pushing in my position as a Senator of the Federal Republic, I have been driven primarily by my desire to see a better and more purposely governed country.

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Saraki suspends 2015 presidential bid