Bob Barr sues to keep Obama & McCain off Texas Ballot

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AUSTIN – Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr is forcing a legal showdown in the Texas Supreme Court to keep the names of Barack Obama and John McCain off the November ballot.

The issue is whether both parties missed a state deadline to certify the names of their presidential and vice presidential candidates for the ballot. The attorney general is arguing the law was followed and that the secretary of state has discretion on the ballot and its appearance.

Elections 2008
Mr. Barr personally filed an emergency request before the court on Thursday, asking that the state be ordered not to mail ballots overseas this weekend until the issue is legally resolved.

“We are here today to establish very clearly that there is at least one political party out there that stands for the rule of law,” said Mr. Barr, a former Republican congressman from Georgia who was a leader in the Bill Clinton impeachment.

The Libertarians are contending that the Democratic and Republican nominees are disqualified from appearing on the ballot because they missed the state’s Aug. 26 deadline to certify candidates. During the national conventions, Mr. Obama was not voted as the nominee until Aug. 27 and Mr. McCain claimed the GOP nomination on Sept. 3.

No one can legally certify something that has not yet happened, Mr. Barr argued. In addition, Sarah Palin was not named to the GOP ticket until Aug. 29 and so it would be impossible to certify her name by the deadline.

The Libertarians claim that both major parties knew of the late conventions and did not go to either the Legislature or the courts to seek a remedy.

The Supreme Court has refused to dismiss the case outright and has asked all parties to file their response to the lawsuit by Monday.

Part of the legal basis for the suit is Bush vs. Gore, by which the U.S. Supreme Court held that “the clearly expressed intent of the legislature must prevail,” and that election laws must be uniformly applied and interpreted.

“Sound familiar Mr. Bush? Sound familiar Republicans?” Mr. Barr said, adding that the state law is unambiguous.

“The Libertarian Party like other parties and independent candidates always face a struggle to get on the ballot and are sometimes excluded from the ballot for the most minor of details,” said state party chairman Patrick Dixon. “We may not like the rules, but we have to play by them.”

Both the Democrats and the Republicans said they have taken the necessary steps to have their candidates on the ballot.

“Quite frankly, I find it very ironic that those in the Libertarian Party, who have in the past been champions of ballot access, are now making attempts to limit that access here in Texas,” said Democratic Party chairman Boyd Richie.

“It is clear this is a politically motivated stunt by Bob Barr and his party, and a desperate attempt by a candidate to obtain media coverage,” he said.
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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...e/stories/091908dntexbarrballot.8b61581c.html


I don't see it happening, but this would be beyond awesome if it did.
 
Third party candidates need to discover a way to get in the door for debates and political coverage.

Absolutely.

Being a bastard is not going to succeed in that end (despite the 'just desserts' humor of the major candidates potentially, but who really believes it, getting left out in the cold).

Besides, that would either (1) hand Obama the country on a silver platter (he ain't takin' Texas), or (2) fuck things up royally Ross Perot style.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']

Besides, that would either (1) hand Obama the country on a silver platter (he ain't takin' Texas), or (2) fuck things up royally Ross Perot style.[/QUOTE]


1, yes it would. 2. i think barr will steal a good number of votes from mccain as it is.
 
Why are third party candidates always fucking nuts? I didn't know Barr was involved in the Clinton impeachment though.
 
That's awesome and he has every right to do this. If he missed any lame timeline they would laugh at him and tell him no.

This is why I'm voting for him (plus I hate the other two guys).
 
[quote name='bigdaddy']That's awesome and he has every right to do this. If he missed any lame timeline they would laugh at him and tell him no.

This is why I'm voting for him (plus I hate the other two guys).[/QUOTE]

Exactly! People are making fun of him saying he is a crack pot and what not when all he is doing is enforcing the laws that for years Dems and Reps have used to keep little parties off the ticket. I would say the law is the law even if this was hurting Obama(whom I preffer to McCain)but ill admit its easier saying it since it hurts McCain.
 
I'm not calling him a crackpot. I'm just saying he won't win this because of political bias and past precedent. It's happened before and the Government didn't call them on it so now won't be any different.

Also, the ballot in Texas is already final (as in many other states) with absentee ballots being passed around...so you'd basically be throwing out pretty much every single ballot at this point if he won this case. It'd be a political shitstorm and that isn't happening.
 
[quote name='KingBroly']I'm not calling him a crackpot. I'm just saying he won't win this because of political bias and past precedent. It's happened before and the Government didn't call them on it so now won't be any different.

Also, the ballot in Texas is already final (as in many other states) with absentee ballots being passed around...so you'd basically be throwing out pretty much every single ballot at this point if he won this case. It'd be a political shitstorm and that isn't happening.[/QUOTE]

Agreed it wont happen. But it should and I have respect for him trying(though I wish when he did this he wouldn't have had campaign signs in hand). Chances are he will drop this after he stops getting media coverage for it, but personally id love to see him fight for this issue. Stand up and let some anger out get people like Ron Paul on your side and stand up for whats right. Turn this from something that gets media coverage for a short period to something that really pisses people off and gets attention.
 
You know, if someone tried it in a battleground state, then people would care. It'd also be magically delicious.
 
In a country where the supreme court quashes legal motions and chooses the president because "you can't just not have a president", this is going nowhere.

I do find it amusing though, because
1) The guy has a point, and the two major parties are the ones who usuall act like bullies and the difference is they get away with it
and
2) Haha Republicans ;)
 
Bob Barr is going to make this interesting, that's for sure. It's a great case, a total winner. The precedent was set in B v. G and Barr knows it.

He has no chance, but I absolutely love the idea of Scalia doing mental cartwheels trying to find a way to find against Barr. It'll be Scalia v. Scalia.
 
[quote name='speedracer']Bob Barr is going to make this interesting, that's for sure. It's a great case, a total winner. The precedent was set in B v. G and Barr knows it.

He has no chance, but I absolutely love the idea of Scalia doing mental cartwheels trying to find a way to find against Barr. It'll be Scalia v. Scalia.[/QUOTE]

:rofl:
 
The Texas Supreme Court has just thrown cold water on Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr’s dream of shoving Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain off that state’s ballot.

Here’s the first report from our sister paper in the state capital, the Austin American-Statesman:

The Texas Supreme Court this morning rejected Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr’s request that the court toss the major-party nominees off the Nov. 4 ballot in Texas. Barr argued that the candidates weren’t yet nominees before a state deadline for submitting the names of nominees to the Texas Secretary of State’s office.

The court’s ruling came without an opinion….

The action came less than a day after parties to the challenge, including political parties and the state, filed briefs objecting to the removal of Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain from the ballot.
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not surprised there.
 
[quote name='thrustbucket']Why is he an asshole?

(No really, I don't know that much about him, I'd to know why he is)[/QUOTE]

I honestly don't know personally, I just felt like saying that because I sure bet Obama and McCain think he is one for doing this.
 
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