Independent Presidential Run in 2012

INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL RUN

• Antsy Voters Look for a Third Way - When Perot First Ran, 39% Were Dissatisfied; Today It's 81%. 'Something Is Going to Explode' (By NEIL KING JR., Wall Street Journal) So far, no national figure has stepped forward to run outside the two-party system. But some veteran pollsters say public disenchantment is so strong that someone is bound to try to fill the vacuum. And the opportunity is only likely to grow, they say, with the collapse this week of Congress's bipartisan deficit-cutting committee, which many read as another sign of Washington's inability to solve problems.
• Democrats should fear a third-party challenge in 2012 - Independent runs by Ron Paul or Sarah Palin could cripple the GOP — but they're unlikely. A presidential bid by Michael Bloomberg, on the other hand... (Edward Morrissey, The Week)

Barbara Walters to Bloomberg: Is it time for an Independent?

BLOOMBERG
Bloomberg does not want to be prez (Politico) As a guest on Tuesday’s installment of “The View,” Barbara Walters said, “There are people who seem to be dissatisfied with candidates on both sides and they say maybe it’s time for an Independent. Any possibility that you would consider this?”

Third Party Independent Presidential Run Unlikely?

2012

• Third-party resurgence seems unlikely (By: RICHARD SINCERE, Richmond Times Dispatch) If the electorate's mood really favors a third-party surge, we would be seeing it in Virginia. There would be a demand for third-party and independent candidates for the General Assembly, and candidates would rise to meet that demand. Yet according to records available through the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP), there are only seven independent candidates seeking election to the 100-member House of Delegates this year. There are four independent candidates for the 40-member state Senate.
• The Untransformational President - Barack Obama hoped to elevate American politics. Instead, our politics may destroy his presidency. (by Michael Tomasky, The Daily Beast) But other reasons have to do with Obama himself. To begin with, says historian Eric Rauchway of the University of California, Davis, Obama misapprehends history.

National Women's History Museum "Women Who Ran for President" Exhibit Includes Independent Lenora Fulani

Women's museum seeks national space (By Monica Haynes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)  National Women's History Museum -- Although 35 women have run for U.S. President, the online exhibit "First But Not the Last: Women Who Ran for President" highlights the campaigns of just 12 of them, including Shirley Chisholm, Lenora Fulani, Elizabeth Dole, Carol Mosley Braun and Hilary Clinton.

NOTE: Lenora Fulani is the only woman Presidential candidate to have been on the general election ballot (the others listed here ran in the Democratic Party primary.) Fulani was the first woman and first African American in US history to be on the ballot in all 50 states and qualify for federal matching funds. She collected over 1.5 million signatures in her run as an independent in 1988, laying the basis for Ross Perot's independent run in 1992 and paving the way for the current independent movement.

This from the National Women't History Museum:

Lenora Branch Fulani has spent almost three decades fighting to end the two-party system and create a “viable, national, pro-socialist” party for those who feel ignored by the Democratic and Republican parties. Fulani ran for the presidency in 1988 and 1992.

She grew up in Chester, PA and watched her father die because, she said, no ambulance would come to her poor, African-American neighborhood. This, along with the firing of a gay choir director at her church, shaped her desire to address injustice... READ MORE HERE

Fulani: How Nader Has Made Himself Irrelevant

Ralph Nader seems to equate himself with the independent political movement and to define it relative to his positions, his aspirations and his critiques of the two-party system. In this way Nader has fallen out of step with the independent movement.... (Lenora Fulani, The Daily Voice)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

In New Hampshire, independent voters turn to alternative media: NH-CIV speaks! (Christian Science Monitor) And speaking of alternative media, check out the video at the top of The Hankster to hear New Hampshire Committee for an Independent Voice's Betty Ward talk about what independents can do to build independent politics!

• California commentator Tom Elias reminds the parties: "During the four years since the last presidential primary voting, Democratic voter rolls in California have dropped 124,000, while Republicans lost 224,000. Both parties are down about one percentage point in their portion of the state's voters - roughly 43 percent for Democrats today and about 34 percent for Republicans. But decline-to-state voters are up by 496,000, now amounting to almost 20 percent of all California voters, compared with 16 percent four years ago... (Long Beach Press Telegram)
• Paul B. Hertneky compares the records of Clinton and Obama in "doing for others" (Union Leader)
• Ron Paul says he's not running as an independent but WaPo says he Won't Rule Out Run as Independent (Washington Post The Talk)
• 5th Circuit Expedites Mississippi Democratic Party Open Primary Case (Ballot Access News)
• University of Arkansas Law Review Publishes Election Law Issue (Ballot Access News)

Candidates Set for a Marathon -GOP Primary Is Seen as Lengthening (NY Sun): ...A delayed nomination fight on either side could also complicate the entry of a potential independent candidate like Mayor Bloomberg, who is likely waiting for the two major party choices to be determined before deciding on a White House race. Mr. Bloomberg would face state filing deadlines as early as May and June to qualify for the November ballot, and the still-unlikely possibility of an contested party convention could flummox his plans altogether.

Although fund-raising would not be an issue for the billionaire mayor, more than 100,000 signatures are needed to qualify for the ballot in states like Florida and California that would be key to Mr. Bloomberg's chances. In New York, 15,000 are required. Though petitioning has historically been both time- and ground-intensive, the hurdles are far from insurmountable. "It's not as hard as people think," the editor of the newsletter Ballot Access News, Richard Winger, said.
A candidate must petition for the ballot in Texas by May 8 — the earliest such date in the nation. But the vast majority of state deadlines are not until July, August, and September. And the potential to organize supporters on the Internet may make the process much easier. "The Internet has taken all bets off," the interim dean of Boston University's College of Communication, Tobe Berkovitz, said. 'You can build an almost instant cyber-community."...

• A Date To Watch Out For-March 5 key date for any would-be independent presidential candidate (Daily Politics)

Conversations on an Independent Presidential Candidate in 2008

• Sure, Lou Dobbs has a book to sell (Independents Day: Awakening the American Spirit), but he does have a message in his CNN column this week that will resonate with the American people. "More Americans than ever before are now identifying themselves as independents, and I hope millions of Americans in the day and weeks ahead will drop their party affiliation and become independents, refusing to be taken for granted by these two political parties and refusing to be taken for fools by the candidates they're putting forward."

• I just heard Eleanor Clift of Newsweek on the McLaughlin Group's Sunday talk show predict that there will be a "serious independent run" for the White House in 2008, most likely headed by Ron Paul. Apparently this was a follow-up to an Oct. 29th broadcast prediction....

• Newsweek did a poll last week showing that if independent New York mayor Michael Bloomberg were to run as an independent for president in 2008, in a three-way race against Clinton and Giuliani, Clinton leads with 44 percent to Giuliani's 38 percent and Bloomberg's 11 percent. Which might be why Mayor Bloomberg isn't running..... [For a review of Bloomberg's road to independence, see Jacqueline Salit's Unpopular Partnerships in the Neo Independent and the Hankster post The Bloomberg Model: independent voters make the difference, from December 2006, just after Bloomberg won re-election with a new alliance between independents and black voters in NYC]

Registered Independent

"Being an Independent is about thinking for yourself." Read Registered Independent, now on the Hankster sidebar. In the R's just below Redding News Review. It's worth the trip. The Hankster recommends Registered Independent.

PS - Does Mayor Bloomberg know what it really means to be "registered independent"? We'll find out!

Independent presidential candidate by next year?

My Sunday mornings usually consist of Googling the weekend's news for independents and posting relevant articles on The Hankster while drinking a cup of coffee, looking out the window and keeping half an ear to the Sunday morning talk shows. (I depend on Jackie Salit and Fred Newman's Talk/Talk for analysis.)

This morning something caught my attention: Eleanor Clift predicted on the McLaughlin Group that there will be an independent presidential candidate next year...

The Women Who Ran for President

...Lenora Fulani was the most successful female minor party candidate. Her name was on the ballot in 51 jurisdictions in 1988 and 48 in 1992. No other woman running for President, whether in a primary or a general election, has had her name on as many different ballots....

See: The Women Who Ran for President, by Jo Freeman

Obama: Staying power?

Obama -- from the California Majority Report -- Even with the headline-stealing death of Anna Nicole Smith late last week, Senator Barack Obama managed to make another splash with his entry into the Presidential race on Saturday. Now the question is whether he has the staying power needed to compete with the other heavyweights running for the Democratic presidential nod....

Independents are Ready for Barack Obama. But is Obama Ready for Black Independents?

Lenora Fulani argues that a test of Barack Obama's ability to put principles above partisanship, will be tested as he chooses how to relate to black independents.

by Dr. Lenora Fulani

Two weeks ago, I spoke at a national conference of independent voters. There were 500 activist independents, from 32 states – over a third of whom were African American. This conference was the latest indicator that black voters are more politically volatile these days, more independent in their voting and thinking. Many will be receptive to Barack Obama and his presidential campaign. A pressing question is whether he will return the interest. Independents may be ready for Obama. But is Obama ready for us?

With independent voter registration growing in Harlem, Oakland and Newark, there is a new constituency in African American politics – the Black Independent. As many as 35% of younger black voters now identify as independent, rather than Democrat. Forty-seven percent of African Americans deserted the Democratic nominee in the 2005 New York City mayoral race to re-elect the Independent Republican Mike Bloomberg. Last year, 32% of Augusta, Georgia voters rejected a Democrat incumbent state legislator and cast ballots for the black independent Helen Blocker-Adams. Black America is no longer a political monolith. Traditional partisan politics have lost their appeal.

Barack Obama is a critic of partisan politics whose road to prominence did not pass through the standard Democratic Party stopping points, i.e. the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, the local empowerment machines of the 1970s or the Rainbow surge of the 1980s. He would seem to be a natural fit for black independents.

But as soon as Senator Obama got into the first “scrap” of his campaign – the ridiculous remarks made by Senator Joe Biden about how “clean” and “articulate” Obama is – his response made black independents totally invisible.

Obama issued a statement that listed prior black presidential candidates to show Biden that he wasn’t the first clean-cut African American to run for the White House. The list included nearly everybody – Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Carol Mosley Braun and Shirley Chisholm – everybody, that is, but me, the black independent who ran for president twice, and who made the history books for being the first African American ever to get on the presidential ballot in all 50 states. Even the “white bread” USA Today included me in its recent historical review.

Perhaps Senator Obama left me off the list because I’m not clean enough. The New York Post does generally refer to me as the “odious Lenora Fulani,” but I always took that to be a right wing political polemic, not a comment on my perfume. No, I suspect I was left off because I’m not a Democrat. I wouldn’t be shocked if his advisors told him – “Don’t put anyone in your statement who isn’t a Democrat.” If that’s true, it’s a very unfortunate piece of advice. Because in leaving me off the list, Senator Obama crosses a growing portion of black America off his list, too.

Being black is not synonymous with being a Democrat anymore, as much as the Clintons – and others – would have us believe. No less a figure than Reverend Al Sharpton has made that point loud and clear, including when he has spoken out against attempts by white Democrats, like Senator Hillary Clinton, to drive black independents like me out of politics.

Barack Obama has just made it official. He’s running for president of the United States. His message is that it’s time to put principles ahead of partisanship. Black independents have been acting on that idea for years. How he relates to us is the first real test of his principles.
____
Lenora Fulani is a developmental psychologist and a member of the Independence Party’s State Committee. Dr. Fulani was the first woman and first African American to be on the ballot in all 50 states and to qualify for federal matching funds when she ran as an independent for President of the United State in 1988. She leads the Lenora B. Fulani’s Harlem Independence Club which meets monthly. She can be reached at 212-962-1699.

Released February 9, 2007 by:
Sarah Lyons
Communications Director
CUIP
225 Broadway, Ste. 2010
New York, NY 10007
212-962-1824

Party deadlock may produce independent presidential candidacy

When policy paralysis is bad politics, By Jacob Weisberg (Financial Times) ...It is an obvious point that leaving the country’s biggest problems to fester cannot be good policy. Less obvious is that it may not be good politics either. A two-party system is a zero-sum game, in which Republican gain ought to mean Democratic loss and vice versa. But because the politics of blockage, blame and stagnation tends to breed disgust with both sides, it can pave the way for big anti-incumbent swings and third-party movements. John McCain and Barack Obama both owe their popularity to a reputation for speaking more plainly than other politicians. But if the current logjam persists, Michael Bloomberg or someone else may wage an independent presidential candidacy on the case that neither Republicans nor Democrats are facing up to America’s challenges. ...

Ralph Nader may run again

(Capitol Hill Blue blog) Oh God! Nader may run again ...He added that Clinton may face a challenge in her own state from wealthy Republican New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
“I think her main problem may well be right in New York City, Michael Bloomberg. They’re talking in the Bloomberg camp of a possible run. I’m saying he’ll give more diversity, for sure, and he’ll focus on urban problems. But I might say, he’s got the money to do it,” Nader said....

Blogosphere: U4Prez.com

If Not U, Who? Never mind the crowded field—a new Web site lets you run for president in 2008, after all. By Bruce Reed (Slate) ...Would-be wannabes, take heart! Now you can run for President and spend more time with your loved ones. Thanks to a new Web site called U4Prez.com, which makes its official launch on Thursday, your 2008 campaign is just a few clicks away.
In 2004, the Internet rewrote the rules of presidential campaigns by revolutionizing the way candidates could engage the electorate, communicate with voters, and raise money from ordinary people. In 2006, YouTube changed the rules again by holding candidates accountable for their own stupidity....

"Black Presidents"

"black presidents (part four) on Planet Grenada blog: One of the more interesting characters in this subject area is Dr. Lenora Fulani. Fulani ran for President in 1988 as the candidate of the New Alliance Party. She received 0.2% of the vote, or almost a quarter of a million votes, and was the first African American independent on the ballot in all 50 states. She's been one of the strongest voices in favor of Black political independence (from the two-party system) and has been willing to work with everyone from Al Sharpton to Pat Buchanan. If you want to get a taste of her perspective on the last presidential race check out Black Electorate: "The Real Al Sharpton" by Dr. Lenora Fulani.
And you can get more of an overview of her organizing activities at: www.independentvoting.org

Hillary not the first!

In her article called "Clinton’s Not the First" Pamela Gentry, BET News Posted Jan. 26, 2007, starts out by saying "I got an email the other day from a friend of mine who questioned the many references to Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) as the “first woman” to make a bid for the White House. “That doesn’t sound right,” his said. I assured him that the reason it didn’t sound right is because it’s dead wrong..."

Then if you can see your way through some really bad typos, you'll read in this article that Democrat Shirley Chisholm and independent Lenora Fulani also ran for President. Ok, that's good.

Then Ms. Gentry ends the article by saying "Now we know who ran first. What’s really important is who’ll win first."

Maybe -- but in a winner-take-all two-party duopoly, we all lose! But that's exactly what independents are trying to change.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

This from USA Today:

Candidate Party Year(s)
Former senator Carol Moseley Braun, Ill. Democrat 2004
Civil rights activist Al Sharpton Democrat 2004
Former diplomat Alan Keyes Republican 1996, 2000
Psychologist Lenora Fulani Independent 1988, 1992
Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson Democrat 1984, 1988
Rep. Shirley Chisholm, N.Y. Democrat 1972
Source: USA TODAY research

Congrats! Someone got it right!