George Phillies on the ballot in New Hampshire

[Alex Libman]

From the blog of "a beer drinking, pickup truck driving, gun owning, New Hampshirite" -- Libertarian Bon Barr Won't Head the Party's Ticket in New Hampshire --

National Libertarian candidate Bob Barr won't head the ticket on New Hampshire ballots come November. New Hampshire has filed it's own candidate for the Libertarian party. Bob Barr will still be on the ballot, but he will have competition, and it comes from more than just George Phillies (New Hampshire's Libertarian candidate).

New Hampshire Libertarian candidates did not get enough votes in the last election to be considered an official party so they will be put in the "other" category with parties like the Green party and their candidate; Cynthia McKinney.

But the problem for presidential hopeful Bob Barr is compounded by a ridiculous ruling by the state supreme court in 2006 which said that candidates can no longer be listed in alphabetical order because it is an unfair advantage to candidates whose names start with the letter "A". I know how stupid that sounds but that is what we have come to here in New Hampshire. Evidently New Hampshire voters' attention span isn't long enough to scroll through a list of candidates until we find the one that we intended to vote for.

A new method of listing candidates was fought over until New Hampshire legislators decided to pull a letter out of a hat before every election cycle and start the list there, wrapping around to "A" and beyond. This year the letter "K" leads off the order of the candidates on the ballot. That means that Cynthia McKinney will head the "other" ticket, followed by Ralph Nader, George Phillies, and then Bob Barr.

Then there is the whole popsicle stick procedure to decide what party gets to be in the left column, this is so stupid that I can't even be bothered to try to explain it so I give you a paragraph from this article:

POPSICLE STICKS: If the alphabet system sounds involved, wait till we start picking popsicle sticks.

"That comes later," [Bill] Gardner [WP] said last week.

That procedure began two years ago, too. To be fair about which party got listed in the first left-hand column on a ballot, Democratic, Republican and Libertarian officials picked sticks that listed numbers one through 24, for each Senate district. Each group picked eight. If a Democrat picked Senate District 1, for example, Democrats would be listed in the first column on all ballots in that district. Republicans would be next. Independents, Libertarians, Green Party and others would be in a third column.

The "others" candidates can't be in a middle column because there would be too many blank spaces between candidates from the major parties, making comparisons difficult, Gardner said.

House districts that elect multiple candidates (Windham-Salem voters elect 13) may see some long ballots in November. A new law says names of candidates for House cannot appear beside another, so there will be blank spots all over the place in big districts as the list goes deep into the ballot form.

How did we ever get to the point where New Hampshire voters are considered either too lazy or too stupid to find the person that they want to vote for on the ballot? When did we reach the point that New Hampshire voters were thought of in such low regard that a voter is thought to be so distracted by the names on the ballot that they find a name that they like and vote for that person before they are able to get the the candidate that they intended to vote for?

I don't know, but it all seems to have happened since Democrats took over. The nanny staters are running wild in New Hampshire.

If a person is that stupid or lazy that they either can't understand the ballot, or can't find the name of the candidate that they want to vote for than fuck them. They shouldn't be voting in the first place.

[PLEASE DIGG]

I say: the more (small-l) libertarian choices the better!  I'd like to see even more radical candidates, like Mary Ruwart and the Boston Tea Party, on the ballot as well!

(Related threads on other BBS'es: RPF, FTL, NHLA.)

[Alex Libman]

(For whoever voted "Someone else", please post who.)

[toowm]

Phillies is a Masshole. He pissed me off at the last two Liberty Forums, and just confirmed what he thinks of Ron Paul.

Here is a recent post of his on David Nolan's site. On this basis, I would urge MA and NH voters to avoid voting for Phillies, even vs. McCain, Obama, and Barr. I will be writing in "Ron Paul."

http://www.nolanchart.com/article4605.html

Posted By: George Phillies
Date: 2008-08-26 08:15:47

    Barr and LNC Fundraising:

    At the start of the month, per FEC reports, he was at $628,000.  As of last night he was at $727,000.  The 140,000 he had raised by 8/25 included a $43,000 jump in one day, on 8/20 or 8/21, ten times his usual gain.  This saltatory move is a feature of the Terra Eclipse technology, seen regularly on the Ron Paul dollar clock; they occur when people manually enter the campaign receipts not received over the internet.  The same jump is seen in late July for both Barr and the LNC.  I would not be surprised if the end of month his numbers regained the 40 or 50 thousand that seemed to vanish.

    The net result is that Barr is about even with Badnarik in fundraising.

    Barr is not going to get the support of the large numbers of devout Ron Paul supporters who think the Federal reserve is privately owned, there was a 9/11 conspiracy, Alex Jones is the most highly reliable news source in the universe, leaving the UN is a major issue, there is a 'NAFTA superhighway' and a secret plot to put all of Mexico under American rule (the North American Union, in which we outnumber them by a lot).  This was obvious from the beginning.

    Historically, July is the best single month for fundraising for an LP candidate, though the FEC pre-general and post-general numbers, combined,  imply that the first half of October brings in cash at a larger weekly rate.

    Of greater import is how the money is spent.  In July, Shane Cory was paid $18,000 (and also received an expense reimbursement)--perhaps for several months work--while Doug Bandow is being paid $10,000 a month.   Russ Verney is not visibly being paid anything, though there are several consulting firms that could be covering his work.

    Of yet greater import over the last month is LNC fundraising as seen on their dollar clock, which reflects part but not all of their total.  In July, the LNC raised $193,513.82 , of which about $160,000 could be seen on their lp.org dollar clock (they reset the clock in mid-month, and linking the two exactly needs more detailed records than I have).

    So far this month. the LNC has raised on their dollar clock $30,000.  The difference arises because last month the LNC would bring in $1100 or $2800 or $6400 in a day, and this month the LNC is bringing in $200 or $1000 or $3800 in a day, as reported on their dollar clock on their web pages.  In recent days, Barr has been raising money faster than the LNC by 3:1 or 10:1, depending on the day.

    Until the September FEC report, or perhaps the Spetember LNC meeting,  it is hard to tell how badly total LNC fundraising is doing, though it would appear that their electronic fundraising--if the TE technology is behaving consistently--has fallen during the past month by half or three-quarters.

[Kat Kanning]

wow, never saw toowm talk bad about someone before.  He must be really bad! 

[Russell Kanning]

I will try to vote for whoever the auction winner tells me to.

[Giggan]

The impression I got of Phillies at the Liberty Forum debate was that he was the 'party guy' of the libertarians the way that candidates rally the party behind the name like it means something. Similar to the speeches you hear, "we're all republicans, let's vote republican together, and support such and such, who sucks, but shares our party affiliation!" Phillies was bragging about his loyalty to the LP, which is just another political party, and I remember him dissing Ron Paul yet refusing to name him, saying things along the lines of, "I stayed with the party when so many left to support that Republican who's running." I found it pathetic.

The reason I'm writing in Ron Paul is because he's the posterboy of the political revolution, whether or not it goes anywhere. I know he's not gonna win, so whether or not he's acting like he's going to by formally running is insignificant. He's better than anyone who is actually running.

[AntonLee]

writing in Ron Paul.  I know voting is bad, and it's immoral.  I will however be voting (in MA) to repeal the income tax and decrim marijuana.  I am to understand that my vote won't count if I leave the presidential crap blank. . .  I considered selling my vote a while back but I think I'm just going to write in Ron.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

Smite, Smite, Smite, Smite.

[John Edward Mercier]

I am to understand that my vote won't count if I leave the presidential crap blank. . . 

Huh?

[AntonLee]

I should say my vote is more likely to be thrown out with the bathwater if I leave the presidential part blank. . .

[John Edward Mercier]

I'm not familiar with Mass voting laws, but in NH it wouldn't be...

[Brandon]

(For whoever voted "Someone else", please post who.)

Kent McManigal

[Russell Kanning]

I just reread the thread title .... I should have added a option to the poll that said "im as happy as a little girl" about george getting on the ballot

[AntonLee]

I'm not familiar with Mass voting laws, but in NH it wouldn't be...

I have doubts that any ballot I've ever cast has been counted.

[FreelanceFreedomFighter]

I've known Phillies for a fairly long time. Around 20 years or so. He's no different than any "big party" candidate in his desire to stomp on your rights based on his agenda. I once pointed this out (years ago at a Libertarian "meeting" which we were both attending) and he became so irate that he said there was no place in the Libertarian party for people like me who aren't good followers. (I do not have any party affiliation and haven't for a very long time) Fundamentally, George Phillies desires political power just like any "big party" candidate, but he could never move up within any of the "big party" machinery/organizations, so... he went to a "little party" where he could be a big(ger) player. IOW, he would never be more than a little fish in the big ocean, so he chose to be a big fish in a small pond. On the surface, he talks a good libertarian game, but with a little prodding and digging it becomes apparent that looking under his pant's legs you will find similar jackboots as any other power-hungry politico. In fact, George Phillies is one of the reasons why I came to the conclusion that "Anyone who is seeking power over your life by running for political office, is exactly the person you don't want to be elected and have that power!"

In MA, I would vote for no income tax, decrim of marijuana, and writing in Ron Paul. (MA will go to Obummer, so writing in Ron Paul isn't a wasted vote)

For the last ~20 years, in the MA town where I was living, I knew my votes were being counted because it was a very small town and in the annual town report it would always show my vote under the "others" column. It was actually nice to see it change from "Dem XXX votes, Repub YYY votes, other 1 vote" to "Dem XXX votes, Repub YYY votes, other 2 (or 3 or 4) votes"! Even tho I had no proof, I started to feel like I was perhaps getting through to a few people... Alas, I've decided that if voting could change anything, they'd make it illegal, so will probably quit encouraging the bastards.