Remember when Nader got thrown off the ballot in 2004, and Romanelli the same in 2006?  Seems like it may have something to do with the fact that at least  three million dollars worth of taxpayer moneywas spent by 12 PA dem officials, including the former speaker of the PA house, who paid their staffs big bonuses for political work, including ballot issues.  These officials have now been indicted.  

While Attorney General Tom Corbett (R) said more arrests are expected and that his office’s yearlong investigation into the other legislative caucuses is continuing.

According to the latest Reuters poll, in a two way race:
Obama 47
McCain 40

In a four way race
Obama 46
McCain 36
Barr 3
Nader 3

OK, so I don't know much about the background on this race, but 85 yr-old Bob Kelleher, who has run for office in Montana 13 times, including Governor in 2004 and Senate in 2002 as a Green Party candidate, has just won an upset victory in the 5-way GOP Primary for Senate for the right to face Max Baucus in November.

I don't think Baucus is in any sort of trouble, as Kelleher has literally no money, and polls showed him 40 points ahead of two of Kelleher's opponents (they didn't poll Kelleher - that's how much of an upset this is), but it does say something about the state of the Montana GOP when an anti-war, pro gun control candidate wins your nomination for Senate!

The theme of Kelleher's campaign was "no more tax cuts until hunger, health, HRDC, and job needs are satisfied and social security, Medicare and Medicaid funds are secure."

I know this has been diaried before by Cartoon Messiah, but I fear it got lost in the Mem day weekend shuffle, and it's an important issue.

Diplomats are "very close" to reaching an international treaty banning the use of cluster bombs, Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said.

In a statement, Mr Brown said: "After 10 days of intense talks in Dublin, we are now very close to agreement on a new international convention prohibiting the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians.

"In order to secure as strong a convention as possible in the last hours of negotiation we have issued instructions that we should support a ban on all cluster bombs, including those currently in service by the UK."

Rasmussen recently published results of their first (as far as I know) poll involving more than the two major party candidates.  While I am glad to see some reality based polling going on (there will be 5 or 6 candidates on most of the ballot for Pres in most states in November), Rasmussen has some pretty serious flaws in methodology (shocking, I know).

Obama earns 42% of the vote, McCain 38%, Bob Barr 6% and Ralph Nader 4%. Given those options, 11% were undecided.Barr and Nader were mentioned as candidates of the Libertarian Party and the Green Party respectively.

By comparison, today's 2-way numbers were Obama 45 McCain 44 - clearly this is good news for Obama, even if the real pull the lever November support of these two candidates is only half what is shown here.  Details on the poll numbers, as well as analysis of both the results and Rasmussen's flawed methodology after the jump.

UPDATE
McKinney apparently won the DC primary with 55% of the vote - I don't have any other info about voted for other candidates.  Also - I'm reading alot of sources who seem to indicate that nader's win in CA is less about groundswell for Nader than the fact that McKinney announced late and didn't campaign there.

Not that you would know it from the MSM, but along with the Dem and Rep primaries and caucuses, third parties are also in the process of choosing a presidential nominee.  And yes, all you Nader-haters and Green haters out their can frag me, but this is post is meant to be informational rather than an endorsement of any candidate.

Note, delegates will cast ballots at the Green Party national convention in Chicago on July 12 (at the Blackstone Hotel and Chicago Theatre - home of the 1968 Dem convention, interestingly).

As many have speculated, and some have anticipated, six term congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is indeed running for president.  While she has not made a formal announcement, she has been making appearances with Green Party candidates across the country in recent weeks (in Illinois, Texas, South Carolina, Californaia, Pennsylvania, and of course the state she used to represent in congress, Georgia).  

Her language in recent speeches has gone from speculating on running to much more definitive of late.  Taking questions after a fundraiser in South Austin, Texas on Thursday:

People should leave "behind the constraints inherent in the current political paradigm that forces you to accept torture and war," said Cynthia McKinney, presidential candidate for the Green Party and former Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

"When one million black people did not get their votes counted, then who's the spoiler? This is exactly what happened to these Florida voters in the 2000 election," McKinney said.

I'll be honest - I never thought the Broadway producers would let the strike shut down shows on the lucrative Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  I've been hearing numbers like $20 million when it comes to the fund the producers socked away to survive the strike, but Broadway as a whole makde $33 million last year for the Thanksgiving week.

But when the Producers posted on their website on Sunday night (an hour BEFORE they broke off talks with I.A.T.S.E.) that they were cancelling all the shows in the 27 strike theatres for the entire week, the strike took on a whole new level of urgency.  And when word that I.A.T.S.E. workers who had agreed to keep 'The Grinch Stole Christmas' open this week were locked out by the Nederlander organization, we discovered who really is the Grinch on Broadway.

I believe that the producers are trying to break the stagehands union, which are on strike for the first time in their history.  (more after the break)

As the WGA (Writer's Guild) strike over DVD, internet and other residuals ends its first week with no sign of negotiations in sight, and a rally of thousands of screenwriters in Hollywood, we've got breaking news about the imminent I.A.T.S.E (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) Local One (Broadway) strike starting at 10am tomorrow, for the first time in their history.

With Actor's Equity and United Scenic Artists (my own union of designers and scene painters, which is a subsidiary of I.A.T.S.E.) voting to honor the picket lines, shutting down 25 shows in performance and several more in pre-production.

From Variety.com:

Both the union and the trade association of Broadway producers, the League of American Theaters and Producers, have stockpiled funds to help endure a shutdown.  Local One and the League have been wrangling over a new agreement for several weeks. The stagehands have been working without a contract since their previous agreement with producers expired in July.

Political Wire has this little tidbit.

I know, I know, 'Nader running again' are probably the three worst possible words for Democrats in the 2008 race, but take a closer look.  The very brief story references Craigslist ads for hiring political operatives in December/January in Iowa and New Hampshire, under the heading 'Ralph Nader Democratic Caucus Campaign Draft Committee.' for the Iowa ad (the New Hampshire ad has been cancelled, maybe because he doesn't want to show his hand.

This diary is by no means an endorsement of any one candidate, or even an endorsement of a generic Green nominee over a generic Dem candidate.  While my heart lies with building the Green Party nationally, and am very active working for local candidates in the teal state of Brooklyn, I am personally taking a wait-and-see attitude with the Democratic race.  I'm just putting this info out there for those who take an interest in third parties, and I guess also as a warning for dem primary voters to be careful what you ask for.

For those of you not familiar with me or my posts (it has been awhile)...you know that while my heart lies with building the Green Party at a local, state and national level, I'm a rare pragmatist in the party, and know that playing a spoiler role on the national scene has adverse effects on local races, which is one of the reasons that at the 2004 Green Party Convention I was one of the only David Cobb delegates in the New York Delegation, and was a key vote in keeping Ralph Nader off the Green Party ballot line in dozens of states as a result.

What's that you say? I read that the 2008 defense budget passed by the house  395-13 with almost no debate, despite 1300 earmarks, was only $459.6 Billion.  

But that doesn't include the $147+ billion Bush wants from Congress for the Iraq supplemental (and will probably get - let's be real.)  Nor does that number include the many additional requests for Nuclear Weapons costs, international FBI expenses (including the war on drugs), etc.

For those of you who only see the glass half empty when it comes to Green candidates:

"We decided to have a strategic alliance with the Democratic Party because we believed this was the quickest way to achieve peace in the Middle East," said John Sieh, treasurer for Richard Duffee, the Green Party's 4th District candidate.

Sieh said Farrell's campaign approached the Green Party about three weeks ago. Both sides have been negotiating since. On Saturday, 4th District Green Party members met with Farrell, held a convention and decided to notify the secretary of the state to black out Duffee's name on the Nov. 7 ballot. The deadline for such a request is Tuesday, Sieh said.

Interesting numbers from the latest NY Zogby poll:

(granted, it is a Zogby interactive poll, so take with a grain of salt..or three)  2006 New York State Governor's race
likely voters 3.6% MOE

Overall - no suprises:
 Spitzer 63%
 Faso 25%
 McCourt 5%
 Clifton 2%

Among Independents
Spitzer 53%
Faso 20%
McCourt 14%
Cifton 8%

Rick VanWie, Green Party candidate for Sec of State in Colorado, dropped out of the race today.  Apparently, he has decided not to be a spoiler, and to endorse Ken Gordon, the democratic candidate, primarily for his stance on IRV and electronic voting machines.

/I believe if my candidacy played any role in helping Major Coffman become our next Secretary of State, our party would have paid a heavy price. Not only would I have helped elect Major Coffman, I would have helped defeat the candidate who, while not a Green, stands with us on Instant Runoff Voting, electronic voting machines, and campaign finance.

Well, Bilbray's been lying to someone, or it looks like several someones, about his primary residence.  

Is it Alexandria, Virginia, his primary residence for tax purposes?  Is it Imperial Beach, SOUTH of San Diego - where he and his wife both also claim Primary residence, or is it his mother's house in Carlsbad, which would be the only one in CA-50.

According to 10News San Diego Wednesday, the Democratic Party called for an investigation into allegations of perjury and voter fraud against Republican candidate Brian Bilbray. Time for a carpettbagging commercial by Busby?

This is probably a temporary anomoly, but according to WBLZ, after qualifying for public funding after receiving more than 2500 small donations, Pat LaMarche, 2004 Green Party V.P. candidate, is leading John Balducci, Peter Mills and Chandler Woodcock in cash on hand

Including donations from the previous reporting period, Baldacci has raised 383,692 dollars. Subtracting when he's spent, Baldacci has 160,982 in cash on hand.

Republican State Senators Peter Mills of Cornville and Chandler Woodcock of Farmington have each received 200,000 dollars by qualifying for Clean Election funds. Mills has 159,720 in cash on hand, and Woodcock has 180,507 dollars in cash to spend.

Green Independent candidate Pat LaMarche has also received 200,000 dollars by qualifying for public campaign financing, and no expenditures.

The Executive board of local 100 on the TWU approved the latest offer from the MTA, which is nearly identical to the one suggested by the mediators on Friday.

Bloomberg's vastly overblown claim that the strike cost the city $1 Billion aside, who won what I consider to be the most important labor battle so far in the 21st century (paling in comparison with the ultimate battle agains Wal-Mart, but since we've only fought skirmishes so far, I'm not counting that).  The details and poll after the break