Stories

On the first day of in-person early voting two weeks ago, a staffer friend of mine was marking his ballot and wondering aloud about the plethora of socialist options among the nine presidential candidates on the ballot. Socialist, Socialist Workers, and Party of Socialism and Liberation, not to mention the Peace and Freedom Party and the Green Party.

As one considers the minor arcana of dogma that separates these groups from one another, it’s easy to recall a scene from Monty Python’s Christ parody, “Life of Brian.”

Iowa’s two official third parties both qualified their presidential candidates for the state’s ballot on Wednesday. In a coincidence, both parties are running former U.S. House members from Georgia.

Iowa’s largest third parties, the Greens and Libertarians, won a big victory last year when they earned a place on the state’s voter registration forms. But few voters have exercised that option, and few of their candidates will appear on ballots below the presidential level.

The Libertarian Party, which has run nearly full slates for state [...]

Runs into Edwards chair David Bonior at Hamburg Inn

Strictly speaking, the Green Party doesn’t participate in the Iowa caucuses.  Nevertheless, their most likely candidate was in Iowa City Sunday, meeting supporters and making the ritual Hamburg Inn visit — where she saw a former congressional colleague.

David Bonior, John Edwards’ campaign chair, meets his former congressional [...]