Primary Losers Insurance

Joe Lieberman didn’t have it in 2006, but as a sore loser in CT, he was somehow able to get ballot access as an independent for the November general election which, much to the dismay of all the efforts of liberal Democrats to fire him, he won.

Lisa Murkowski didn’t have it in 2010, but as a sore loser in AK, she couldn’t get ballot access for the general election. Instead, she ran as a write-in candidate, and to the dismay of Teabaggers, she won.

Mississippi has a sore loser law; so, McDaniel is SOL for the US Senate in 2016. And the Teabaggers are livid.

Cantor didn’t have it. Virginia prohibits it:

According to the Code of Virginia’s section on candidates and elections (24.2-520), candidates filing for a primary must sign a statement agreeing that if they lose, their names cannot be printed on ballots for the general election. Meaning, if a candidate in the Republican primary for the 5th District loses on June 8, he or she cannot run as a third-party candidate in November.

(And the filing deadline for write-in candidates is the same as for the primary.)

But guess who has it up the wazoo?

This week the NYTimes declined to endorse a candidate in New York’s Democratic primary contest. Cuomo would surely liked to have had that endorsement, but he’s got a fat war chest and his opponent, Zephyr Teachout, remains little known. FWIW, The Nation and NOW endorsed Teachout.

Tonight it has become a bit more interesting. But first three important bits of information. NY primaries are closed. The party candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor run separately in the primary. The two winners run jointly on the party ticket in the general election (single ballot line). However, before the primary election, gubernatorial candidates offer a ticket with one of the Lt. Governor candidates. Cuomo has been running with Kathy Hochul and Teachout with Tim Wu.

The NYTimes just endorsed Tim Wu for Lt. Governor.

There still seems little to no doubt that Cuomo will win the nomination. But will Democrats choose to stick Cuomo with Teachout’s choice for Lt. Governor? And will Teachout perform as poorly as has been predicted?

Teachout has no primary loser insurance. “New York’s progressive political party,” New York – Working Families Party launched Teachout’s political career and then blinked. The Nation covered the gory details of WFP’s nominating convention. Cuomo is their guy. Thus, if by some bizarre twist of fate, Teachout wins the Democratic Party primary, Cuomo will still be on the general election ballot as the WFP nominee. And he’ll have two more lines as the nominee for the Women’s Equality and Independence parties.

The WFP decided to be ever so pragmatic in choosing Cuomo as its nominee. They feared Teachout as their nominee would jeopardize its ballot access and Cuomo would be mean to them after he won his second term. And Cuomo whispered a bunch of sweet nothings to secure the WFP nomination. The WFP basically chose to be irrelevant in the 2014 gubernatorial election. Wouldn’t it be a hoot if this “progressive party” ends up with the DINO candidate and the Democratic Party ends up with the progressive candidate? And the WFP loses ballot access because Cuomo fails to get enough votes on the WFP ballot line?

5 Comments

Marie2 on August 28, 2014 at 11:02 am

Public opinion as of 5/22/14 wrt fracking:

New York State voters remain divided on drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale, as 44 percent support drilling because of economic benefits and 45 percent oppose drilling because of environmental concerns.

Republicans support drilling 68 – 22 percent, with Democrats opposed 60 – 29 percent. Independent voters are divided, with 45 percent for drilling and 43 percent opposed. Upstate voters are divided 46 – 45 percent, with New York City voters opposed 47 – 39 percent and suburban voters in favor of drilling 48 – 41 percent.

Anti-fracking Teachout gets Sierra Club endorsement over Cuomo. If issues really mattered to voters, socialists would win most elections.

Marie2 on August 28, 2014 at 3:51 pm

NY voters could see 12 ballot lines for governor

…
Six independent parties filed petitions before last week’s deadline to join the state’s six official parties on the November ballot for governor.
…
Six parties have an automatic place on the ballot: the Democratic, Republican, Independence, Conservative, Working Families and Green parties. The Democratic, Independence and Working Families parties are supporting the re-election of Gov. Andrew Cuomo; the Republican and Conservative parties are backing Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino. Howie Hawkins, who finished third in 2010, is again running as a Green Party candidate.
Seeking to join them are the Women’s Equality Party started by Cuomo’s campaign, the Stop Common Core Party announced by Astorino and the Life and Justice Party, a group started by Michael Carey, its gubernatorial candidate, to oppose abortion rights and advocate for disabled people in state facilities.

Two candidates have filed to run as libertarians: Sam Sloan and Michael McDermott.

Jimmy McMillan is again seeking to run on the Rent is Too Damn High Party line. McMillan became an Internet and cable television sensation during his 2010 run.

The sixth party is the Sapient Party, whose candidate is Steven Cohn and which describes itself online as the “party of wisdom.”
…

Not at all clear how the Lt. Gov slot is handled by these third parties. i.e. if Wu wins the DEM nomination, the DEM ballot line in November would be Cuomo-Wu. But it appears that the WFP ballot line would be Cuomo-Hochul.

Marie2 on August 28, 2014 at 4:05 pm

More on the Ballotpedia website.

This: Lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Kathy Hochul (D) and supporters of Gov. Cuomo gathered signatures for a Women’s Equality Party line, thereby increasing the Democratic ticket’s haul of ballot lines to four. suggests that the WEP ballot line would be Cuomo-Hochul.

Also note:

The Public Employees Federation (PEF), the second-largest union for public employees in New York, endorsed primary challenger Zephyr Teachout and her running mate, Tim Wu, prior to the primary. The New York State AFL-CIO and New York State United Teachers withheld their endorsements for the 2014 primary. Cuomo received the endorsement of PEF and the AFL-CIO for his 2010 campaign. The governor responded to the endorsement news by stating that he had “legitimate differences” with public-employee unions over tough negotiations in the past four years.
- Phil Perspective on August 29, 2014 at 1:11 am
  
  How much are the unions making their members aware of Teachout and Wu? I’d laugh my ass off if Wu won Lt. Governor. And if he did, I hope he goes around blasting Cuomo. It’s not like they’d lose come November. And the primary is a low turnout affair. So only time will tell if they can pull it off or what.
  - Marie2 on August 29, 2014 at 5:24 am
    
    Other than endorsements, have no idea if any unions actively engaged in this primary.
    
    Wrt to a Cuomo-Wu Democratic Party ticket, it wouldn’t serve Wu to blast Cuomo because in addition to running against the GOP and Green Party tickets, Cuomo-Wu would be running against the Independence Party and WFP Cuomo-Hochul ticket.

Marie2 on August 28, 2014 at 11:02 am

Public opinion as of 5/22/14 wrt fracking:

New York State voters remain divided on drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale, as 44 percent support drilling because of economic benefits and 45 percent oppose drilling because of environmental concerns.

Republicans support drilling 68 – 22 percent, with Democrats opposed 60 – 29 percent. Independent voters are divided, with 45 percent for drilling and 43 percent opposed. Upstate voters are divided 46 – 45 percent, with New York City voters opposed 47 – 39 percent and suburban voters in favor of drilling 48 – 41 percent.

Anti-fracking Teachout gets Sierra Club endorsement over Cuomo. If issues really mattered to voters, socialists would win most elections.
Marie2 on August 28, 2014 at 3:51 pm

NY voters could see 12 ballot lines for governor

…
Six independent parties filed petitions before last week’s deadline to join the state’s six official parties on the November ballot for governor.
…
Six parties have an automatic place on the ballot: the Democratic, Republican, Independence, Conservative, Working Families and Green parties. The Democratic, Independence and Working Families parties are supporting the re-election of Gov. Andrew Cuomo; the Republican and Conservative parties are backing Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino. Howie Hawkins, who finished third in 2010, is again running as a Green Party candidate.
Seeking to join them are the Women’s Equality Party started by Cuomo’s campaign, the Stop Common Core Party announced by Astorino and the Life and Justice Party, a group started by Michael Carey, its gubernatorial candidate, to oppose abortion rights and advocate for disabled people in state facilities.

Two candidates have filed to run as libertarians: Sam Sloan and Michael McDermott.

Jimmy McMillan is again seeking to run on the Rent is Too Damn High Party line. McMillan became an Internet and cable television sensation during his 2010 run.

The sixth party is the Sapient Party, whose candidate is Steven Cohn and which describes itself online as the “party of wisdom.”
…

Not at all clear how the Lt. Gov slot is handled by these third parties. i.e. if Wu wins the DEM nomination, the DEM ballot line in November would be Cuomo-Wu. But it appears that the WFP ballot line would be Cuomo-Hochul.
- Marie2 on August 28, 2014 at 4:05 pm
  
  More on the Ballotpedia website.
  
  This: Lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Kathy Hochul (D) and supporters of Gov. Cuomo gathered signatures for a Women’s Equality Party line, thereby increasing the Democratic ticket’s haul of ballot lines to four. suggests that the WEP ballot line would be Cuomo-Hochul.
  
  Also note:
  
  The Public Employees Federation (PEF), the second-largest union for public employees in New York, endorsed primary challenger Zephyr Teachout and her running mate, Tim Wu, prior to the primary. The New York State AFL-CIO and New York State United Teachers withheld their endorsements for the 2014 primary. Cuomo received the endorsement of PEF and the AFL-CIO for his 2010 campaign. The governor responded to the endorsement news by stating that he had “legitimate differences” with public-employee unions over tough negotiations in the past four years.
  - Phil Perspective on August 29, 2014 at 1:11 am
    
    How much are the unions making their members aware of Teachout and Wu? I’d laugh my ass off if Wu won Lt. Governor. And if he did, I hope he goes around blasting Cuomo. It’s not like they’d lose come November. And the primary is a low turnout affair. So only time will tell if they can pull it off or what.
    - Marie2 on August 29, 2014 at 5:24 am
      
      Other than endorsements, have no idea if any unions actively engaged in this primary.
      
      Wrt to a Cuomo-Wu Democratic Party ticket, it wouldn’t serve Wu to blast Cuomo because in addition to running against the GOP and Green Party tickets, Cuomo-Wu would be running against the Independence Party and WFP Cuomo-Hochul ticket.

Primary Losers Insurance

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