Grassroots Wave? Americans Elect Sees 200% Rise in Oklahoma Party Registrations

November 12th, 2012 | Posted by Jim Cook in Alternative Parties | Americans Elect | Election 2012 | Politics | State and Local - (6 Comments)

Who’s riding a grassroots wave of support?

On the one hand, we have Americans Elect’s claim to grassroots support as shown in this February 28 photo of former Oklahoma Senator Dan Boren with boxes and boxes and boxes of signatures of people who established Americans Elect as a political party in the state of Oklahoma:

Source: newsok.com

Of course, those signatures were not gathered by passionate, unpaid volunteers. The signatures were obtained by people paid to stand outside supermarkets and cajole people into signing. Did these signatures gathered for money represent a grassroots wave of support?

On the other hand, in August 2012 a renegade group of self-declared leaders of the Oklahoma Americans Elect Party attempted to use the Americans Elect Party’s ballot access line to give Gary Johnson a slot to run for President of the United States in the state of Oklahoma. Americans Elect national corporate leaders, rather than allow this, demanded that its own ballot access be withdrawn in the state. The battle: to obtain a shot at Oklahoma’s seven electors in the presidential contest. The local insurgent group lost.

Of course, the Oklahoma Americans Elect Party leaders are self-declared leaders not recognized by the national Americans Elect corporation. There is no record of any large-scale popular vote to elect the self-declared Oklahoma Americans Elect Party “Chairman,” Rex Lawhorn. The most that can be said for Lawhorn is that he was a fan of the national group, who in the words of Ballot Access News was a “supporter of Americans Elect, from the very beginning of the creation of Americans Elect. He worked hard to set up facebook pages and physical meetings of his fellow Americans Elect members and enthusiasts.” Did the insurgent local actions of a facebook-and-meetup-group-organizer represent the vanguard of a grassroots wave of support for Americans Elect?

Were either the national Americans Elect corporation’s paid collection of signatures or a local group’s self-declaration of automatic access reflective of a grassroots wave of support? To find out, let’s consider the growth of registrations by everyday Oklahomans in the Americans Elect party, and compare that growth to the growth in the Democratic and Republican parties over the same period.

From June 1 2012 to November 1 2012, political party registrations in Oklahoma grew by the following percentages:

Democratic Party: +2.3%
Republican Party: +5.2%
Americans Elect Party: +200.0%

Wow! That’s a big jump, isn’t it? There must have been a grassroots wave of support for either the national Americans Elect idea or the Oklahoma Americans Elect Party — right?

Wrong. Here are the actual numbers of registrants in June and November 2012:

Oklahoma Democratic Party registrants, June 1 2012: 942,987.
Oklahoma Democratic Party registrants, November 1 2012: 964,847.
# New Registrants: 21,860

Oklahoma Republican Party registrants, June 1 2012: 851,759.
Oklahoma Republican Party registrants, November 1 2012: 895,625.
# New Registrants: 43,866

Oklahoma Americans Elect Party registrants, June 1 2012: 6.
Oklahoma Americans Elect Party registrants, November 1 2012: 18.
# New Registrants: 12

If 12 new registrants added to 6 original registrants represents a grassroots wave, the kiddie pool in the neighbor’s yard across the street represents the Atlantic Ocean. The struggle between these two Americans Elect Party factions in the 2012 election season represented a squabble between two small sets of people, neither of which developed a large base of popular support.

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Jill Stein and Gary Johnson win Free and Equal Vote, Proceed to 11/5 Debate

October 27th, 2012 | Posted by Jim Cook in Alternative Parties | Election 2012 | Greens | Politics - (6 Comments)

October 23 saw the Free and Equal Debate to which the top six presidential contenders were invited. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney ignored this invitation, but Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson, Green Party nominee Jill Stein, Independent Rocky Anderson and Constitution Party nominee Virgil Goode did participate.

After the debate, watchers were asked to vote for who they felt did the best job, who deserved to proceed to a two-person, head-to-head debate on November 5. Two rounds of “instant runoff voting” were held. The first round tallied up voters’ first choice to debate on November 5:

Results of First Round of Voting After the 10/23/12 Free and Equal Debate

In a second round of votes, last-place finisher Virgil Goode was eliminated and those who voted for him had their second-choice votes for other candidates counted:

Final Round of Voting after the 10/23/2012 Free and Equal Debate: Gary Johnson and Jill Stein remain the winners

The shifting of Virgil Goode votes to other third-party candidates provides us a unique opportunity to judge the links between the ultra-conservative Virgil Goode and his 72.7% of the those supporting the government-for-Jesus-and-against-Mohammed, how-dare-they-put-God’s-name-only-on-the-edge-of-a-coin, utterly corrupt ex-Congressman shifted their votes to Gary Johnson. Just 16.5% of Virgil Goode supporters also supported Rocky Anderson. Only 10.8% of Virgil Goode supporters threw their support to Jill Stein, making the Green Party nominee the figure farthest from the controversial Goode.

After the second round of voting, Stein and Johnson remained the top two vote-getters, and so Gary Johnson will debate Jill Stein in the final debate of the presidential election season on November 5 at 9 pm Eastern Time.

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Who Says Who is Wiping the Floor With Whom in the 3rd Presidential Debate?

October 23rd, 2012 | Posted by Jim Cook in Alternative Parties | Barack Obama | Election 2012 | Greens | Mitt Romney | Politics - (6 Comments)

Time for a social media mop-up after the third presidential debate.

On Twitter last night, the following was the breakdown of people declaring that one candidate for president was “wiping the floor” with another candidate:

Third presidential debate of 2012: 88.1% on Twitter say Barack Obama was wiping the floor with Mitt Romney. 11.9% say Mitt Romney was wiping the floor with Barack Obama. 0% say Jill Stein was wiping the floor with anyone. 0% say Rocky Anderson was wiping the floor with anyone.

A full 88.1% of Twitter users posting with the phrase “wiping the floor with” said Barack Obama was wiping the floor with Mitt Romney. Only 11.9% said Mitt Romney was wiping the floor with Barack Obama.

There were two other participants in presidential debate proceedings last night. In a video series sponsored by Democracy Now! (see the proceedings here), Green presidential candidate Jill Stein and Independent presidential candidate Rocky Anderson were invited to answer on air the same questions Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were asked. Apparently few were watching and even fewer were reacting. 0% — none at all — said Jill Stein was wiping the floor with anyone. 0% said Rocky Anderson was wiping the floor with anyone.

I don’t like to say it, because Jill Stein‘s candidacy is the one I most agree with, but the candidates outside the Democratic and Republican parties are not attracting significant attention. What’s on the air when people turn on their cable television is what people pay attention to — and that’s just two candidates, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. Within those two, Barack Obama appears to be dominating the “debate,” but as J. Clifford has pointed out, the range of opinion in that debate is far narrower than the range of opinion of the American people.

If you’d like to expand the attention given to third-party candidates, spread the word about an event happening tonight. On October 23 at 9 pm Eastern Time, the Free and Equal Elections Foundation is holding a presidential debate to which it has invited the top 6 presidential contenders: Rocky Anderson, Virgil Goode, Gary Johnson, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney and Jill Stein. Larry King will moderate. Will Barack Obama and Mitt Romney accept the invitation? That remains to be seen. But you are invited as well — day by day more media outlets are committing to broadcast the debate. You can watch it streaming live for free at Ora TV.

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Barack Obama and Mitt Romney Pushing and Shoving to Hug Big Oil and Big Coal Harder

October 16th, 2012 | Posted by Jim Cook in Alternative Parties | Barack Obama | Election 2012 | Environment | Greens | Mitt Romney | Politics | Republicans - (7 Comments)

In tonight’s debate, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are competing to win the sash of Mr. Big Oil and the tiara of Mr. Big Coal.

If you’re not “all for pipelines” at the cost of environmental quality, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

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Top 3 Items of After-Debate Liberal Political Gear Carry Green & Third Party Messages

October 4th, 2012 | Posted by Jim Cook in Alternative Parties | Barack Obama | Bumper Stickers | Election 2012 | Greens | Politics - (3 Comments)

How did Barack Obama do in the presidential debate last night from a liberal perspective?

Here at Irregular Times we can make substantively notes. For instance, we note that although both of the big-party presidential candidates were invited to “debate,” both agreed that although Exxon Mobil paid no income taxes corporate taxes are still somehow too low. There was no choice between alternative positions on corporate taxes in this “debate.” There was no liberal position on corporate taxes in this debate. The phrase “we agree” on economic issues surfaced repeatedly during the supposedly “contentious” debate.

Beyond this, we can also offer a relatively unusual quantitative indication since for nine years we’ve been selling liberal political gear to cover website costs. When someone buys a political message on a yard sign or a bumper sticker, they’re showing a commitment to that message by laying down a few bucks on an item that has some physical permanence.

Today, the day after the October 3 presidential debate, these have been our three best-selling items:

1. Stein-Honkala 2012 Bumper Sticker

2. Jill Stein for President Lawn Sign

3. Vote Third Party Bumper Sticker

#4 and #5 were anti-Romney messages.

Stickers, buttons or yard signs supporting Barack Obama? Not a one of them made the top 5 today. Not a one of them is in our top 10.

Where does committed liberal sentiment sit after the Obama-Romney debate? Definitely not with Mitt Romney, but not with Barack Obama either.

It’s only one day. But today at least, people are looking for an alternative. Today, the liberals willing to put their money down are naming Jill Stein as their choice.

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5 Big Media Mentions get David Walker for President 31 more Votes

April 23rd, 2012 | Posted by Jim Cook in Alternative Parties | Americans Elect | Election 2012 | Media | Politics - (10 Comments)

How does one Americans Elect draft committee called “The Committee to Get Walker Running,” representing a Americans Elect presidential candidate named David Walker, manage to get 5 big media mentions in one day (#1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5)? I mean, there are 432 other Americans Elect draft committees out there trying to get attention too. How does the Draft Walker Committee manage the trick, especially if, as it says, it’s just two weeks old and utterly not related to anybody, just a bunch of earnest kids? How does this one candidate get so much media attention like – snap! – that?

Here‘s how:


Here‘s how:

Connections of the Committee to Get Walker Running

Here‘s how:

And what did all that big media access get David Walker?

Last night, there were 261 people voting for David Walker for President on the Americans Elect system. Tonight, after the David Walker campaign’s biggest media day ever, there are 293 people voting for David Walker for President. At this rate, David Walker will earn a spot on the 2012 Americans Elect presidential ballot some time in 2013.

What David Walker’s selling — a Pete Peterson brand of cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security while America’s richest earn ever more — the American people aren’t buying. Inside connections can get an aspiring politician plenty of notice. But all the connections in the world can’t buy people’s minds.

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Committee to Get Walker Running Supporters connected to Americans Elect and Concord Coalition

April 21st, 2012 | Posted by Jim Cook in Alternative Parties | Americans Elect | Election 2012 | Ethics | Politics - (9 Comments)

The Committee to Get Walker Running, a group trying to kick start a Draft David Walker for President campaign, has 10 public supporters on the morning of April 21 2012. This count comes from a causes.com web page prominently linked to on the front page of draftwalker.com. On a subsidiary causes.com web page, visitors are urged to sign a “pledge to become an Americans Elect delegate and support David Walker.” A few other people have taken the pledge there.

Putting those two lists together generates a set of 12 people supporting the Committee to Get Walker Running:

Public Supporters of the Committee to Get Walker Running, as of the morning of April 21 2012

9 out of the 12 public supporters of this Draft David Walker effort are either campus leaders in the Americans Elect organization, leaders in the Concord Coalition funded by Peter G. Peterson, or both.

Sources: link | link | link | link | link | link

Update, 11:09 AM: Blake Wright’s LinkedIn profile has been updated, showing an upgrade from Regional Campus Director to National Campus Director for Americans Elect. That’s a prominent leadership and paid staff position within Americans Elect.

Americans Elect: Blake Wright promoted from Regional Campus Director to National Campus Director

Blake Wright has also pledged to support David Walker for President.

Americans Elect National Campus Director pledges to support David Wright for President

That’s a direct violation of the Americans Elect neutrality policy.

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What Rocky Anderson Could Say That Would Lead Me To Support His Americans Elect Presidential Bid

March 17th, 2012 | Posted by Jim Cook in Alternative Parties | Americans Elect | Election 2012 | Ethics | Politics - (20 Comments)

J. Clifford has started a pretty interesting conversation about Rocky Anderson’s decision to seek a presidential nomination under the banner of the no-disclosure, unlimited-big-money 501c4 corporation called Americans Elect. As J. Clifford points out, there’s no small irony in a candidate who rails against politics driven by secret donations of big corporate mystery money, then chooses to run in a system funded by secret donations of big corporate mystery money. Anderson’s current Americans-Elect-isn’t-perfect-but-it-lets-people-like-me-run-so-Hurray explanation doesn’t cut it, especially when he complains about “corrupt money” in the same paragraph and we consider the multiple ways in which big money donors have had insider access to control the Americans Elect process. The juxtaposition between Rocky Anderson’s little-guy talk and his new big-money walk leaves me cold.

There is one announcement that Rocky Anderson could make to convince me to support his presidential bid with Americans Elect: an announcement that his campaign won’t be plagued with irony, but will be rolling in irony. Contrary to popular belief, irony isn’t simply the strange coincidence of two events. Irony is the expression of one idea with one’s literal words and the simultaneous expression of the opposite idea in expression or figurative meaning. If Rocky Anderson made his an ironic campaign, I’d be completely behind that.

In a remixing of what he currently is saying (“don’t worry, I’m pure”), here’s what he could say to make me jump on the Anderson 2012 bandwagon:

Contrary to the interests of the American people – and of our democracy – the Republican and Democratic parties have passed laws in many states that make it next to impossible for alternative parties to get on the ballot, at least on short notice. For instance, the Justice Party was founded in mid-December 2011, yet California required that, for the Justice Party to be on the ballot, 103,000 people would have had to register to vote as Justice Party members by January 3, 2012. Was that poor planning on my part? Maybe. But a guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do.

The Commission on Presidential Debates, formed by the Democratic and Republican parties, hijacked the presidential debates from the League of Women Voters and has organized and run the debates according to the dictates of the two dominant party candidates. Without the blessing of both the Republican and Democratic candidates, third-party or independent candidates are excluded – all further eroding any semblance of our democracy. Once again, the king-makers – owned and operated by corrupting corporate money – call the shots, while the public interest is further betrayed.

I, Rocky Anderson, am committed to expanding the Justice Party into a major force in U.S. politics – to remove the stench of corrupting money from our political system. But it doesn’t have enough money, so I’ve decided to go with another party. It has money to burn, and it’s called Americans Elect.

Sure, I’ve expressed concerns with the funding and transparency of Americans Elect. Sure, it’s run by the hedge fund managers and Wall Street investment bankers I’ve been criticizing for months. Sure, they have ultimate say over whether a candidate gets her or his (I’m a his) name on the ballot. But if I don’t cooperate with Americans Elect, ballot access in all 50 states is impossible for me. So forget about dreaming of a better world! I’m embracing the possible… and I’m sure that if I sit down with the Americans Elect corporate board, I can convince them that I’m an acceptable candidate. We can work something out. Wink, wink.

With only about a thousand votes separating me from the current front-runner on Americans Elect, we have a very real opportunity – with the help of all our supporters – to take the lead and further my, I mean the Justice Party’s, exposure to an ever-widening audience. Maybe I, I mean the Justice Party, can even get a talk show on MSNBC later on.

Ideally we would grow the party organically without the need of Americans Elect, but this is not an ideal world. Let’s focus on what’s possible for helping me, I mean the Justice Party, to continue in my, I mean the Justice Party’s, national growth.

Wink, wink.

You may think I am myself being ironic in calling on Rocky Anderson to wage an ironic campaign under the banner of Americans Elect. But no, I’m completely sincere. What better way to expose the absurdities of the Americans Elect “democratic” system than to participate in it as an exercise in satire? And as long as he managed to pull off his faux-sincerity with consistency, Americans Elect couldn’t do anything about it. When confronted, Anderson could give a big, muggy smile and declare, “WHY NO, I REALLY MEAN IT!” Stephen Colbert is apparently too chicken (or too attached to his show) to follow through and make a fully satirical presidential campaign happen. Rocky Anderson could do it.

But this current yes-it’s-run-by-big-money-but-my-personality-is-impervious-to-corruption stance? Rocky, Rocky, Rocky. You do know that’s baloney, don’t you?

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