Louisiana has a rich culture and history, as well as one of the most unique forms of government among the 50 states because of the influence of French, Spanish, and German codes of law rather than English common law. Louisiana has been home to a top-two open primary (also called a “Jungle Primary” or “nonpartisan blanket primary”) since 1975 for state elections, and 1978 for federal elections (other than presidential), though its primary has faced many challenges, changes, and controversies in recent years. In 1997 the Supreme Court ruled Louisiana’s election system in violation of federal law, but it kept the open primary by moving its date to November and the date of the runoff to December. In 2006, Louisiana’s legislature and governor returned congressional primaries to a closed primary system, but then in 2010, it reverted back to the top-two open primary under a system nearly identical to Washington’s open primary, which was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2008.
Texas is the sixth state to opt out of Medicaid expansion, also means the state is opting out of millions of dollars of federal aid to Medicaid expansion.
Because of the focus on the lawsuit – as fueled by the Massachusetts situation – overlooked has been what has been happening at the State level in terms of the Ron Paul delegate count over the last two weeks.
In terms of bizarre twists, last week, a lawsuit was filed in United States District Court for the Central District of California. The Paul campaign is keeping its distance for good reason – it is a very flawed suit.
In many states, the Republican establishment is looking at the long term prospects for themselves. From this prism, the “Paul Threat” is much more immediate and direct.
Mitt Romney needs to find a vice presidential candidate that perfectly counterbalances himself without being overshadowing.
Given the lack of media coverage devoted to third party and Independent candidates, a large portion of the electorate may not even realize there are alternatives on the ballot.
In almost every state, nonpartisan voters pay for the nominating process for political parties in which independent candidates cannot even participate.
