Bob Barr: The ONLY choice on the Texas Ballot!

Now I am not a supporter of the Bob Barr campaign (beyond the common problem of ballot access like all third parties have in our grossly biased two-party system), but I am somewhat enjoying a small touch of schadenfreude at the moment, since under Texas election law, Mr. Barr is the only presidential candidate qualified to be on a ballot line in the state of Texas.

See the Texas ballot line here (current as of 28 Aug. 2008, subject to change upon sufficient amount of winging, cajolery, and perhaps “special deals”).

Apparently the law states that the POTUS candidates were required to have submitted their signatures by 26 August 2008, and as since neither the Democrats nor the GOP (nor the Constitution Party, to my deep chagrin) have submitted their signatures by the dealine, Mr. Barr is on the Libertarian Party ballot line in Texas.

Assuming that massive amounts of cash, favours, or extreme whinging by the two major parties doesn’t get them on the ballot contrary to Texas Law, the only way Texans will be able to vote for McCain or Obama will be to write him in.

I’m a tad taken aback at why Dr. Baldwin’s people in TX (as well as the Constitution Party of Texas) were not able to get their signatures in on time. This is a sad thing for them, since no amount of pleading or protesting will get the board of elections to bend the rules as they might for the major parties.