Saturday, July 17, 2004

A Fine Time To Be a Libertarian
 
In Indiana, this is true. Thursday's Noblesville Daily Times featured a front-page, above-the-fold article on the LP's countywide candidates and county organization. (Link not available without subscription.) RTV-6 has a live poll on their website showing LP gubernatorial candidate Kenn Gividen at 14%!
 
I dare say that the LP of Hamilton County is getting the best coverage of any county affiliate in the country. In the past four months, we have been on the front page three times, above the fold twice. The entry of our candidates was covered as routine news, rather than as curiousity. We've been quoted in some articles to the exclusion of the Republicans, and others to the exclusion of the Democrats. The press is giving us coverage commensurate with the other parties, and the tone is very respectful.
 
Neighboring Hendricks County received excellent coverage in today's Indy Star. Kudos to Chair Dennis Derrick and to Todd Singer.
 
A request to libertarians who check out the polls: please don't stuff the poll, and please don't vote if you are not a Hoosier. I believe the numbers in the RTV-6 poll are real at the moment (Kernan 43%, Daniels 43%, Gividen 14%, with about 1630 votes in). I don't want it blown out of proportion by ballot stuffers, as one of the presidential polls is. Badnarik is polling 53% on that one, making it a farce, and leaving us dismissed as frauds. Just click on the 'results' tab to see where it is at if you've already voted, or are not a Hoosier.

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Stuffing Straws For Badnarik

North Carolina libertarians convinced a local CBS TV station to udpate their website to include LP candidate Michael Badnarik with a photo and bio. This is outstanding activism. As a matter of journalistic integrity, Badnarik belongs on such websites.

It has become one of my media pet peeves of late that LP candidates who are on the ballot and running actual campaigns at the top of the ticket aren't being included in the coverage. I urge any letter writing libertarian to notice whether our candidate is included in at least a minimum way (e.g.: "Kenn Gividen is also on the ballot"), and to contact their media when it fails to be noted.

It did make me laugh out loud when I took the straw poll, though. I cast a ballot for Badnarik, and the result popped up. Badnarik has 60% of the votes! Do you think that maybe the webmaster might notice that people from outside of North Carolina are stuffing the ballot?

Monday, July 12, 2004

Star Coverage Notes

It began to occur to me that whenever I read the Indy Star's coverage of the gubernatorial race, IUPUI prof Bill Blomquist is quoted. In fact, it occurred to me that Blomquist is getting more ink than LP candidate Kenn Gividen, so I checked it out.

Sure enough, in the past seven days, Gividen's name appears five time, as does Blomquist's. But the prof is quoted in every article, while the candidate was not quoted at all.

Today's article by John Strauss is about the key role of the southern part of the state. Two curiousities:

1. No mention of Gividen in the article, despite his being the only candidate who resides in the southern part of the state.

2. The Star polled likely voters and found that 34% support the GOP's Daniels, and 33% support the incumbent Kernan. Hmm... What about the other 33%? Are those Gividen supporters or undecideds? No word, but either way, that's the story. 33% is huge.

Oh, and of course, Blomquist was quoted.