By Craig McDermott, crossposted from Random Musings
Of course, there are so many Republican candidates, you might need one for them anyway…
One of the overlooked parts of running for president is the rather mundane task of candidates making their way onto the ballot in all 50 states.
In Arizona, candidate can make it on to the primary ballot for a recognized party by submitting nomination paperwork and either certificates of ballot status for the candidate in two other primary states or 500 valid nomination petition signatures from voters in their primary’s party (Democratic or Republican) or from 500 registered voters (Green or Libertarian).
Independent candidates have a slightly different procedure to follow, and if a candidate chooses to go that route, they will have to submit ~34,000 valid signatures. But at least they will go directly to the general election ballot.
While independent candidates have until September to submit their required nominating paperwork (the general election is in November), partisan candidate have until December 14 to do so (the primary is in March).
It’s far too early for any independent candidates to have already submitted their paperwork, but a few partisan candidates have already done so.
And there is a lot of “insider baseball” going on.
On the Democratic side, so far:
Hillary Clinton – submitted certificates of her ballot status from the states of Michigan and New Hampshire.
Her campaign’s local contact: Fred Duval, the 2014 Democratic nominee for governor of Arizona, a staffer in the White House during the presidential administration of Bill Clinton, and a friend of Arizona’s current governor, Doug Ducey.
In other words, an insider’s insider.
On the Republican side, so far:
Jeb Bush – submitted certificates of ballot status from Vermont and Idaho.
His campaign’s local contact: Lisa James, a career PR flack and a bigwig in Arizona Republican circles (an insider).
Ted Cruz – submitted certificates of ballot status from South Carolina, Alabama, and Arkansas.
His campaign’s local contact is Constantin Querard, a Republican campaign consultant (another insider).
Ben Carson – submitted certificates of ballot status from South Carolina, Alabama, and Arkansas.
Local contact: Diane Ortiz-Parsons, a former vice-chair of the Maricopa County Republican Party (another insider).
Marco Rubio – submitted certificates of ballot status from South Carolina, Alabama, and Arkansas.
Local contact: Mark Brnovich, Arizona’s Attorney General (yet another insider).
Rand Paul – submitted certificates of ballot status from Arkansas and Michigan.
Local contact: Shawn Dow of Fountain Hills. Politically active in far right Republican circles, but doesn’t seem to be an insider.
Chris Christie – submitted certificates of ballot access from New Hampshire and Michigan.
Local contact: Wes Gullet, a Republican consultant and lobbyist, former candidate for mayor of Phoenix, and former aide to Sen. John McCain (yeah, another insider).
Significant candidates who, as of this writing, haven’t filed in AZ:
Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont
Republican Egomaniac Donald Trump of New York, New Jersey, Florida, and any other place where he hasn’t yet worn out his welcome
The “insider” point is snarky and irrelevant. I’d want a bank president to be steeped in banking industry knowledge, not just walking off the street saying “I want to be a banker”. Same for President and supporters of a presidential candidate. You ought to know plenty about that area.
Mike, you have to remember that it is a bad thing only when the “insider” is a conservative. If the “insider” is a liberal, then he is “experienced” and everything is okay. Liberals live in Bizarro World where things that are bad are good, and things that are good, are bad. It does confuse normal people, but if you remember Bizzaro World, it gets easier to understand them.
Is “Insider Baseball” a recognized phrase in political circles? I am delighted if this is so (owning copies of both After Henry and Political Fictions), but my assumption would have been otherwise.
Wikipedia
Seriously, isn’t this the kind of thing the local party machinery (the ‘insiders’) normally do? Primaries ARE ‘inside baseball’ to a great extent.
Of course they are “insiders”—-who cares?
Are political insiders something new? I ask out of genuine curiosity because I have never noticed the phenomenon before you pointed it out.