“Seriously Advocated or Recognized”

The other night, the GOP held their non-Presidential primaries and caucuses in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri (are any of the candidates Presidential?  Yeah, I didn’t think so).  Rick Santorum did well (see!).  But another candidate, Newton Leroy Gingrich, did not even appear on the Missouri ballot.  In the upcoming Virginia primary, he famously failed to qualify for the ballot as well.

Each state has different rules for primary ballot access.  So who will be on the ballot for Connecticut’s April 24th primary and how do they get to be listed?  Well, we find out tomorrow, and it’s up to the Secretary of the State.

On February 10th, the SotS will declare which candidates are “generally and seriously advocated or recognized” as Presidential contenders.  Isn’t that interesting? Fringe candidates can be excluded by a decision of the Secretary of the State.  Clearly, the SotS, Denise Merrill, will not exclude any of the four main candidates for the GOP nod: Romney, Gingrich, Santorum and Paul. But it will be interesting to see if, say, Buddy Roemer makes the cut.

Excluded candidates can petition (but that’s a tough slog statewide).  In the past, excluded candidates have sued. But the process has been upheld by the courts, and it’s just the way we do it here in sensible Connecticut.

Tomorrow, we’ll who gets the opportunity to lose to President Obama badly in November.

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