Supporters of libertarian-leaning Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, an anti-Iraq War congressman from Texas who is also known as “Dr. No” for his habit of voting in the negative on proposals he thinks aren’t in line with the Constitution, converged on Albany Tuesday for a rally that coincided with the Paul campaign’s filing of a formal request to get onto the ballot for the GOP primary on Feb. 5.
A rally attendee/reader e-mailed over this photo of the event (thanks!).
The Albany trip was the culmination of a multiple-day swing through New York by Paul that also included several NYC fundraisers and a rally.
Ballot access rules in New York are different for the Republican and Democratic parties. To make the GOP cut, a candidate must meet one of the following criteria:
1) Be eligible for federal matching funds. (To do so, candidates must raise a threshold amount of $100,000 by collecting $5,000 in 20 different states in amounts no greater than $250 from any individual and agree to an overall spending limit of approximately $50 million).
2) Be nationally known.
3) File designating petitions.
The Paul camp went the nationally known route, which shouldn’t be too hard to prove, particularly since his star has catapulted since he announced earlier this month that he had raised $5 million in the third quarter and has more cash on-hand than first-tier candidate John McCain.
State Board of Elections spokesman Bob Brehm confirmed that the board had received Paul’s request and said it’s the only one to arrive so far. Oct. 16 was the first day GOP candidates could file their requests, so Paul was first in line. Dec. 11 is the deadline.
No official decision has been made yet on whether Paul will get on the ballot. That’s up to the two Republican state elections commissioners: Co-Chair Neil Kelleher and Helena Moses Donohue.
On the Democratic side of the aisle, all candidate must file petitions with 5,000 signatures collected statewide, which, of course, benefits those (like, say, Hillary Clinton) who have strong organizations behind them. The first day to circulate petitions is Oct. 30.
For Republicans delegates are awarded based on a winner-take-all system. So, whoever wins New York gets all the state’s delegates on his side at the national convention. For Democrats, it’s a bit trickier because the party has a proportional allocation system. So, if a candidate wins in a particular congressional district, he or she gets that district’s delegates.
10:33 pm on October 18, 2007
