The first time Weld ran for governor in Massachusetts, the LP did not put up a candidate. This was not a deliberate choice, but there simply was no one willing to run. The second time Weld ran, the LP in Massachusetts ran Dean Cook for governor.

Many LP members in Massachusetts distrusted Weld because he was the federal prosecutor in a case against a local tax resister named Dick Aiken.

I personally voted for him the first time because he promised to resist the tax on services that Billy Bulger, then President of the state Senate, was pushing, and on which Silber, Weld’s Democratic opponent, took an ambiguous position. Fortunately, that was one promise that Weld kept, for which I thank him.

-Walter Ziobro

I watched both his campaigns in the national press, and I don’t remember ever hearing about a Libertarian running against him for Governor of Massachusetts.

That said, I agree with Austin Cassidy – the LP was right to back him, since they could not compete with him for the small limited government vote in New York. And given the loss of at the Republican convention, Weld had no choice but to drop out.

If the LP had provided a second line for Tom Golisano in 2002 – the Independence Party candidate who spent $66 million – they could have gotten 50,000 votes then and ongoing ballot status.

The LP had no candidate that was going to get the votes needed to get ballot access. What was traded was the chance to nominate a nobody that would do nothing for the party for the chance to cross-endorse a libertarian-leaning Republican and win ballot access.

Nothing has been lost here, and at least some media coverage was gained.

Weld’s decision to drop out made complete sense as well. You can call him a liar or whatever, but in the world of reality his campaign had run out of gas. He did win the LP line, but he lost the Conservative nomination. Then he lost the GOP endorsement by an embarrassingly wide-margin. Then the Independence Party nomination by an embarrasingly wide margin. Then the people that encouraged him to run jumped ship and asked him to drop out. He would have to have been a fool to continue… after this many defeats were dealt to him in quick succession.

If he’s not libertarian enough to be a Libertarian candidate, then there’s not much point in having a Libertarian Party at all! Using this standard excludes at least 90% of voters, as well. So either the LP is a waste of time or this is just an unfortunate political loss.

BTW, who’s working for who here? I didn’t see the NYLP bringing much to the table to save Weld’s campaign as it received pie after pie in the face over the last three weeks. Now everyone in the party is complaining that he’s abandoning them… well, what the hell were you doing to help him?

I suspect, (I am not a LIB) that the NY LP chose Weld because he was “socially liberal and fiscally conservative” and many people kinda thing that is what a Libertarian and if he had won through the help of the LP fusion ticket, he might doing something for them.

Jesse Ventura (MN) was a similar type of Governor and often spoke of himself as a libertarian. The current LP MN Gov. candidate is running in the GOP primary.

I remember a few years ago that a bunch of Cal. LP Congressional candidates supported the state ban on same-sex marriage, so “purity” concerns can be interesting to watch unfold.

I am a Democrat, but I have to wonder. If in Canada a political party can get registered and nomiante candidates by getting someting like 250 sig. or Iraq I think it was something like 500. Then it just seems silly, stupid and unfair that we have independent and third party candidates running around getting as many sig. as they have to do.

If spoilers are a problem, then use Instant Runoff Voting.

If you email me I will get back to you promptly and have each of our candidates respond. We are working on the Site so we can have all the executive committee pictures up and our candidates for office up as well. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions please do not hesitate to contact me!
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trent pool