Vermont holds presidential primaries on March 4. The state has four parties that are qualified for their own primaries: Democratic, Republican, Progressive, and Liberty Union. However, the Progressive Party doesn’t want its own presidential primary.

Vermont requires presidential candidates to submit 1,000 signatures in order to be on a presidential primary ballot. The Liberty Union Party leadership mostly supports Brian Moore (the Socialist Party presidential nominee), and has helped him gather 1,100 signatures. The deadline for petitions is Monday, January 21 (even though that is a holiday, the Secretary of State’s office is open). It is likely that Moore will be the only presidential candidate on the Liberty Union ballot.

This is the first presidential primary the Liberty Union Party has had since 1996. Since the party didn’t poll enough votes in either 1998 or 2002 to qualify for a primary, no presidential primary was held for it in either 2000 or 2004. But it did poll enough votes in 2006 to be entitled to a 2008 primary.

Brian Moore flew from his home in Florida, to California, on January 12. He had expected to debate his opponents in the Peace & Freedom Party presidential primary in several cities in California. However, he had a slight fever when he left his home in Florida, which became a high fever by the time he landed in Sacramento, California. He developed a bad infection in his left leg, probably from a spider bite, and he is recovering in a Sacramento hospital. His mishap yielded him some publicity in Sacramento network television news; see this link. Thanks to Third Party Watch.