Indiana State Senator John Waterman, a Republican, had been trying to get on the ballot for Governor, under the label “Taxpayers Party”. The deadline was June 30 and he needed 32,742 valid signatures. He has now said that he only collected about 3,000 signatures.

Waterman will continue to serve in the Indiana Senate. He was first elected in 1994 and he is not running for re-election now, since he is in the middle of his current four-year term. It is conceivable that he might be interested in introducing a bill next year to ease the petition requirement. No statewide minor party or independent petition has succeeded in Indiana since 2000. Indiana is one of five states in which Ralph Nader has never appeared on the ballot, and Nader is not trying in Indiana this year. Thanks to Ed Feigenbaum for the news.