The June 17 Oklahoma Gazette has this article on HB 1072, the bill to somewhat improve the ballot access law for new and previously unqualified political parties. The Oklahoma Gazette is Oklahoma City’s leading free weekly newspaper.
The legislature has adjourned for the year, but Oklahoma has two-year legislative sessions, so the bill will receive attention in 2010. It passed both houses this year, but in different form, and the conference committee didn’t act in 2009.
The Gazette article quotes a Common Cause official as saying that long ago, the Socialist Party was the second largest party in Oklahoma. That is an exaggeration, but it is true that after the 1914 election, the Socialist Party had 6 state legislators in Oklahoma. At the same time, there were 22 Republicans in the state legislature. The Socialist Party got 20.8% of the gubernatorial vote in 1914. Thanks to Micah Gamino for the link.
Will Rogers, Jr., had been a Socialist, but I don’t believe he ever ran for office as a party member.
Does anyone reading this, especially Richard, know for sure?
He did run for something as a Democrat, of which party his daddy famously said, “I don’t belong to any organized political party. I’m a Democrat.”
That, by the way, is a wonderful line I used to steal when I was a Libertarian.
Hmm. Is Richard Winger a lawyer? I thought about writing the White House and floating him as a possible judicial nominee…
No, I’m not an attorney. I once dreamed that I had been appointed to the US Supreme Court, but the dream was a nightmare because I felt I was way, way, way over my head. Lots and lots of different fields of law get covered in the court system.