Yank The Disgruntled Republican Vote From McCain

Politics in the Zero's catches some interesting work in Virginia where a break off group from the Greens have put together a Rep. Ron Paul and New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg ticket:

Important. This is not the national Green Party but a splinter group that left the Green Party and allied themselves with the Independence Party in what no doubt was a spectacular frenzy of bad feelings and nasty schisms. However, they got way over the needed 10,000 sigs to put Bloomberg on the ballot, certainly quite an accomplishment.

However, did they do that via volunteers or are they bankrolled to the point where they can afford paid signature gatherers? If so, who are the donors?

HMMM? An antiwar right wing libertarian coupled with a more fiscally sane version of a republican party conservative than the GOP has to offer anywhere on any ticket?

After screwing over the Dems by bankrolling the Liebergoons imported from out of state to work Joe neocon Lieberman’s ground campaign in Connecticut, I don’t think that adding Bloomberg to any ticket, never mind one with Ron Paul, is intended to lure in votes from the Democratic party membership or the left in general.

Joe Lieberman hates people who buy elections, but that isn't stopping him from letting billionaire election buyer Michael Bloomberg buy one for him.

Joseph I. Lieberman is deploying a secret weapon in the race’s closing days: a sophisticated operation to identify and turn out voters, courtesy of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City.

The Bloomberg group includes several top-level operatives who played key roles in the mayor’s decisive re-election last year or who are in the administration, and have taken leaves from their jobs to work on Mr. Lieberman’s campaign.

Since Mr. Lieberman lost the Democratic primary in Connecticut to Ned Lamont, they have helped open campaign offices, devised a strategy to reach voters and are corralling enough volunteers to cover 2,800 shifts at more than 700 polling sites on Election Day, Nov. 7.

As a former New Yorker, I can tell you that "coralling enough volunteers" is New Yorkese for "paying the ethically-challenged out of a slush fund."

Lieberman has made himself a marked man - targeted by Dems nationally for obsolescence - and everyone knows Bloomberg helped bankroll, man and co-ordinate his campaign.

Sounds more like something to give disgruntled republicans another option beyond the fiscally irresponsible and warmongeringly insane McCain, a candidate too many GOP voters do not like. I would call that money well spent if some Obama supporters payed the bills. That ticket on every state's ballot could do a lot of damage to the GOP, IMHO.

According to the Huffpo report:

"If it is an issue that a candidate is put forth, we assume that the internal communications have happened. But if we were to receive a letter from Mayor Bloomberg that he doesn't want his name on the ballot, we would have to look into the matter to see why the nominee for a party doesn't want to be that nominee," said Matthew J. Abell, the Assistant Manager at Virginia's State Board of Elections. "It is a free country and if chooses to not have his name on the ballot he has every right to do so."

Campbell acknowledged this possibility and said he would not feel slighted if the mayor, simply by asking for his name to be removed from the ballot, were to undermine months of efforts.

"Yes, Bloomberg must consent to this and it will be up to the Board of Elections," he told the Huffington Post. "But we made a promise and we wanted to keep it and we have."

UPDATE: Bloomberg's spokesman Stu Loeser emails: "He hasn't made any decisions and hasn't had a chance to speak with [party chairman Carey] Campbell yet... But this is a call for post-partisanship that Mayor Bloomberg hopes the major parties will hear."

LATE UPDATE: Turns out Liz Benjamin had this report up for the New York Daily News earlier today. We did our own reporting but she still deserves credit.

LewRockwell.com gives you some more:

The Independent Party of Virginia has collected 70,000 signatures - seven times as many as necessary - to nominate Ron as vice president and Michael Bloomberg as president. The wrong order, of course, but still very neat. Could this ticket actually carry Virginia, and turn a close election over to the House of Representatives? We can only hope. Then McCain can really become a Georgian. Note, unlike in most states, Ron and Mike stay on unless they ask to be taken off. Ron will not ask, and apparently, neither will Mike.

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