Leapfrog Front Quiet But Active

Leapfrog Front Quiet But Active

The caucus and primary date battle seems to have settled down since Iowa Democrats announced their Jan. 3 date, but there's still action on the leapfrog front.

The big item yet to be determined is the New Hampshire primary date. Friday marked the end of filing for the primary, and that means Secretary of State Bill Gardner's self-imposed window for announcing the date is now open.

A total of 44 candidates filed in New Hampshire. The state traditionally has the longest list of names of any primary state. Iowa, with no names on pre-printed ballots to stamp with your ego, rarely sees these perennial candidates, but New Hampshire gets them every four years. The list includes Vermin Supreme, R-Mass., Ole Savior, D-Minn., Tom Tancredo, Know Nothing-Colo., and Alan Keyes, who this year lists his address as Maryland.

One of the lesser-known names on the ballot is familiar to Iowans: Sal Mohamed, who's made two tries for Congress and one for governor with his campaign tactic of sandwich-board signs at high traffic intersections. Sal, as a naturalized citizen, is constitutionally ineligible for the Presidency, but that's not stopping him.

Florida's ballot has also been announced, but it's less colorful. In Florida, party officers name the candidates, allowing them to exclude such past problematic people as David Duke and Lyndon LaRouche. Floridians will see the eight debating Democrats on their no-delegate ballot, while the GOP side will include Keyes with the more familiar candidates.

The bigger item on the Florida side is Nelson v. Dean, Sen. Bill Nelson's lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee over the delegate deletion. That's set for a Dec.5 hearing U.S. District Court in Tallahassee.

Up in Michigan, a bill to abolish the primary, perhaps as a precursor to a caucus on New Hampshire Primary Day, has not made progress this week.

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Not leapfrog related, but worth sharing for fun:

Nebraska Rep. Adrian Smith, a Club For Growth baby in probably the most GOP district in the nation, has blocked access to his official Congressional web site from any links coming from Blogger. Check it out -- the comments from the Blogspot techie are priceless.

Marc Arbinder says Dennis was having more fun with the UFOs the other night:

"Well, what I really wanted to say at the debate, was, 'Yes, Tim, I have seen UFOs, and an alien said to be, 'Take me to your leader.' And I told him, well, I don't think our leader is going to want to meet with an illegal alien."