Bob Barr sues to have Obama & McCain removed from TX ballot

An article in the Dallas Morning News describes a lawsuit by Libertarian candidate Bob Barr to have both Barack Obama and John McCain removed from the Texas ballot. Seem that TX had a filing deadline of Aug 26, but neither candidate was actually the nominee at that time. Obama wasn't officially nominated until the 27th, and McCain was nominated on Sept. 3. Sarah Palin, whose name also appears on the ballot, wasn't even named as the VP pick until the 29th.

Normally, I hate these kinds of shenanigans, but in this case, I kind of like it. Here's the reasoning given by state Libertarian party chairman Patrick Dixon:

“The Libertarian Party like other parties and independent candidates always face a struggle to get on the ballot and are sometimes excluded from the ballot for the most minor of details. We may not like the rules, but we have to play by them.”

The two major parties, with the help of the mainstream media, do everything they can to exclude third party candidates from the process. For example, in order to get into the debates, you have to be polling at something like 15% nationally. But with the media completely ignoring the third party candidates, is it any wonder that they can't pull those kinds of numbers? Under these circumstances, a few shenanigans on the part of the third parties are fine with me.

Of course, the two parties don't quite see it that way...

“Quite frankly, I find it very ironic that those in the Libertarian Party, who have in the past been champions of ballot access, are now making attempts to limit that access here in Texas,” said Democratic Party chairman Boyd Richie.

Really? That is ironic, isn't it! Of course, the fact that the irony was intentional seems to be completely lost on Mr. Richie.

(Though I'll concede that my opinion would likley be very different if TX was a state that Obama was likely to win. That said, I have trouble feeling sorry for the Republicans if they do lose TX under these circumstances, after the crap that they pulled in FL in 2000 and OH in 2004 (and other places both years).)

UPDATE (9/24/2008): The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that John McCain and Barack Obama will be allowed to remain on the ballot. No explanation for their ruling was given.