So apparently, the Delaware Libertarian Party has endorsed Green Party candidate Andrew Groff for the U.S. Senate. Many people are looking for a third option to Tom Carper and the Republican Party, and Alex Pires seems too teabaggerish and anti-Democratic.
So is Andrew Groff the longed-for option? Here is what Tully’s page has to say about a Green-Libertarian alliance:
[Tully’s Page] is devoted to establishing alliances between libertarians and progressives – something that I find very natural, but which is often viewed with suspicion by purists on either side. I am delighted, then, to be able to report on this ‘under-the-radar’ development in Delaware:
Delegates from all three counties in Delaware (New Castle, Kent, and Sussex) voted Saturday at the Libertarian Party of Delaware’s annual state convention in Dover to endorse Andrew Groff for US Senate. The party could not nominate Groff as its candidate because the Green Party has already nominated him, and the General Assembly recently abolished fusion nominations in Delaware. But the endorsement means that the Libertarians will not nominate a competing candidate, and will support Groff’s campaign. […]
At the convention, Groff told the Libertarian Party, “I have always been one of you in spirit.” He opposes the Patriot Act and the Federal “war on drugs,” and supports marriage equality. “The government receives its power by consent of the governed,” Groff said. “States have no rights other than those consented to by the people.”
Groff also discussed the barriers that Democrats and Republicans in the General Assembly have created to make ballot access and successful campaigning possible for “alternative candidates.” “Raising the number of members in a political party necessary to appear on the ballot nearly extinguished several independent parties,” Groff said. The Constitution Party has lost ballot access this year, and the Greens are scrambling to gather the final registrations necessary to assure that his name will appear on the November ballot. “I think we’ll be all right,” the candidate said.
Both the Libertarian Party of Delaware and the Independent Party of Delaware have sufficient registered members to guarantee their candidates will appear on this year’s ballot.
“I intend to give Tom Carper a good hard run,” Groff promised. “This year will be about a citizen against the corporate candidate.”
I like the Libertarian Party’s social issue positions and civil liberty positions. They go off the rails on their economic theory and their desire to eliminate the social safety net. So we will see how this works out.
In our tracking poll, here is how our readers judged the four man race:
If the election for U.S. Senate were held today, for whom would you vote?
U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D)– 47%
Andrew Groff (Green) — 18%
Bank / Bar owner Alex Pires (I) — 16%
Kevin Wade (R) — 7%
Undecided — 5%
Neither — 5%
Other — 2%Total Votes: 189. Started: June 4, 2012