Buckeye RINO

Bob Barr is right.  John McCain and Barack Obama should not be on the ballot in Texas.

The state of Texas has already printed absentee ballots with the names of McCain and Obama on them, even though they failed to meet deadlines imposed by Texas law.

The fact that the ballots already have the names of McCain and Obama on them demonstrates how this will likely turn out in the end:  Barr’s principled stand will be defied by the powers that be in Texas.

Even though I favor McCain, and even though I don’t know how McCain reaches the minimum threshold of 270 electoral votes to become the next president without the 34 electoral votes of Texas (listed as safely in McCain’s camp anywhere you look from any polling source or news organization), I admit that it would be wrong to include the names of McCain and Obama on the Texas ballot.

If I were a Texas voter, I’d be angry at any state legislator that didn’t attempt to remedy the problem in advance.  Texas legislators know (or ought to know) what the election laws are, including the deadlines for getting on the ballot.  They also knew well in advance when the conventions were going to be held.  They had ample opportunity to act in order to accommodate the schedule of the two major parties.  But they did not.

If I were the judge hearing Bob Barr’s case, I’d strike the names of McCain and Obama from the ballot, and not feel sorry for the state legislators that had to put up with the earful that angry voters will be sure to give them.

34 electoral votes for Bob Barr.

But I think we’ll find that judges aren’t immune to politics, and will rule against Barr, which will make me very unhappy with the judges.

But Barr is right.