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The Ohio Deadline
The state of Ohio has an obscure law, stipulating that in order to be on the ballot in Ohio, a presidential candidate must be certified 90 days before the election. This year that would be Aug 7. The Democrat National Convention this year is not until Aug 19. Meaning the Joe Biden candidacy will miss the Ohio deadline by 2 weeks.
From Fox News:
President Biden may fail to get on Ohio’s general election ballot after the state’s top election official warned his campaign about missing a key deadline on Friday.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, notified top Democratic officials that their party’s national convention is scheduled to occur well past the deadline for certifying a presidential candidate in Ohio.
“The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to convene on August 19, 2024, which occurs more than a week after the August 7 deadline to certify a presidential candidate to the office,” LaRose wrote to Ohio Democratic Party Chairwoman Liz Walters, according to the letter first obtained by ABC News.
Now I hate deadlines as much as the next guy, and normally I would be willing to entertain a waiver or grace period. But, you know, Democrats have been challenging the RFK campaign on ballot access everywhere he’s applied for it. Democrats have used every obscure arcane rule, regulation or practice in the hopes of keeping RFK off the ballot. Under these circumstances, I think Ohio should deny the Biden campaign ballot access. Challenge your rivals to live by the rules, then you should live by them too.
I really just have to ask the Democrats: Whatever happened to basic competence? Listening to a Kamala Harris speech, I worry that dementia is contagious. Has the entire Democrat establishment taken on the traits of their candidate? Angry, belligerent, liars who forget deadlines when scheduling their lives…
I understand why they would think they should push the convention as late as possible in the campaign— limit media scrutiny (not that there would be much). Limit the candidate’s schedule. Reduce the number of dates for a possible presidential debate… I really think they’ll try to schedule the debates for long after early voting has begun. President Trump should insist that the debates be concluded before any state starts early voting. That way the voters could have the maximum available information for a change.
Published in Elections
Laws never apply to Democrats.
Yep
Is nothing matters but power
Not just Ohio, but there are a handful of states where the deadline is well before the DNC. I saw this somewhere but can’t find the link, but there’s Alabama (8/15) and a few other states. (I’ll search for the link later.)
The story also said that states usually give waivers to the major parties, as Ohio did for both the Dems and Reps a couple of cycles ago. But with the Dems going after DJT’s and RFK’s ballot access, I don’t expect that to happen this year.
This would be lovely to see.
There won’t be debates. Biden(‘s handlers) will use Trump’s position from the Republican primary and refuse to debate Trump. The media arm of the DNC will concur and will write articles saying, “So, Trump wants to debate now, huh. Biden doesn’t need to dignify him with debates.”
They’re already doing that, at least the part about dignifying DJT with debates.
I don’t think there will be any debates.
I don’t see what the point of debates would be. Debates are useful when voters don’t know very much about the candidates. Who has unanswered questions about Biden or Trump? People who just woke from a decade-long coma?
I think a debate would be very useful for normie voters who only see Biden in 10 second sound bites. Heavily edited though a friendly media lens. Having him stand at a podium for an hour and speaking untethered from the teleprompter is well beyond his capabilities. Yet I think a large section of his voter base are unaware how bad it is.
But most people don’t watch debates anyway, right?
I just think that people who have so little interest in politics that they don’t already know about Biden’s condition are not going to care enough to watch a debate.
There is plenty of impact on down ballot races so the DNC will find a way to get their nominee on all state ballots. A rule change to allow the comittee to pick the preumptive nominee before the convention would likely do it. It would also not be a surprise if state law allows for substitions in the case of death or disability. I still cling to the scenario that Biden steps down around the convention due to
electabilityhealth issuesI assume that is why the DNC chose the late date – they anticipated the need to substitute a new candidate, and later on the calendar provides less time for Republicans / opponents to adjust and to respond.
Biden can’t answer questions without a script in front of him. There will be no debates if he’s the candidate. If he withdraws and gruesome Newsom takes his place, the Ds will suddenly decide that age is an issue.
I agree with all the comments that chances are slim for any debates this year. No real loss. The Democrats won’t agree unless they are facing blowout losses.
A topic for another thread, but DJT may also be unable to debate. There is a non trivial chance DJT is convicted of Braggs bogus felony charges and by fall resides in a New York prison with limited communication privileges. Appeals can take time.
Why do you think that, even if that happened, Trump would not be out on bond or something, while appealing?
Having watch Kamala Harris when she was Attorney General in California, I can assure you she was ignorant, stupid, and incapable of effective management long before she became associated with Joseph Biden.
I like the comments I have heard in a few places that, even though we might normally be forgiving on “minor” deadline issues, the Biden campaign has been relentless and strict on details surrounding Robert Kennedy’s access to the ballot, so it only makes sense that the Biden campaign and the Democratic party should be held to strict compliance with deadline details.
I am assuming a hostile judge and jury not willing to cut him any slack.
My belief is once you are convicted the judge can sentence you to prison immediately. Doesn’t matter if you appeal or not. I can’t see going a through a six week trial on these “felonies” obtaining a conviction and then trying not finishing the job by trying to knock Trump out of the election by not sentencing him immediately. Might be different if the conviction is seen to be sufficient. I also don’t think house arrest at say Trump tower would be sufficient though it would squash his in person rallies. Not a conspiracy just a possibility. Hopefully someone will correct me.
Harris owes her entire career – such as it is – to Willie Brown and his brown willy.
It may very well be that a low-level judge might order him jailed immediately, just like a low-level judge ordered him to pay $500 Million immediately. But that’s just the low-level judge.
I don’t even WANT any debates this time around.
They certainly should not be necessary!
Due to the Goose Meet Gander Principle, rules should not be changed to provide ballot access to Biden in states where a date requirement is in conflict with the Democrat nominating calendar.
The debate question is interesting because Biden is in a lose/lose position. If he refuses to debate Trump he will appear weak and fearful. If he chooses to debate Trump he will come across as weak and demented. Of course, Biden will refuse to debate because the optics of appearing weak are less bad than the optics of going full sundown for 90 minutes on live national television.
Or we’ll get that weird State of the Union on speed version.
I think that only works for a teleprompter speech. Can’t imagine how it would work out for a debate where he actually has to come up with complete sentences on the spot for 90 minutes.
Maybe not, if he’s wearing an earpiece again.
90 Minutes? No way, 60 max… Including time for the singing of 7 national anthems, the introduction by the self important nobodies, and so on…We’d be lucky to get 30 minutes out of Joe… And maybe he can appear normal for 30 minutes…
He hasn’t been able to so far.