Ken Block's clipboard-wielding troops got me in the parking lot of a country fair in Portsmouth last week. No doubt it was part of the scheme that the two assigned that detail were middle aged and all neighborly looking.

(Yes, I'm being facetious in my insinuations.)

I, for one, am glad to see the moderate party spring forward. It surely will help to expose all the roadblocks that the Democratic party has in place to thwart all others. If we republicans are just sour grapes, what then will the moderate party be when they experience the same.

Bravo! I may not vote for them, but I'll sign the petition because the two existing parties need the competition.
Thankfully, Patrick Lynch made a smart move to to appeal the court decision.

20,000 and counting!!

The nation's 12th highest signature threshold for the 43rd largest state.

The good news is that many of the folks that we get signatures from all pretty much are saying the same thing (maybe not Justin, but most): "It's about time".

There are now Moderate efforts afoot in California (they need to collect 100,000 signatures) and I have been contacted by folks in NYC for a similar effort there.

I am bouyed by the great response we are getting to this grass roots effort. The only up side to this whole thing is that by the time we are done, more than 30,000 registered voters in RI will have interacted directly with one of our petition circulators.

Much more coming soon!

Ken

Actually, what I said after signing was, "Good, now I can tell Ken that I signed his petition."

Ken, once you get the number of valid signatures, what's the least your party will need to do to stay on the ballot each time? Is it the minimum vote % for governor? Do you have a gubernatorial candidate for 2010? I'm guessing you want to take things one step at a time, but you must have some sort of plan on "what's next". I'd hate to see your volunteers put in all this effort and then get thwarted off the ballot in 2012.

Dang typo! I meant to say Lynch was smart NOT to appeal the court decision.

"Ken, once you get the number of valid signatures, what's the least your party will need to do to stay on the ballot each time? Is it the minimum vote % for governor? Do you have a gubernatorial candidate for 2010?..."

Basically, assuming that Ken's folks get the required number of signatures by the deadline next year -- which I would have no reason to think they are not capable of doing -- all it does is make them a recognized political party for the purposes of the 2010 election cycle. That way, they'd be able to have any moderate party candidates potentially be on the ballot under their own party column. I don't think it would give them an automatic recognition for 2012, but I may have to check on that.

If memory serves me right, they would still need to have a general officer candidate in 2010 (it's not just the gubernatorial race, it's any statewide race) get at least 5% of the vote, in order to be recognized for the next election cycle in 2012. Otherwise, they're back to collecting signatures. If they want to be really smart about it, they could probably easily get the 5% with one of the lesser officers, like if they could find a General Treasurer candidate or something). Given their near exclusive focus on fiscal issues, it seems like a natural thing. Of course, there's always the tried and true Lt. Governor's spot to "aim" for. If you can't get 5% against Liz, you have issues!

Once all of our signatures are in and party status is conferred upon us, that status is only valid for the 2010 elections.

The only way to keep our party status for the 2012 and 2014 elections is to field a candidate for governor in 2010 who wins at least 5% of the vote, else we will have to collect signatures again for 2012.

Needless to say, we WILL have a Moderate candidate for governor who wins (I hope) at least 5% of the vote.

I hate to be a cynic but this effort is a total waste of time!

The RI Electorate is too Stupid to actually understand what is happening to their state....

They General Assembly on the other hand, does get it! They understand that no matter how outrageous their actions, nothing will happen to them....

Remember Separation of Powers? The people voted for it over FIVE years ago and yet it still has not been implemented....

After having fought the fight for over ten years, I've thrown in the towel.

As I often state, "We get the Government We Deserve!" and the people of RI deserve what they have!!!

These people deserve everything they will get!!!!

For example, why doesn't the PUC whack the utilities every time they ask for an outrageous increase? because of the Gross Receipts tax, i.e every time the rates go up, the state's cut increases... It's that simple!!!

Wait until the effects of Cap and Trade hit home.... But they will re-elect Reed, Whitehouse, Kennedy and Langevin...

Face it people, this state SUCKS!

Aldo -

If you truly think that RI is a lost cause, move NOW. You only need to go a few miles to get out.

In my assessment, almost all of Rhode Island's problems share a common root cause - politics. RI suffers from a political problem, yet for the almost 2 decades that I have lived here (save 1996# there has not been an attempt to solve the problem with a political solution.

SOP #the lack of full implementation), systemic structural deficits, awful tax policies, etc, etc, etc are all the result of a highly dysfunctional form of democracy. The rules and regs followed by our legislature take a bad situation and make it far worse.

Our polls show that Rhode Islanders are seriously unhappy with both major political parties. Maybe - just maybe - an centrist option will be just the choice that enough Rhode Islanders can choose to break us out of our current dysfunction.

Ken wrote:
"Maybe - just maybe - an centrist option will be just the choice that enough Rhode Islanders can choose"

Ha ha ha ha! Centrist? How do you stand between one option? Is there another option in RI? :)

Hey guys I was wondering if anyone knows if you can get individual articles e-mailed to you or get it on paper? Money's an issue with me for college and I'd like to try to use this to help me get a scholorship. Thanks, and guys if you see me out at your local super stop & shop, please don't be offended if I ask you if you're registered to vote.

P.S. My e-mail is cubanbkidd@yahoo.com