By Andrew W. Griffin

Red Dirt Report, editor

Posted: August 8, 2012

reddirtreporter@gmail.com

OKLAHOMA CITY – While everyone waits to find out who Mitt Romney will pick as his vice-presidential choice, Libertarian presidential candidate and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, we learned this afternoon, will have ballot access in Oklahoma this fall after all.

Amazing. And just today, my colleague Steve Long (The Otter Limits) and I were discussing how depressing it is that Oklahoma has such strict ballot access laws and that they were unlikely to be changed any time soon.

Anyway, this came about because the nonpartisan organization Americans Elect “submitted the names of presidential electors to the Oklahoma State Board of Elections who have pledged to support (Johnson and Judge Jim Gray for Vice President). The nomination ensures that Gov. Johnson’s name will be on the November ballot in Oklahoma.”

This is great news in terms of voter choice in our state. It’s been 12 years – when the late Harry Browne ran in 2000 on the Libertarian ticket – since we have had a Libertarian on the ballot. This means that Johnson/Gray is that much closer to being on the ballot in all 50 states.

Said Johnson in a press release: “The Americans Elect Oklahoma party deserves tremendous credit for making certain that voters in Oklahoma will not be held hostage by arbitrary ballot access rules designed to limit their choices.”

We called Joe Hunter, with the Johnson/Gray campaign, and he assured Red Dirt Report that Johnson being on the ballot in Oklahoma “was a done deal.”

Whew! A real choice!

U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (R-Moore) has been in the media a lot lately and today he gave comments to Politico about his colleague U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) being considered as Mitt Romney’s running mate.

Says Cole: “It would excite some people who right now are there for Romney because they’re opposed to another four years of Obama, not because they’re excited about a Romney presidency.”

Sounds like more of that dreaded “McCain factor.” Until Sarah Palin came along, the moribund McCain campaign seemed to be heading towards having fellow warmonger Joe Lieberman as his running mate – until “Sarahcuda” of the Last Frontier came along.

Paul Ryan is no “Sarahcuda” but he is well-spoken, friendly and knowledgeable. Romney is an insufferable jerk and needs to include someone who is the anti-Biden. Someone who understands middle America and how budgets work and is a reliable conservative in contrast to a waffler like Romney.

Here’s our coverage of Paul Ryan’s visit to Oklahoma City last fall.

A top story in The Oklahoman today involves Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater’s announcement that the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board “has been operating a secret parole docket and releasing inmates early, including some ineligible for early release because they have not fulfilled mandatory sentencing guidelines.”

Prater is sinking his teeth into this one, convinced that the Pardon and Parole Board’s violations are “egregious, aggravated and a clear attempt to operate in secrecy, outside of public scrutiny.”

Sounds about right.

Copyright 2012 Red Dirt Report