Kennedy family members endorse President Biden in a rejection of RFK Jr.
And Democrat RFK Jr and progressive Shanahan may keep Biden from beating Trump.
The states Kennedy remains focused on are Michigan, another key battleground state, Maryland, South Carolina, West Virginia, Indiana, Texas, Illinois, New York, California, and Massachusetts . . ..
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At a recent rally in Kansas City, Missouri, Kennedy asked the crowd
of about 300 voters for help. The state requires independent candidates
to collect 10,000 signatures by July 29 to appear on the 2024 general
election presidential ballot. ...
The requirements for ballot access for candidates who are not the Democratic or Republican nominees vary widely from state to state, and the first deadlines are in early March, for North Carolina and Utah. Utah originally required independent candidates to file by Jan. 8, 2024, but earlier this month — soon after Kennedy filed a lawsuit against the state — it changed the date to March 5. ...
Kennedy's ballot access drive will also be heavily underwritten by the super PAC supporting him, American Values 2024. In December, the super PAC announced it would be investing $10 million to $15 million to put him on the ballot in at least 10 states . . ..
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The story likes to compare RFK Jr. to H. Ross Perot, but there's no way that RFK Jr. has anything close to the same appeal Perot once had and which still won him nothing.
Kennedy admits he's a spoiler, but most Americans still want a serious, positive candidacy, not a nattering nabob of negativism.
West's alignment with Hamas and Kennedy's openly stated purpose as a spoiler candidate combine to make them chiefly candidacies hurting the incumbent Joe Biden, but everything depends on them getting on the ballot in enough places.
Perot bled votes away from the incumbent George H. W. Bush in 1992, and from Republican Bob Dole in 1996, resulting in Clinton winning each contest but not with 50% of the popular vote.
“I wondered if they had thought it all through before making the switch over,” said Michael Arno, a ballot access expert who’s firm was working with No Labels until April of this year and devised the independent ballot access plans for Howard Schultz in 2020 and Michael Bloomberg before that. ... Kennedy’s decision to run as an independent after competing for four months as a Democrat is a more spontaneous approach to the race than most independent candidates typically take. ... The first deadline is Jan. 6, 2024, in Utah with a named vice president required.
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“He emphasized that he was committed to running as a Democrat but said that he considered himself very libertarian,” Ms. McArdle said in an interview, adding that they agreed on several positions, including the threat of the “deep state” and the need for populist messaging. “We’re aligned on a lot of issues.”
“My perspective is that we are going to stay in touch in case he does decide to run,” Ms. McArdle said. “And he can contact me at any time if that’s the case.”
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The Emerson College poll in Michigan is showing Cornel West with 4% in a race involving Biden v Trump, putting Trump on top by two points.
In 2020 Trump was short in