Democrats and Republicans Miss Deadline for Texas Ballot Access

 This is hilarious. Somehow, both the Republican and Democratic parties have missed the August 26 deadline to file in Texas. What this means is Bob Barr, the mustachioed Libertarian candidate, is the sole candidate legally eligible to appear on the presidential ballot in November. What's so great about this is that when the two major parties make the inevitable big stink about not being on the ballot, Bob Barr gets to point out how disgustingly difficult it has always been for third parties to get ballot access. Seriously, Texas is going to have to break its own election laws if it is going to allow John McCain and Barack Obama on the ballot. If that happens, and you know it will, legions of screwed third party candidates will have a few words to say. I'm sure there will be some nice, little way of explaining the whole thing away, some verbal legerdemain to make the illegal sound perfectly legal, but the story will, hopefully, be big enough to bring the unfair nature of ballot access laws to light for many Americans. For a presidential election boasting so many historical firsts, I'd really like to see some big changes: the end of two-party domination and the first third-party candidate to make a serious run at the presidency. Not that it will happen this time, but let the Barrs and Ralph Naders and Cynthia McKinneys and Chuck Baldwins get fair ballot access and, maybe, one day we'll see some real progress made in this country.