Roseanne Barr among presidential candidates on Florida ballot
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Roseanne Barr among presidential candidates on Florida ballot

www.reuters.com   | 11.10.2012.

MIAMI (Reuters) - Comedian and 1990s sitcom star Roseanne Barr will be among a dozen presidential candidates on the ballot in Florida in the November 6 election, thanks to ballot access rules that are among the most liberal in the nation.
Roseanne Barr among presidential candidates on Florida ballot

Barr's California-based Peace and Freedom Party and a number of other small political organizations are running candidates against Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney in the swing state.

Gary Johnson, a former Republican governor of New Mexico who is running for the Libertarian Party, is considered the main third party contender on the ballot, but the Socialist Party and lesser-known Objectivist Party, which promotes the laissez-faire capitalist beliefs of philosopher Ayn Rand, are also fielding candidates.

Only Colorado, with a total of 16 presidential candidates, boasts a wider offering than the dozen on the ballot in Florida, according to Ballot Access News.

The Peace and Freedom Party has a platform calling for the legalization of marijuana and same-sex marriage and Barr's running mate is Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist who grabbed national attention by staging a long-running protest outside of former President George W. Bush's Texas ranch.

The Emmy Award-winning Barr, who turns 60 next month, announced her presidential candidacy in August 2011 after losing the race for the Green Party's presidential nomination.

In a statement on her website, Barr says "the bankers and the (U.S.) Federal Reserve need to be brought down" to help mend the ailing U.S. economy.

"They have stolen our money, our future and the American Dream and continue to enslave us with a broken monetary system," the statement says.

"We definitely do not have any serious choices in this election besides me," Barr says in a videotaped speech on her website.

Florida decided the outcome of the 2000 presidential election in which George W. Bush beat Democrat Al Gore by just over 500 votes after a legal battle over the state's results that went to the Supreme Court. Some Democrats blame Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, who received more than 97,000 votes in Florida, for costing Gore the election.

(Reporting By Tom Brown; Editing by Paul Simao)



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