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According to this article, both the republican and Democratic parties have missed the filing deadline to be included on the Ballot in Texas. So far, the only candidate for President on the ballot in Texas is Libertarian Bob Barr. Other third party canidates are listed as write ins. Any thoughts, people?

Actually, Texas law has no provisions for a late fee in this case. It is a due by date, and they didn't file on time. What will most likely happen is that they will file late with an incorrect date, and the late filings will be "discovered" in a pile of paperwork. In fact, that is the only way I can see that they can get on without obviously violating Federal Law. Its sad, but true, that the two major parties are considered to be above the law.

that would be pretty stupid if neither of the major candidates were on the ballot. If I were in texas and this happened I would be disgusted with the whole thing knowing I might not get to vote for anyone important.

While I have no doubt that John McCain and Barack Obama will find some way to put their names on the ballot ILLEGALLY, its still nice to think about them getting screwed by the very rules THEY wrote to keep US third parties off the ballot. If the law were actually enforced, neither McCain or Obama would be on the ballot, even as write ins.

As for not voting for anyone important, since when did party labels make a canidate important? Your vote doesn't even elect them, the electorial college does that, and they are in NO way bound to reflect the popular vote. Ross Perot proved that when he won about 1/5 of the vote, and not a single electorial vote. Voting in an election booth in November is no different than voting in an opinion poll.

In conclusion, the law is the law. If you miss the deadline to get on the ballot, you shouldn't be on the ballot. Had ANY third party missed the deadline, they would have been told, "too bad, so sad, get lost." There is absolutely NO basis for letting McCain and Obama on just because their parties are too big to be bound by the law. I certainly hope the Texas courts find that nobody, neither giant corporations, famous celebreties, or political parties of any size, are exempt from the law solely because of who they are, and keeps these two off the ballot as the law requires.