President Worried about Democrat Primary Challenger

Washington DC, May 19, 2012. Most people just assume that President Barack Hussein Obama, D-Kenya, is running unopposed for the 2012 Democrat Party nomination. 

However, this simply isn't true. He does have one challenger who has managed to get on the ballot in a few states. John Wolfe Jr, a long time Democrat and attorney from Tennessee has challenged the president in several states so far.

Wolfe took part in the New Hampshire "lesser known candidates forum" in December 2011.
 
He qualified for the ballot in the New Hampshire Democratic primary, in which he received 246 votes, 0.4% of the vote total. In addition to New Hampshire, he has qualified for presidential primary ballots in the states of Missouri, Louisiana and Arkansas.


In the Louisiana primary, Wolfe polled 11.83% which qualified him to earn a minimum of three delegates to the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Following the primary, officials of the Democratic Party of Louisiana announced that Wolfe was ineligible for the delegates he had apparently won because, according to the party officials, Wolfe had not properly complied with the party's qualification requirements. In response, Wolfe filed a lawsuit against the party, disputing the claim that he did not qualify to receive the delegates.

Following incumbent President Barack Obama's narrower-than-expected primary win in West Virginia, where convicted felon Keith Russell Judd finished a strong second as a protest vote, press began to speculate on the possibility of Wolfe, who lacks Judd's criminal record, possibly contending and even winning the state of Arkansas. 

A poll conducted by Hendrix College of Democrats in Arkansas's 4th congressional district showed Wolfe within seven points of Obama there. Should Wolfe succeed in that feat, it would mark the first time since 1980 that a sitting incumbent had not won every state in his party's primary.

After a poll released this week showed President Barack Obama only beating his Democratic primary opponent John Wolfe Jr. by seven points, 45 percent to 38 percent, in Arkansas's Fourth Congressional District, state Democrats moved to practically disenfranchise Arkansas voters. 


"Delegates Wolfe might claim won't be recognized at the national convention," national party officials are telling state Democrats. Wolfe is being accused of not following the party rules.

“They want a coronation,” Wolfe said. “They’re conflating [Obama] with the party. Are we supposed to call him ‘Dear Leader’? Is this some kind of North Korea thing?”

Wolfe insists he’s done the due diligence to qualify for delegates and that the state party is making decisions ad hoc to get the results they desire.

“This is ridiculous," he says. "These guys are trying to tamp down voter enthusiasm.”

If he's denied delegates he's rightfully won, Wolfe says, Democrats would be effectively disenfranchising those who chose him over President Obama. And if that happens, he’ll take his own party to court.

“They took my money and put my name on the ballot,” he says. “They’re trying to make people think it’s hopeless to vote against Obama.” Wolfe is also on the ballot for Texas’s primary on May 29.