LIbertarian Presidential candidate Bob Barr is the only candidate to file to have his name on the Texas ballot before the state's August 26th deadline. Texas law states that it "does not allow political parties or candidates to ignore statutory deadlines" meaning that, in clear terms, Obama and McCain's names will not be added to the ballot in Texas.
Barr has threatened legal action should the state of Texas decide to ignore it's own rules and allow McCain and Obama's names to be placed on the ballot. An e-mail from the Barr campaign states:
The Bob Barr presidential campaign has stated “serious legal consequences” will occur should Senators Barack Obama and John McCain be allowed on the Texas general election ballot after they knowingly missed the state’s deadline to file.
The most damage from this would occur to John McCain's run for the presidency. He is currently winning Texas, which holds the prize of 34 Electoral Votes for the winner. It's difficult to predict how launching a write-in campaign for President for the candidates of the country's two major parties would turn out. It appears that although Texas is known as a "red state", the wave of enthusiasm is behind Barack Obama's campaign. The results of a competition such as this would be entirely dependent on voter turn out, which the Obama camp has proven to be a master of.
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