Former Congressman Bob Barr announced his candidacy for President on the Libertarian Ticket today, some several months behind all of the other candidates. Rep. Barr, who is probably most known for introducing the resolution to look into impeachment proceedings for President Clinton, left the Republican Party in 2004 to join the Libertarian Party.
Commentary is already popping up that Rep. Barr is just trying to become a spoiler for Sen. McCain, much in the same way that Nader did for Al Gore in 2000. Prof. Charles Bullock, a Political Science professor at the University of Georgia, Rep. Barr's home state, disagrees:
Even disenchanted Republican voters, once they see how far apart the options being offered them by McCain and Obama are, they're going to conclude that they prefer McCain. He may not be their first choice, but they would prefer him substantially more than Obama, and realizing that McCain's going to need every vote he can get to have any chance of winning.
Whether or not Bob Barr and the LP can get enough votes to make a big difference in the campaign at all is debatable. The Libertarians have shown a history of having no clue how to run a campaign, even though they have some of the strongest ideas on the political landscape. I wonder what the purpose of the announcement this far into the race is however, if it is not to do exactly what they're accused of. If the Clinton years taught us anything, its that Republicans stick closer to their true philosophical roots when there is a Democrat in the White House. Newt Gingrich's Contract with America shows evidence of that. So maybe the goal of getting a Democrat in the White House isn't a terrible one from a Conservatives perspective.
Regardless, we'll keep a close eye on this campaign and see what develops, and how successful the LP is at not embarrassing itself this year. I sincerely doubt that Barr can replicate the success that Ron Paul has had in the primary.
A short clip of his announcement below:
Addendum: Official Bob Barr campaign website at: http://www.bobbarr2008.com
5 comments:
From what I understand Ron Paul isn't putting his name in the hat. He committed to running in the Republican party. His strategy is to try to fix the GOP rather than running as LP like he used to.
From what I understand, the Ron Paul camp is courting delegates that were pledged to the candidates that dropped out, not to try to take over the nomination, but to greatly influence the other parts of the convention that determine the party platform.
That seems like a good idea, but do you think McCain would go for that at all with the campaign he seems to be running, and how much can the convention influnce the candidate?
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