I’ve been told on a number of occassions that I have one. So, me.

Mr. Knapp writes, “I doubt that…Ruwart could get 2.5-3 million votes, although I wouldn’t write off the possibility that [she] could break a million. The difference between [her] and Barr is that votes cast for [her] would be more heavily weighted toward libertarian, rather than conservative, votes. Since I’m interested in building a libertarian political party rather than a conservative political party, the votes that Kubby or Ruwart would get are far more valuable to me than any votes [insert conservative candidate here] could get.”

I tend to agree.

Mr. LaBianca:

I’m familiar with the libertarian position that the federal government should have no involvement in abortion, and share that position. I would also be surprised if Ruwart did not also share it. My point in asking was to point out that even hardcore anti-abortionists could vote for the pro-choice Ruwart when considering that she would not enforce her pro-choice views at the federal level, and would instead work to keep the federal government out of the question entirely.

Cheers,
Alex Peak

I been saying this for a long time, but I thank Mr. Knapp for putting it so clearly.

Surely, there are way more than two or three of us who STILL believe, and KNOW that that is WHAT the goal is, as we are the “LIBERTARIAN PARTY”.

Mr. LaBianca:

Does she (Ruwart) support Roe? (Clarification added)

Alex, to my knowledge, Mary Ruwart’s position is that as a political/lawful issue, the “abortion is murder” argument is that abortion, as a crime, is one which states handle . . . crimes/murder! She understands that the American Constitution does NOT delegate authority to the federal gov’t to prosecute for any crimes other than treason, piracy or counterfeiting.

In a nutshell, the logical extension of this is that Roe vs. Wade was unlawfully heard by the Supreme Court of the United States. That would make it an illegitimate decision, regardless of whether or not Ms. Ruwart agrees with the substance of the decision.

I would be VERY surprised if Mary Ruwart holds a position any different than what I’ve verbalized here.

..(that way the shmucks can claim ‘our candidate in 2008 got 40%, etc. of the vote!’)

BTW, EDITORS AT “3RD PARTY NEWS,” BEFORE WE GET A “3RD PARTY” WE’LL NEED A 2ND ONE FIRST!! ...and Bobo Barf, etcetercrats galore, are still in the 1st.. ;o)

“Thomas Knapp, you’re first in line. You’ve been awfully cynical about Barr.

“Now we have solid proof he’s polling 2%. That translates to about 2.5 to 2.8 million votes.”

I don’t have any basis for comparison, since I don’t know of any nationwide polling of prior LP candidates at this point in the election cycle.

HOWEVER, in 2004 an LP campaign finally did the obvious and started doing SOME polling (using Rasmussen). In August of 2004, Michael Badnarik polled at 5% in New Mexico, both before and after he visited and ran campaign advertising at the same time Bush and Kerry targeted the state. On election day, he received 0.3%, or about 1/16th what his August polling indicated.

So, the closest thing we have “solid evidence” of is that we could expect Barr to get about 1/8th of 1% of the vote. Not even Bergland territory—more like McBride territory.

Like Williams says—polls are bullshit, at least as predictors of actual performance. You and I both know that Barr would get far more than 150,000 votes. I suppose it’s possible that he might break into the 2 million area, which would be nice if he actually accomplished something productive by doing so. I don’t regard repositioning the Libertarian Party as “GOP, Jr.” to be productive.

“Now does anyone here seriously believe that Mary Ruwart, or Steve Kubby could rack up such numbers?”

I doubt that either Kubby or Ruwart could get 2.5-3 million votes, although I wouldn’t write off the possibility that either one of them could break a million. The difference between them and Barr is that votes cast for them would be more heavily weighted toward libertarian, rather than conservative, votes. Since I’m interested in building a libertarian political party rather than a conservative political party, the votes that Kubby or Ruwart would get are far more valuable to me than any votes [insert conservative candidate here] could get.

A.T.,
That is one of my biggest pet peeves with that party…the bigotry knows no bounds. And it’s not only directed at Gay’s, look at the crap Romney had to put up with about his religion…I’m an atheist and even I thought it was a fucking disgrace.

Yank – Have Milnes tuck in his wang for you and turn around. He gets plenty of practice in front of his mirror, pretending to do the nightly news.

LOL