Third Party Watch

William Niskanen is chairman of the Cato Institute, and served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Reagan administration. Trying to figure out how third parties could have more political influence, he offers “A Case for a Different Libertarian Party”:

The effectiveness of the Libertarian Party and almost all other third parties [...]

Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr, interviewed by the Capitol Hill newspaper, The Hill, says he thinks there is at least one difference between John McCain and Barack Obama:

“I think McCain is a hypocrite,” Barr said of the Arizona senator. “He claims he is for smaller government and that’s not the case.”

Barr doesn’t think Democratic candidate [...]

Before last night’s vice presidential debate, the Los Angeles Times political blog, Top of the Ticket, predicted:

Well, we probably won’t get to know much about Wayne Root and Matt Gonzalez during tonight’s vice presidential debate in St. Louis. That’s because the vice presidential running mates of libertarian Bob Barr and contrarian Ralph Nader are prohibited.

Too [...]

Sean Scallon writes an interesting piece in The American Conservative asserting that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin once was a supporter of Pat Buchanan’s policies, but when he broke with the GOP to become the Reform Party candidate for President, she remained a Republican. He adds:

While remaining with the Republicans, Palin did have contact with [...]

The following is a media release from the Bob Barr presidential campaign:

October 1, 2008 11:21 pm EST

Atlanta, GA – “Sen. John McCain claims he can provide leadership, but he panicked in the face of cries that the sky is falling from Wall Street investors who made bad investments, and the taxpayers are going to pay [...]

The Chronicle, an independent daily at Duke University, finds that “Michael Munger, chair of the Duke political science department, is making waves and making history this year with his bid to become the governor of this state.” Last week, Munger became “the first-ever Libertarian candidate to participate in a televised gubernatorial debate in North [...]

The Charleston (SC) Post and Courier reports on Bob Barr’s speech before the Charleston Rotary Club:

Former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr said the current financial crisis has breathed life into his Libertarian bid for the presidency because many people think that party’s philosophy of less government and free markets is far superior to the $700 billion [...]

Reason.tv reports:

On Friday, September 26 at Reason Magazine’s Washington DC Headquarters, Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr participated in the presidential debates with a live studio audience. Around 200 people showed up for the ‘counter debate’ and 1000 watched online at www.mogulus.com/reason. It’s divided into two parts. Part One is the first 48 minutes of [...]

In the Raleigh (NC) News & Observer, Ryan Teague Beckwith writes that “Congressional Quarterly has downgraded John McCain’s chances here.” He discusses how recent polls suggest a very close race:

The most interesting poll result from the past week was a survey by Rasmussen Reports that showed Democrat Obama with a two-point lead over Republican [...]

Douglas E. Schoen, a pollster, writes in the Los Angeles Times that “the presidential election could well turn on a factor that has gotten virtually no discussion this year—the votes drawn by Libertarian Bob Barr, Green Cynthia McKinney and independent Ralph Nader.”

After demonstrating how their candidacies could make a difference in various states, Schoen asks: [...]

He wasn’t in the presidential debate, but Bob Barr had good news on another front last Friday: That’s the day he broke the $1 million barrier in fundraising. Deputy Campaign Manager Shane Cory reports:

Bright and early this morning, we broke the $1 million barrier!...

Everyone from the campaign staff along with Bob Barr and [...]

Atlanta Magazine has a 5,000-word profile of Bob Barr in its October issue. It’s much too long to reprint here, but check it out.

The National Taxpayers Union Foundation reports:

Sen. McCain (R-AZ) would increase yearly federal spending by $92.4 billion, compared to Sen. Obama’s (D-IL) $293.0 billion. NTUF also released a first-time analysis of Libertarian Party candidate Bob Barr, who would instead cut annual federal spending by $200.9 billion. The studies include proposals through September 19.

“If eight months [...]

Ballot Access News

On September 26, the 5th Circuit removed Bob Barr from the Louisiana ballot. The three judges were Carolyn King (a Carter appointee from Texas), James Dennis (a Clinton appointee from Louisiana), and Priscilla Owen (a Bush Jr. appointee from Texas). The action was taken without any hearing. The case is Libertarian Party et [...]

“If John McCain wants to bow out, I’m willing to step in and take his podium on Friday,” says Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party candidate for President:

The financial meltdown won’t come any closer to a resolution because a presidential debate is postponed. Now is the best time for Americans to see how prepared their leaders [...]

Bob Barr (Libertarian Party) calls Treasury Secretary Paulson’s $700 billion gift to his Wall Street friends the “bailout from hell”:

The Bush administration played this game before, using 9/11 to ram the Patriot Act through Congress, and then misused its authority while resisting court oversight. Never again should Congress allow itself to be duped in this [...]

Real Clear Politics reports that “Libertarian candidate Bob Barr sent a letter to President Bush…asking to be involved in the bailout negotiations – a request that apparently fell on deaf ears since he wasn’t at the meeting when it began…”

Barr had another request:

“I also urge you to require that any company or entity that ever [...]

The Dallas Business Journal reports that “presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain will have their names on the ballot when election season rolls around in Texas,” and adds:

The Texas Supreme Court denied a petition filed by Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr and the Libertarian Party of Texas to remove the Democratic and Republican presidential [...]

Ballot Access News

Ron Paul today endorsed Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin.

Paul made it clear that he was responding to Bob Barr’s criticism for “remaining neutral” by supporting the four significant alternative candidatesm, specifically mentioning Barr’s failure to appear at Paul’s unity event “by canceling his appearance “forty minutes before the pess conference started…To say [...]

In early June, Ron Paul had this to say about Bob Barr:

[Barr’s voting record] doesn’t mean he can’t represent these [libertarian] values, and he’s saying the things that he should be saying, he’s joined the Libertarian Party, he presents these views, and he talks our language, so I do really believe that he can [...]

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that “Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr has lost the first clash in his strange Texas fight to keep John McCain and Barack Obama off the ballot in that state,” adding:

The news media has been tentative with this story, uncertain whether the Barr lawsuit is a legal move with profound implications — [...]

Politico finds that while the major party candidates “have stepped gingerly around the financial crisis and the question of government intervention, third party candidates Bob Barr and Ralph Nader have shown no such compunction. ”

The article says Barr and Nader saw this coming:

Barr boasts that he was a few weeks ahead of the curve, pointing [...]

Reporter-Pub blog spotlights a response from a reader who says Sarah Palin is “one of the highest ranking libertarian Republican elected officials in the US,” citing as evidence:

Libertarians have been supporting her since the 1990s. Some facts:

Sarah Palin has spoken to two Libertarian supper club meetings in Anchorage 2005/06

Sarah Palin asked for and received the [...]

The Raleigh Telegram reports that a debate between gubernatorial candidates will be held on UNC-TV Wednesday night, but so far only two have indicated they will participate—Libertarian candidate Mike Munger and GOP candidate Pat McCrory. The Democratic candidate, Lieutenant Governor Beverly Perdue, has not responded and the debate is not listed on her calendar [...]

Under California law a party is qualified to participate in primary (and thus also general) elections if 1) it achieves as many registrants as 1% of the voter turnout in the last regular gubernatorial election, or 2) had a statewide candidate win a 2% share in that election. Here are the registration numbers and selected [...]