Third Party Watch

I just got off the phone with Libertarian Party Executive Director Shane Cory and he confirms the following information: Former US Senator and Alaska House Speaker Mike Gravel has joined the Libertarian Party. Cory says he’ll provide more in a media release to be expected over the next few hours.

Gravel is currently one of [...]

The Washington Times just caught wind of the movement to draft former Congressman Bob Barr to run on the Libertarian Party ticket for president.

Mr. Barr, a House Republican impeachment manager during President Clinton’s administration, yesterday confirmed his interest in running as a Libertarian but said he is unwilling to talk about any “polling we may [...]

Reason’s Dave Weigel ran into Mike Gravel and managed a quick interview. For background, I had heard from two sources (names shall remain undisclosed), that Gravel was possibly interested in a Libertarian Party presidential bid. I didn’t run them without confirmation and had received no response from Gravel’s staff to my question on [...]

Steve Hoodjer has started a Facebook group for people who would support Bob Barr to run for president on the Libertarian Party ticket—as well as to try to convince Barr to run. Here are his selling points to potential supporters:

Why should we support Bob Barr?

Conservatives – We all know that John McCain will not [...]

A sampling of 98 Libertarian National Convention delegates suggests that Wayne Allyn Root is currently the frontrunner with respect to the Libertarian Party presidential nomination. Of the 14 candidates tested, Root earned 22.45% of delegate votes. He was followed by Steve Kubby with 14.29% and George Phillies with 10.20%.

Several factors need to be [...]

LibertarianLists has conducted an online survey of libertarians. There were a total of 945 respondents for the week-long survey which concluded March 11, 2007. The margin of error for issues dealing with Libertarian Party members is approximately +/- 3.7% at a 95% level of confidence. Other results from the survey have a higher or lower [...]

From Justin Raimondo:

Okay, I’m coming out of the closet, and admitting I’m one of you. There, I can say it, at last, out loud and proud: I’m a conservative-paleo-libertarian with a man-crush on Obama.

While I don’t totally agree with Raimondo about Obama and I’m simply not predisposed to any sort of “man-crush” for anyone of [...]

Today is presidential primary day in a few states, but I’m sure a lot of people on this site will be watching a particular congressional district down in Texas.

For weeks, rumors were floating around suggesting that Chris Peden, Ron Paul’s opponent in the Republican primary for Paul’s current congressional seat, was handily defeating the [...]

Eric Garris wrote at LRC:

I hear that Ron Paul and Bob Barr will be meeting soon to discuss a possible independent or third-party ticket, and possible cooperation in other political and educational efforts. Great news!

I was trying to keep a lid on this, but there are a number of incorrect rumors flying around pertaining to [...]

The following was distributed as a MySpace bulletin:

Open Letter to Congressman Ron Paul from Frank MacKay,
Chairman of the Independence Party of America

I want to wish you the best of luck in your congressional primary on Tuesday, March 4th.

Thus far during this Presidential election we have refrained from commenting on candidates that are in major party [...]

Click here to participate in the survey.

LibertarianLists has just launched a new online survey designed to help gauge which presidential candidates the libertarian community and Libertarian Party will be supporting in 2008. There is a special section designed to help better understand the thoughts and intentions of Ron Paul supporters.

While the survey is primarily [...]

GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul was asked the “third party question” in this recent interview by an interview from Austin’s KXAN. Here’s the pertinent portion of the transcript; a YouTube of the entire interview is available below:

Interviewer: A lot of your supporters want you to continue on with this campaign. I’ve heard personally [...]

Due to recent changes in business arrangements, Libertarian Lists has been off the air (or at least off the WiFi) for a few months. For those not familiar with the e-mail service, “Libertarian Lists is a voluntary [FREE] e-mail list [now] managed by Small Government [...]

—Considering the improvement in his speaking material and ability, it’s almost like Libertarian Party presidential hopeful George Phillies has retained Peggy Noonan to assist with his campaign. Now, he’s sent me the photograph on the right, entitled “Respecting the Dignity of the Office.” Is he taking lessons from the Gipper, too?

—According to this [...]

I’d been hearing plenty of consistent rumors that Ron Paul was polling poorly in his congressional district, but didn’t publish any of them because there was no way to verify the sources—and some of the reports I had heard seemed a bit suspect. Ballot Access News has just linked to data which suggests that [...]

From his latest campaign e-mail:

Coming up soon are the Texas and Ohio primaries, with others like Pennsylvania not long afterwards. We are contesting every one, and we will be heard at the Republican national convention in Minneapolis and beyond. A substantial minority of Americans in all parties, not to speak of Independents, agree [...]

—Despite differences on the Iraq War, Neal Boortz apparently identified himself as a Libertarian when he plugged the Fair Tax and pinged the GOP on fiscal issues in Rogers, Arkansas. From NWA News:

At a fundraising Lincoln Day dinner on Friday night, Benton County Republicans heard radio talk show host Neal Boortz criticize the party. [...]

Despite Ron Paul’s statement that “there will be no 3rd party run,” people are still speculating about the possibility. One reason I’m hearing is that his congressional race isn’t looking so hot right now and if he loses that primary, there will be no reason for him not to run. Here’s some of [...]

From the UltimateRonPaul.com e-mail list:

Fellow supporters of Ron Paul,

Let’s keep Ron Paul in the presidential race through Election Day!

Dr. Paul has made it clear he is in the race through the Republican convention in September—he’s not quitting and he’s not letting up. But he has also stated that he doesn’t plan to run after that [...]

by Wayne Allyn Root

Ron Paul all but bowed out honorably a few days ago- not only as a GOP Presidential candidate (announcing he is now focusing his energies on retaining his Congressional seat), but as a third party candidate as well. That shocked and saddened his supporters- many of whom are dedicated Libertarians.

But I say [...]

It looks like Robert Stacy McCain’s article on drafting former Congressman Bob Barr is picking up some steam.

From the Atlanta-Journal Constitution blog:

Peachpundit spotted it before us, but Ron Paul’s decision to scale back his Republican presidential bid has caused some libertarians to press former Georgia congressman Bob Barr to jump into the contest.

Peachpundit asked:

So how [...]

Super Tuesday is behind us, and for many there were no surprises.

The GOP presidential candidates who stood for the Constitution, individual liberty, and a sound economy, were marginalized by the national media and the party machine.

But the machine no longer has a monopoly, and the countless millions who share our passion for liberty and limited [...]

by Chuck Baldwin

A few weeks before Super Tuesday, my friend Howard Phillips asked me who I thought the Republican Presidential nominee would be. I predicted John McCain. With the results of Super Tuesday now history, most political pundits are also predicting that the Arizona senator will gain the Republican nomination for President. And with Mitt [...]

When I hang out with Robert Stacy McCain, something interesting always happens. After spending a good deal of time with him last week at CPAC, he picked up on a buzz there with which I played a role. Today, McCain is reporting that there is a movement, at this moment unorganized, to get [...]

The Las Vegas Review Journal ran a nice piece on Wayne Allyn Root, the wreath the Libertarian Party sent to the Republican National Committee and the Ron Paul impact on Libertarians.

On Root:

With the probable nomination of John McCain as the Republican presidential candidate, the Libertarian Party sees an opening for its message, and a Las [...]