Last updated on February 8, 2026
The Georgia State Convention
Rumors were to continue that Howell was being groomed as a 2004 Presidential candidate. These rumors were confirmed at the 2001 Georgia State Libertarian Party convention. As described to me by Donald Gorman:
“Saturday, April 28 , was a busy day, with a New Bedford, MA campaign seminar and flight to Atlanta to the Georgia LP Convention. At the Convention, I gave 60 people a two-hour preview of my Campaign School for Winners, to be held in Atlanta on June 9-10.
“It was fun meeting many new, energetic people from Georgia, and catching up on the latest news from Art Olivier, who spoke at the Convention. Dave Nolan and David Bergland were both in attendance as guest speakers. Unfortunately, arriving so late on Saturday night, I missed their speeches. Instead, I happened to walk in just as Michael Cloud was in the middle of his “Carla for Governor” fund-raiser. Cloud assured the crowd that this was for the Carla Howell for Governor race, not the Carla Howell for President race, but that the audience would hear more on that later.”
LP News Coverage in 2001 and 2002
More than one Libertarian has remarked upon the slanted coverage given by LP News in 2000-2002 to Libertarian candidates. Some candidates receive massive coverage, while others are largely ignored. It will be recalled that during the period in question the Editor of LP News was Bill Winter, who in 1996 was in the pay of the Browne campaign, and who, according to documents released by John Famularo, was involved with mailings sent to the inner circle managing Browne’s 1996 campaign.
From August 2001 to August 2002 LP News ran a half-dozen articles about Howell’s campaign, including her associated get-out-the-vote tax-cut referendum question. This includes a Page 1 article in the August 2001 issue, another Page 1 article in the January 2002 issue, two articles (the first starting on Page 1) in the March 2002 issue, and articles in the July and August 2002 issue. The only other Libertarian candidate to receive as much attention was Ed Thompson, also running for Governor.
In contrast, the largest state party in the Union is that of California. California’s candidate for Governor, Gary Copeland, was ignored by LP News, even before Copeland’s State Party denounced him. Several statewide races in Fall 2002, such as Rebecca Sink-Burris’s campaign for Secretary of State of Indiana (the second highest elected office in that state), were critical to ballot access. These races received only a trace of the attention given to Howell. Senate candidate Rick Stanley was covered by several articles, but these were related to his arrest and trial. Long-time Libertarian Party member and activist Bumper Hornberger ran for U.S. Senator from Virginia. While several articles covered his campaign, the May 2002 article was primarily a hit piece in which National Chair Jim Lark claimed that Hornberger had a “demonstrated lack of integrity”. Lark did not supply evidence to justify his remarkable claim.
Howell, her referendum campaign, and her constant companion’s Senate campaign also all ran full-page ads in LP News, month after month after month. Those ads were paid advertising bought with the funds willingly and voluntarily given Howell, the Small Government Campaign, and Michael Cloud to advance their electoral efforts. From the standpoint of convincing readers, though, paid publicity is no substitute for earned publicity. In the case at hand, one asks: What was being done to have earned the publicity?
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