After six ballots, the 650+ Libertarian delegates selected former Republican and former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr (GA) as their presidential nominee. There were seven candidates; among them, former Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel (AK).
Pragmatically, perhaps, delegates picked millionaire television host, author and CEO, Wayne Allyn Root for the vice presidential slot. Since 2000, Root has hosted Winning Edge, a website and cable television show that promotes "sports betting, gambling, handicapping, live lines and odds."
Brief Bio
Born in Iowa, Barr spent his high school years in Iran (he graduated from Community High School, Tehran, Iran, in 1966). From 1970-1978, he worked for the CIA and was the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, 1986-1990 (spanning the Reagan-BushI terms of office).
Barr represented Georgia's 7th congressional district (northeast of Atlanta) from 1995 to 2003. Writing in the Athens Banner-Herald in 2002, Georgia political analyst Bill Shipp described Barr as "the idol of the gun-toting, abortion-fighting, IRS-hating hard right wing of American politics." (tip) Barr lost that 2002 (fifth term) re-election bid to John Linder, "a former lieutenant to ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich." Today he runs Liberty Strategies, a lobbying firm headquartered in Atlanta.
Barr gained national attention as one of the leaders of the Clinton impeachment; on 5 November 1997, he introduced H.Res. 304, "Directing the Committee on the Judiciary to undertake an inquiry into whether grounds exist to impeach William Jefferson Clinton, the President of the United States" (pdf). Like another prominent Republican from Georgia, Barr has had multiple marriages and has not walked the Republican party's "conservative family values" talk, something uncovered when Hustler magazine Publisher Larry investigated Republican hypocrisy. From American Journalism Review (1999):
Barr was one of 13 House Republicans chosen to act as prosecutors in Clinton's Senate trial. Barr, Flynt's investigators found, was guilty of king-size hypocrisy: An outspoken foe of abortion, the Georgia lawmaker had acquiesced to his then-wife having an abortion in 1983. And he had invoked a legal privilege during his 1985 divorce proceeding so he could refuse to answer questions on whether he'd cheated on his second wife with the woman who is now his third.
Barr, in Flynt's mind, was guilty of far more heinous moral crimes than Clinton. "Bob Barr stood on the House floor and said abortion was the equivalent to murder,'' Flynt told the assembled press. "To me, that represents the ultimate form of hypocrisy, and in many ways it's worse than failing to tell the truth under oath.''
But that was 10 years ago, and Americans have short memories.
While in Congress, Barr voted for the U.S. Patriot Act but now opposes it; in 2005 he formed Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances in an effort to have the Act amended during its reauthorization process.
The Libertarian Party is America's third largest political party, founded in 1971. Go to Barr's campaign website. Tom Head outlines Barr's positions on key civil liberties issues.
Comments
Actually I was in Indianapolis listening to the Indy 500 via radio while munching burgers from the grill.
Later that evening I was thrilled to watch a video replay of the Libertarian Party convention on C-SPAN.
By nominating Rep. Bob Barr as its presidential candidate the libertarians have finally proven their ability to function in mainstream politics. Barr’s candidacy promises to be the best thing to happen to the party since it’s inception.
– Kenn
Thanks, Kenn!
I was afraid you were going to remind me that I forgot about baseball!
I appreciate the detail in this news update.
While the LP eventually decided on Barr, the Mets were struggling against the Rockies.
1 out of 2 aint bad.
Root was pragmatic in endorsing Mr. Barr. If another candidate had done the same, she could possibly have been on the ticket.
All is well that ends well.
TRuk – do you meain Gail Lightfoot? That’s highly doubtful. Ruwart wasn’t on the VP ticket, nor was Smith. If it hadn’t been for Daniel Williams endorsement of Root, Kubby might have taken the nomination. It certainly would have gone down to another vote or votes as one side or another worked to get a majority.
Hi, TRucks — you’re welcome.
I liked the voting chart on the LP website. Sorry I forgot about baseball!
Hi, C – wanna give us a little more insider detail? It sounds like you, too, were glued to the screen (or were you there?)
Finally a Candidate that will stand up for what is right
I just read about Bob Barr standing up and condemming the actions of the police in the dog raid.
Don’t get me wrong, drugs are bad when misused. But reading this article, we can see how far we’ve come to combat a problem that just grows not to mention that these officers killed 2 family pets of an innocent person. These dogs and there owners were innocent civillians who got tangled up in a scheme by someone else.
It’s amazing that the press hasn’t picked up this article as someone is actually saying what needs to be said. I went to http://www.bobbarr2008.com when I read this article and Bob is saying the right things. I never voted for a third party candidate before, but now I’m ready to volunteer for his campaign and do my part to get someone in office with a head on his shoulders.
Its funny the mainstream press will pick up articles about someone’s shoes or someone else’s vacation plans, but they won’t address or cover the issues which they are paid to cover!!
This election year was a real loser with MCBAMA running for president and the press just covering what they want to cover. But now I have a real choice!!!! Speaking of a real choice, check out this video on Bob Barr’s YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im0Wqj3BSvU