Partisan Friendly Fire

Citing Chris Hayes' Nation essay on Democratic-leaning activist groups working to scuttle key progressive programs, Kevin Drum laments "the biggest threat to the Democratic agenda these days isn't the Republican Party.  It's the Democratic Party." But, of course, the same could be said for the Republican Party.  (Or, for that matter, the Libertarian Party.) We've got the Club for Growth, Red State, ...

Bob Barr Conference Call

I was invited to participate in Libertarian Party presidential nominee Bob Barr's first blogger conference call and decided to do so as a public service to OTB readers. I called in three minutes before the call was scheduled to start and was the first one in.   Doing so required entering two different sets of pin numbers, which strikes me as ...

Bob Barr Wins LP Presidential Nomination

Former Representative Bob Barr has won the Libertarian Party nomination for President, narrowly defeating longtime Party activist Mary Ruwart. This is a rather welcome change for the LP, who have taken to nominating more radical, but relatively unknown candidates in past election cycles. As I've said before, Barr is their best candidate since Paul in 1988, and is ...

Libertarian Party Embraces Big Tent

Something really strange is going on with the Libertarian Party. I mean, more so than usual -- I wouldn't bother to point out the obvious. Their annual convention is going on as I write. Some highlights: Bob Barr, most famous for opposing medical marijuana and for his role in the impeachment of Bill Clinton, is running to be its presidential ...

Barr: McCain Bane or Obama Obstacle?

As Alex reports below, former Republican congressman Bob Barr has thrown his hat into the Libertarian Party nomination contest. Assuming Barr does secure the Libertarian nomination--a big assumption, given that the LP isn't exactly known for picking the most electable presidential candidates--how much of an impact will Barr really have in November, and if so, on whom? Certainly ...

Mike Gravel, Libertarian Presidential Candidate

Daniel Larrison notes the irony that Mike Gravel, announcing that he's leaving the Democrats (for whose nomination he came in dead last) his and running for the Libertarian Party nomination, gave the following explanation: The fact is, the Democratic Party today is no longer the party of FDR. It is a party that continues to sustain war, the military-industrial complex and ...

Ron Paul: Harbinger or Next Year’s Has-Been?

GWU political scientist John Sides is the latest individual to dispute the thesis that Ron Paul is a revolutionary figure in American politics. My working guess (given the givens about social scientists generally, but not knowing him personally) is that Sides is less sympathetic to Paul's agenda than a libertarian (on the big L/little l boundary) like me, but ...

Libertarians Against Ron Paul

Libertarian bloggers from across the political spectrum have come out against Ron Paul. Right-libertarian lawprof Ilya Somin believes that "Ron Paul deserves credit for his strong commitment to limited government on many issues, including taxes, regulation, federal spending, and federalism-based limits on federal government power." Yet, he feels unable to support Paul, even as a protest candidate, because ...

Libertarians Rising?

Michael Kinsley argues that the intellectual positions of the two major parties are incoherent and concludes that libertarians "are going to be an increasingly powerful force in politics." Many people feel that neither party offers a coherent set of principles that they can agree with. For them, the choice is whether you believe in Big Government or you don't. And if ...

Ellen Tauscher on Netroots Hit List

Democratic Representative Ellen Tauscher has apparently replaced Joe Lieberman as Netroots Enemy #1, according to a front page story in today's WaPo by Juliet Eilperin and Michael Grunwald. The Democratic majority was only three weeks old, but by Jan. 26, the grass-roots and Net-roots activists of the party's left wing had already settled on their new enemy: Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher ...

Bob Barr Quits Republican Party, Joins Libertarians

Conservative firebrand Bob Barr has quit the Republican Party and become a Libertarian. A former Georgia congressman who helped spark President Clinton's impeachment has quit the Republican Party to become a Libertarian, saying he is disillusioned with the GOP on issues such as spending and privacy. Bob Barr, who served eight years as a Republican congressman before losing his seat in 2002, ...

Did the Libertarians Cost the Republicans the Senate?

An interesting article in the Economist (via Instapundit) suggests that this was indeed the case. Libertarians are a generally Republican-leaning constituency, but over the last few years, their discontent has grown plain. It isn't just the war, which some libertarians supported, but the corruption and insider dealing, and particularly the massive expansion of spending. Mr Bush's much-vaunted prescription drug benefit for ...

Loretta Nall Campaigns For Alabama Governor on Cleavage

No, it's not Lucy Baxley, the current Democratic lieutenant governor, or incumbent Bob Riley. It's a candidate who couldn't even get on the ballot but is nonetheless getting national attention. Loretta Nall, the Libertarian Party's write-in candidate for governor of Alabama, is campaigning on her cleavage and hoping that voters will eventually focus on her platform. "It started out as ...

Hot Tub Libertarians

Ryan Sager has a piece at RealClear Politics wondering what the Republicans have done to lose libertarian voters and trying to figure out how they can woo them back. He bases his analysis on polling results and definitions provided by Gallup, "which labels as libertarian voters who say they oppose the use of government either to 'promote traditional values' ...

Libertarians as a Major Party by 2026

Scott Elliot analyzes current trends and thinks that, twenty years from now, the Libertarians will be a viable party. In the next twenty years or so, we'll become a three-party political system. The Republican Party and the Democratic Party will be joined by the Libertarian Party as a legitimate force in American politics. The Libertarian Party will grow substantially ...