Meet the next POTUS

Libertarian, Gary Johnson will be at Igby's @ 122 E 6th Street on May 5 at 8:00 PM for a 'fireside chat'.
Johnson is not the only person seeking the Libertarian nomination. That will be decided Memorial Day weekend at the Libertarian convention.

More at the Fishwarp

Jim Berns has Libertarian FartCincinnati Mayoral candidate (so far the only one) has challenged the Cincinnati City Council to eliminate the need for a primary vote for the office.

Let’s see if they can do something as easy and sensible as this

The primary was part of the plan to change the system of electing mayors directly that the public voted on. That is - it's not up to council & any attempt to circumvent the voters is certainly not libertarian. His obvious disregard for the public and the democratic process is troubling. Has Berns' years at DAAP made him an elitist? Has his view from the hill filled his head with delusions of grandeur? Does he want to be mayor...
or king?
Fishwarp story here

Bold Political Prediction #1
After extensive study, the Blogging Isn't Cool staff concludes that Jim Berns will defeat Sandra Queen Noble for the Libertarian nomination for Ohio's 1st Congressional district in March.
Stay tuned.

See and hear the candidates !
Noble

Berns

Cincinnati lost a long time political leader this week. Everett DeJager was a long time member of the Libertarian Party & was involved virtually since it's inception in 1971. He served as a state chairman for awhile and a local organizer for decades. You didn't see him on TV much, but he wrote letters to the editor at the Cincinnati Enquirer over the years - about 400. He posted in & edited the regional newsletter as well.
Mr DeJager was a polite, cordial & honestly friendly man. His presence in the damn near WWE type world of local politics will be missed.

Enquirer obituary here.

Voting Libertarian

When a guy tells you that government always fails you say, ok, whatever...
When the same guy says he wants your vote so he can participate in the failure, it's gotta make you wonder.
The Ohio Libertarians have worked hard for ballot access in their state & deserve credit for their success. In a recent interview on Newsmakers, Jim Berns & Jared Croxton, Libertarians seeking to run for the First Congressional seat, pretty much blew the best free publicity they were gonna get. As I stated before, it's easy to say you are going to not do anything except cut & slash programs & taxes, but what do you do after that? Neither candidate offered any private solutions let alone ways to implement them. Hurley, a historian, pointed out the past failures of private charities. The effects of The Great Depression seemed to be news to the young Croxton, a financial analyst. Berns advice to invest in the stock market seems to have missed recent economic meltdowns that erased years of investment in mere months.
Still, while I am interested in both Republican and Democratic candidates May 4th, the idea of donning my inkblot mask, letting loose the black flag, requesting a Libertarian ballot & telling the Republicrats that I am mad as hell & not going to take it anymore has some romantic appeal.
Maybe I will just employ Harvey Dent's decision making process.

What is the role of the libertarian politician ?
Currently, in our rabidly bi-partisan country, his role is primarily to squawk in election cycles and take advantage of the publicity a race gets to spread the word of the libertarian philosophy of small government, the responsibility of the private sector, civil & property rights and such. If a libertarian were to actually get elected to some office, he would have his hands full trying to eliminate laws, regulations, taxes & stuff.
However, in the event that a majority of libertarians were elected and a utopian libertarian government was achieved, what would the politician do besides sit around and sharpen pencils (that he brought from home) ?
As most of the regulations and programs our Republican and Democrat friends have given us over the years have had some sort of reason behind them, it would make sense that these needs still exist.
The governing libertarian should look at who, in the community, be it state or municipal, has needs and who has the product or service to meet those needs and bring them together to see if something can be done. This really isn't so different from what politicians do today, they just write it into law, create new government enforcement agencies and threaten disagreeing parties with a forfeiture of money, property and freedom. My libertarian politician is more of a matchmaker.
This practice would also make a better message to campaign on as people dependent on current regulations and programs hear talk of cutting the regulations and programs react in fear of being left out in the cold. Additionally it would be a good change from the negative squawker image the libertarian currently has.

Is the Barr Campaign Finished ?
In this article Libertarian Party founder, David Nolan says so.
"As of yesterday afternoon, Bob Barr's Presidential campaign is effectively over. There were signs of serious trouble even before yesterday, but his "no-show" at Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty news conference -- followed by an insulting suggestion that Ron should join Barr on the LP ticket in the VP slot -- demonstrated just how out-of-touch the Barr campaign is, and how poor Barr's vote total is likely to be."
Video of the press conference pt 1, pt 2, pt 3.
The Libertarians know their candidates for president won't win. They use the process to promote their ideas and values. Their candidates are chosen with an eye towards their ability to communicate these messages. In this election cycle they chose a "celebrity" candidate in Bob Barr who is just not a Libertarian.
Sayeth Barr, "I'm not interested in third parties getting the most possible votes, I'm interested in Bob Barr as the nominee for the Libertarian Party getting the most possible votes."
I guess you could see this coming.
In the last election the Libertarian, Michael Badnarik and Green, David Cobb, almost seemed like a team on the campaign trail. Of course, Nader refused to debate with the third party candidates then. Will Barr be the holdout this time ? Will Nader be more forthcoming this time ? Will the next reality show on TV have people putting lipstick on barnyard animals ?
Stay tuned, Bat-Friends.

WOOHOO !
Ron Paul's Rally for the Republic garners over 10,000 attendees !
Suck on that, neocon bitches !

Libertarians have got to stop latching onto entertainers and has been politicians for the sake of name recognition and publicity purposes.
Picking clowns like Howard Stern or losers like Bob Barr just wind up making the party look silly. Badnarik sounded pretty good at first, and I remember hearing that he would ultimately be an embarrassment, and that side did eventually come out. He could have been handled more by the party leaders, however, when you get the inflated egos of the aforementioned embarrassments it is much harder to reign them in.
The choice of Landham for a senate run in KY was a disaster just waiting to happen. Maybe the party will get some cred for dumping the dumbass.
Doubt it.

Fishwrap story here.

Well, I am not happy at all about the Libertarians picking Bob Barr as their presidential candidate. I felt Mary Ruwart would have been much better. At least they did not embrace an entertainer the way they have in the past with the likes of Howard Stern.
In this WSJ opinion piece, Bruce Bartlett suggests that a strong Libertarian candidate could bring out the Republicans who are currently vowing to stay home and not vote as a protest against John McCain.
This could cinch a win for the Democrat presidential candidate but help out Republicans in the congress and senate which would hamper the effectiveness of the Dem president.
Wonder what the Greens are gonna come up with.

The Libertarian National Convention is ON !
C-Span will be covering it today from 10:30 AM on through the afternoon.
From what I saw last night, Mary Ruwart looks like the best candidate to me.
Bob Barr comes off as the most polished, but his experience in DC gives him the edge on that. Mike Gravel looks old and tired and the rest of the pack come off like late night infomercial hucksters.
While the Democrat convention might actually be interesting this year, the corporate parties' conventions are usually no more than dull coronations. Libertarian conventions are a trip. Things actually happen. Issues and ideas are discussed and real change is always the focus.
Never a dull moment.