Barr broke 5%

In 2008, Bob Barr got 0.4% of the vote. Much of this could be chalked up to (1) him not really trying after having been stuck with Wayne Allyn Root as VP and (2) McCain managing to get his skeptics back in his camp after picking Palin.

What if Bob Barr had broken 5% in 2008?

Barr was an ACLU consultant, NRA Board Member, American Conservative Union Board Member, member of Congress, and on the Libertarian National Committee.

First things first, Barr needs a running mate who isn't a hack just trying to sell books. I can think of three not-terrible picks: (1) Mike Gravel; former Senator from Alaska, 2008 Democratic and Libertarian Presidential Candidate, (2) Michael Colley; former Vice-Admiral of the US Navy and Member of the Libertarian National Committee, or (3) Jim Gray; a former presiding Judge in the Superior Court of Orange County* as well as 2012 Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate.
*Also California Judicial Council Member, Advisory Board Member of the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, Board Member of the Orange County Law Library, and a Member of the Board of Councilors of USC Law School, among other positions. Mostly state and local stuff.

McCain also picks Joe Lieberman for his running mate, resulting in a conservative revolt. Newt Gingrich was friends with Bob Barr and hinted that he'd endorse Barr if McCain picked Lieberman for VP.

Anyways, what if Bob Barr had broken 5% in 2008?
 
In 2008, Bob Barr got 0.4% of the vote. Much of this could be chalked up to (1) him not really trying after having been stuck with Wayne Allyn Root as VP and (2) McCain managing to get his skeptics back in his camp after picking Palin.

What if Bob Barr had broken 5% in 2008?

Barr was an ACLU consultant, NRA Board Member, American Conservative Union Board Member, member of Congress, and on the Libertarian National Committee.

First things first, Barr needs a running mate who isn't a hack just trying to sell books. I can think of three not-terrible picks: (1) Mike Gravel; former Senator from Alaska, 2008 Democratic and Libertarian Presidential Candidate, (2) Michael Colley; former Vice-Admiral of the US Navy and Member of the Libertarian National Committee, or (3) Jim Gray; a former presiding Judge in the Superior Court of Orange County* as well as 2012 Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate.
*Also California Judicial Council Member, Advisory Board Member of the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, Board Member of the Orange County Law Library, and a Member of the Board of Councilors of USC Law School, among other positions. Mostly state and local stuff.

McCain also picks Joe Lieberman for his running mate, resulting in a conservative revolt. Newt Gingrich was friends with Bob Barr and hinted that he'd endorse Barr if McCain picked Lieberman for VP.

Anyways, what if Bob Barr had broken 5% in 2008?

McCain's defeat is blamed in part on not being conservative enough for the right wing base. This will further encourage the GOP to swing rightward, both in Congressional elections and the 2012 primaries. Perhaps someone more conservative than Romney would be nominated that year instead.
 
McCain's defeat is blamed in part on not being conservative enough for the right wing base. This will further encourage the GOP to swing rightward, both in Congressional elections and the 2012 primaries. Perhaps someone more conservative than Romney would be nominated that year instead.

Who though? The only folks who were floated but didn't run in 2012 I can think of are Huckabee and Barbour. I guess Trump and Palin too, but that's a bit different. Huckabee is the opposite of what Barr would be selling as far as the GOP spectrum goes.

There's also Mark Sanford. He'd have been a lock for the nomination if not for the affair. He'd be the one best suited to bring in the Barr crowd.

The LP is going to have federal funding in 2012. That'd be impactful if Johnson runs.
 

Peffy

Banned
I keep reading this crap and shake my head. There are only Republican and Democrats in USA.

Who keeps inventing labels like liberals or conservative? And all other fake political parties.
They will never get 5%. You need to split one of the big ones first.
 
I keep reading this crap and shake my head. There are only Republican and Democrats in USA.

Who keeps inventing labels like liberals or conservative? And all other fake political parties.
They will never get 5%. You need to split one of the big ones first.
Um, what? Party label and ideology are two different things even in (especially in) a two party system. A third party candidate winning 5% is unlikely but not impossible.
 

Peffy

Banned
Unlikely and very expensive. Billions of dollars for no return, since you won't be able to vote in cash-making laws unless you gain a majority. Why would the big corporations sponsor you, for no gain, when they can buy tax deductions or freedom from prosecution from established Democrat or Republican senators? It has worked til now, and will work again, no reason to change it.
If a particular billionaire wants to, they can easily get 10% of the vote. Just throw a billion into advertisements.
 
The best the Libertarian Party has ever gotten for the presidency was Gary Johnson's 3.3% in 2016 and that was under exceptional circumstances--two very unpopular major party candidates, and esepcially a Republican candidate who turned off well-educated suburban voters. More typical Libertarian showings were Johnson's 1.0% in 2012, Badnarik's 0.32 percent in 2004, Harry Browne's 0.5 percent in 1996 and 0.36 percent in 2000, Andre Marrou's 0.28 percent in 1992, Ron Paul's 0.47 percent in 1988, David Bergland's 0.25 percent in 1984, Ed Clark's 1.0 percent in 1980, Roger McBride's 0.21 percent in 1976--and I'm not even counting John Hospers, who was hardly on the ballot anywhere though he did get an electoral vote...

I just don't see any reason to think Barr could come remotely close to 5.0 percent. Even if McCain picked Lieberman (which I think is very unlikely) the great majority of right-wingers will still vote for McCain to keep the Kenyan Communist :p out of the White House. Meanwhile Barr's occasional defenses of civil liberties will do nothing to attract Democrats because Obama was quite satisfactory to the civil-liberties conscious, well-educated, upper-income wing of the Democrats.

As for this business of who Barr would choose as a running mate, I doubt that one voter in a hundred would either know or care.
 
I keep reading this crap and shake my head. There are only Republican and Democrats in USA.

Who keeps inventing labels like liberals or conservative? And all other fake political parties.
They will never get 5%. You need to split one of the big ones first.
Um Perot ring a bell? lol
 

Peffy

Banned
Exactly. A billionaire who had enough personal money to attempt a race, but not a real political platform or dedicated economic measures. He was a joke. And he then sold his voters to another candidate, making even more money.
 
Exactly. A billionaire who had enough personal money to attempt a race, but not a real political platform or dedicated economic measures. He was a joke. And he then sold his voters to another candidate, making even more money.

But note that John B. Anderson got 6.6 percent in 1980. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_United_States_presidential_election

I don't think it's inconceivable that a third party (or independent) candidate, even without Perot's fortune, could get more than five percent. I just don't see why Barr in 2008 would remotely approach being that candidate.
 
But note that John B. Anderson got 6.6 percent in 1980. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_United_States_presidential_election

I don't think it's inconceivable that a third party (or independent) candidate, even without Perot's fortune, could get more than five percent. I just don't see why Barr in 2008 would remotely approach being that candidate.


Barr in 2008 basically quit trying after getting stuck with Wayne Allan Root. That's why I think having a better VP matters.

As for why Barr in 2008, I just chalk it up to (1) Republican protest votes over McCain-Lieberman and (2) Newt Gingrich endorsing him, resulting in more attention.





I'm actually not that big on the Libertarian Party. I just like third-party threads.
 
I can see a right-wing third party candidate winning five percent of the vote in this election with a point of divergence no earlier than the beginning of 2008... if that candidate is Ron Paul (no, I am not a Paul fan, but he has a larger and more passionate national following than Barr ever did), if the Constitution Party decides to cross-endorse the Libertarian ticket (if Paul is nominated, there is a good chance that this will happen), if McCain picks Lieberman as his running mate, if the stock market tanks earlier and/or harder, and perhaps if the Bush Administration bungles some sort of international crisis that bolsters fears that establishment Republicans are warmongers, and if the Democratic Party nominates an establishment candidate such as Hillary Clinton who, unlike Barack Obama, does not exactly excite young voters, leading a few of them to at least consider a well-positioned Libertarian candidate.

Wow, that was quite the run-on sentence. Anyway, my point is that such a scenario is not exactly likely, but far from impossible.
 
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