BOB BARR recently threw the tag with his hat size into the presidential ring and the entire hat may soon follow. He’s said he’s interested in pursuing the Libertarian Party’s nomination for president.
It’s a crowded ring for Libertarians, by the way; a dozen hats are already in it including that of Mike Gravel, the former U.S. senator from Alaska. Gravel’s a Democrat; Barr used to carry the Republican brand. When disaffected members of both major political parties start seriously thinking about running under a third-party label, that may well be the most intriguing development.
Should Barr get the nomination, his presence would likely make November slightly more interesting, especially hereabouts. He represented us in Congress when this was known as the 7th Congressional District. He’s also got a higher profile nationally than most past Libertarian candidates — probably not so much for his laudable anti-big-government, pro-individual-rights positions as his aggressive pursuit of the impeachment of a former president.
Not as rich nor as entertaining as the last third-party candidate to make an appreciable dent in the popular vote (Ross Perot), Barr plainly doesn’t expect to win. He simply wants a bigger platform than his current role as a privacy/security gadfly and newspaper columnist. He wants to become a bigger nuisance to the entrenched powers.
BARR’S MESSAGE is worth heeding. The dangers he has been addressing since leaving Congress are real and growing. If he could show well enough in the polls to force his way into the presidential debates, this former federal prosecutor could well move his — and the Libertarian — case along.
Given Barr’s credentials as a “conservative” a run by him might dent the support of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who has trouble with that wing of his party. The Rush Limbaughs of the right might well even support him, just as Limbaugh is now “pushing” Hillary Clinton as part of an anybody-but-McCain movement. Obviously, whether the Democratic candidate winds up being Mrs. Clinton or Obama, for those who think this way Barr would have to look better.
With the Libertarians being the third party with the greatest amount of assured ballot access (28 states), a Barr might well be more damaging to McCain than the perennial campaign by the shopworn Ralph Nader on the Green Party ticket (21 states) would be for a Democrat.
OF COURSE, stressing how weird an election year this might turn out to be (and it’s been pretty strange already), a Gravel heading the Libertarian ticket would give the Democratic candidate jitters. And a Barr/Gravel combination would totally throw prognosticators into disarray.
For Greater Romans and their neighbors, the situation would be even more interesting. Barr is a friend to many in the region and has proven he “thinks the way” a majority around here do. Indeed, had not the old 7th been gerrymandered out from under him, he might still be representing Floyd County in Congress.
By the way, the hope heard expressed by some with Libertarian leanings that a Barr candidacy might pile up enough votes in Georgia for the party to gain recognition sufficient to field candidates in any contest (like Democrats and Republicans can) is probably misplaced.
Similarly, at least in Georgia, Barr’s own hope for change: “Both major parties are big-government parties. The two- party system is the problem. If we continue to rely on the two-party system, then shame on us.”
Georgia is fated to rely on that system ... and shame on us.
WHILE Libertarians in Georgia can run for statewide office (U.S. senator, Public Service Commission and so forth) because of past ballot performance it is not a “political party” in any other sense. Georgia has stacked the deck against any third-party uprisings and protected the exclusive franchise of the two major parties for all posts under the statewide level — and it is at the grassroots that political parties must be built.
To be a full-scale “party” in Georgia, able to conduct primaries, one must gain 20 percent of the vote for either president or governor.
Maybe Barr is trying to increase his visibility for a future run for governor, where he might do Libertarians more good if he managed 20 percent. Running for a national office won’t help — that 20 percent would apply to the national results, not just the state preference. When George Wallace and the American Party got more than 50 percent of the Georgia vote (and its electoral nod), it still wasn’t a “party” because it only won 13 percent of the voters across the country.
The other bit of trickery to keep the road clear for only Republicans and Democrats is a 1943 Georgia law specifying that any third-party or independent candidate for a lesser office must submit a petition bearing the signatures of 5 percent of all registered voters.
IN FLOYD COUNTY, for example, to run for County Com-mission a Libertarian would thus need slightly more than 2,000 signatures. The number goes up for wider office, like U.S. House of Representatives, and creates a considerable hurdle.
This situation being in need of rectification, one would commend it to the attention of the General Assembly — except there are only Republicans and Democrats serving there. Gee, wonder why?
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