Barr Chiseling Into McCain Voter Base
Washington Times:
Bob Barr’s Libertarian presidential campaign is poised to play a serious role in this year’s elections, with early polls showing him taking away enough votes from Sen. John McCain to give Democrats a chance to win states that should be safely Republican.
Polls in Georgia and North Carolina over the last two weeks show Mr. Barr winning 8 percent and 6 percent respectively of the presidential vote, and in both cases helping keep likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama within striking distance of Mr. McCain in those states — which, taken together, account for more electoral votes than Florida, Pennsylvania or Ohio.
“Barr does throw a monkeywrench in Republican plans in states people otherwise take for granted as Republican states,” said Matt Towery, a former political adviser to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and CEO of InsiderAdvantage, an Atlanta-based polling and political analysis firm that conducted the Georgia poll.
Mr. Towery said North Carolina and Georgia are exactly the places that Mr. Barr could put in play: both have high African-American populations that Mr. Obama can tap to boost his turnout numbers, and have conservative-leaning voters whose dissatisfaction with President Bush could lead them to a third-party candidate.
The Georgia poll, taken just before Mr. Barr secured the Libertarian nomination, gave Mr. McCain 45 percent support, Mr. Obama 35 percent and Mr. Barr 8 percent. In North Carolina a Public Policy Polling survey released Monday found Mr. McCain at 43 percent, Mr. Obama at 40 percent and Mr. Barr at 6 percent. The poll’s authors said Mr. Barr’s support appeared to come particularly from independents who previously had broken for Mr. McCain.
“It’s a long way until the election but the early indication is that Bob Barr’s presence on the ballot could be a good sign for whoever ends up as the Democratic nominee,” said Dean Debnam, president of the poll. “He’s likely to siphon off more voters who would otherwise be inclined to vote for McCain than he is from Clinton or Obama.”
Mr. Barr is a former Republican congressman from Georgia who switched to the Libertarian Party in 2006. He collected his new party’s presidential nomination on the sixth ballot on May 25.
Aww shit.
June 4th, 2008 at 1:10 pmSit down and shut up, Bob!!
June 4th, 2008 at 1:12 pmNope. Not sitting down. Not getting on the back of the bus. Not keeping our mouths shut.
No more. Did that crap since Reagan left and look where we are.
Time to move on. If enough of us do it, we’ll put both parties’ politicians where they belong: in prison.
June 4th, 2008 at 1:15 pmFuck. Ross Perot II?
June 4th, 2008 at 1:31 pmYou rat bastard Barr!
June 4th, 2008 at 1:55 pmyou know perhaps i need to re-examine the libertarians, but the last time i check they sounded like republicans without a social conscience, ayn rand times.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:01 pmOMG check this libertarian candidate out, i’ve heard of asshats, even often use the phrase, but i know have independent confirmation of the existence of asshats
June 4th, 2008 at 2:04 pmhttp://www.lp.org/candidates/article_121.shtml
A vote for Bob is a vote for Obama.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:06 pm“…they sounded like republicans without a social conscience, ayn rand times.”
Barr is a dumbfuck. Always has been and always will be. He was my Congressman once upon a time and he’s a total loser. That’s why Repubs in Georgia ‘turned on him’, not for ideological differences as he needs you to believe but because he sucked.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:13 pmthis guy will be just like perrot face that elected clinton twice…dangerous man…
June 4th, 2008 at 2:19 pmSounds like (MSM SPIN) Watch out Dorothy MSM is going to eat your Dog!!!!!!
June 4th, 2008 at 2:22 pmI used to consider myself a libertarian, until I noticed that most of them are bat shit crazy or complete fucking assholes.
The pure and simple truth is that the two party system is the least bad option. Most parliamentary systems are very prone to the tail wagging the dog, and one party systems don’t bear thinking about.
Either Obama or McCain will be elected President. A vote for that creature Barr may as well be a vote for Obama.
Considering that Obama doesn’t have a single position that can be charitably called libertarian, this does nothing to disabuse me of the suspicion that big ‘L’ Libertarians are nuts.
They’d do better to expand their influence in the Republican party, as most small ‘l’ libertarians do.
June 4th, 2008 at 3:09 pmA pox upon ye, Bobby!
June 4th, 2008 at 3:16 pmHeh, I voted for that little ferngi, I liked him.
Anyway, the 5-8% bar will take are nothing compared the the “polled” 75% of shrillary voters who will not vote for Obamba… Hell if even half of that is true it would be schweet.
Some of them may even vote for Mc, he has done a good job of distancing himself from W and the party shenanagins.
June 4th, 2008 at 3:22 pmPoe you must be in my neck of the woods because I helped him back in the day. That was before he got his feelings hurt after the impeachment and he moronically decided to run against a fellow Republican in a district he could not win as opposed to running against a Democrat that we ended up beating. I guess he felt he wouldn’t have beat the man and moved to a district he ended up losing in a primary. Sore ass loser.
Bob, you’ve fallen a long way and now you’re going to just be a damn blight on the history book of the Conservative movement. Sad, sad indeed.
June 4th, 2008 at 3:31 pmNot now, Bob. Our future as a nation and as the embodiment of the Declaration of Independence hangs in the balance. I don’t much care for many of John McCain’s ideas, but he is the only candidate in favor of winning the war against Islamofascism. We must get him elected. Go away!
June 4th, 2008 at 6:45 pmGosh make this man go away!!!!!
I watched the Libertarian Debate on CSPAN and it was pretty crazy.
June 5th, 2008 at 2:21 amI tend to believe that if Barr pulls enough votes away from McCain and Obama is elected President, Barr and his staff will have to go into the Witness Protection Program!
June 5th, 2008 at 3:52 amThis is a clear case of “What About Bob” syndrome. The guy just won’t go away and is probably McCains only road block to the Oval Office. Maybe Bob should be caught in some restroom with a “wide stance”…
June 5th, 2008 at 4:00 amNah he just needs to go canoing at midnight in a storm.
June 5th, 2008 at 4:49 amhow do people vote for these Libertarian and Green Party candidates knowing damn well they dont stand a chance? its just wasting a vote.
June 5th, 2008 at 7:33 amThe assumption is MacNasty will pursue the war. How?
The guy who does that is secdef. And who will that be, powell? The guy who gave up after 100 hours in 1991.
The only thing you can count on is MacNasty will poke Conservatives in the eye at every chance.
I just can’t bring myself to vote for hiom. At best its no vote for nobody…even clinton is more conservative that that old fool.
June 5th, 2008 at 8:50 amQ&A How can McCain SIMULTANEOUSLY attract both Hillary AND Bob Barr voters? Answer: PALIN Veep!
June 7th, 2008 at 8:42 am