Liberty MavenRon Paul and Bob Barr Discussed in Wall Street Journal Print Edition
August 23rd, 2008 9:24 pm | by Marc Gallagher | Published in Activism, Bob Barr, Election, Liberty, Media, Politics, Ron Paul, john mccain | 1 Comment
A rather interesting article appeared in the Wall Street Journal today regarding the recent split among Nevada GOP delegates. Some delegates are backing Ron Paul and some are backing John McCain and neither side is giving an inch. The author uses this as further proof that Republicans are not sold on McCain for President. When you then add Libertarian candidate Bob Barr to the mix John McCain has something to truly worry about.
PAHRUMP, NEV. — Two Nevada delegations are packing their bags for the Republican National Convention Sept. 1, and if the latest party ruling stands, neither of them will be seated.
A fiasco at the state convention spawned the dueling delegations — one for John McCain and one for Ron Paul — and their continued wrangling has exposed a split in the party that may spell trouble in a key state for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Running a strident libertarian campaign in the primaries, Texas Rep. Ron Paul tapped a seam of Republican frustration across the country, railing against the Bush administration’s impact on civil liberties, foreign policy and the growing federal government. Mr. Paul’s message resonated particularly in Nevada, a state where frontier spirit and personal freedom runs deep, and he captured second place in the January state caucuses, ahead of Sen. McCain.
Mr. Paul has suspended his campaign, but his libertarian loyalists have not. Their lingering discontentment and underlying philosophical differences may prove fertile territory for the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee, Bob Barr, and dangerous ground for Sen. McCain if even a portion of the Republican base is too disgruntled to vote. Nevada is shaping up as a key battleground in the presidential race; President Bush won the state by roughly 20,000 votes in each of the last two elections, and Democrats are contesting it strongly this year. Republican hopes in Nevada have also been hampered by the scandal-plagued GOP governor, Jim Gibbons, whose approval ratings have tanked as he has dealt with a messy divorce and a federal corruption investigation.
August 24th, 2008 at 1:48 am (#)
I caught this article this morning. I’m amazed at the response I’ve heard on this article.
Of course the article is angled as ‘Trouble for McCain’, but the difference in the media exposure for Ron Paul now that his campaign has been suspended continues to amaze me.