November Headline - "Obama Takes Georgia"

Maybe Obama can spread some of that financial love around to make sure ol' Bob Barr of the Libertarian ticket is on every state's ballot. For the good of democracy of course. :)

The Libertarians are on 30 state ballot lines and that will likely expand. If Barr can tap into the non-trivial Internet cash flow that Ron Paul got going earlier, he could make things pretty miserable for McCain in a couple of typically non-swing states like Georgia on top of the cash flush Obama making him play "50 States" on an empty tank.

This could be the perfect storm election year that makes Barr and the Libertarians the complicating factor noted with Ross "The Boss" Perot and the Reform Party in 1992 or Ralph Nader and the Green Party of the US in 2000. It could be even worse if McCain looks like he can't win and the already disgruntled conservative-to-libertarian types decide to go for Barr instead of McCain to demonstrate their pique.

Of course, as the election day draws near, if it's still close, a lot of those protest votes will be heading home as reality and pragmatism start to kick in. You could see that in the California polls of 2000 when Nader's near double digit numbers melted to just a couple in the end. Political voting habits are hard to change if any hope remains for a campaign.

No nifty graphs at Pollster.com yet but the last Georgia poll notes the following one point spread.

2008 Georgia General Election: McCain vs Obama - Pollster.com - 23 Jun 08

McCain 44
Obama 43
Barr 6
Undecided 7

And this reminder: Ron Paul Sets Online Fundraising Record with $4.2 Million in One Day - FoxNews.com - 06 Nov 07

"Paul, the Texas congressman with a libertarian tilt and an out-of-Iraq pitch, entered heady fundraising territory with a surge of Web-based giving tied to the commemoration of Guy Fawkes Day. Fawkes was a British mercenary who failed in his attempt to kill King James I on Nov. 5, 1605. He also was the model for the protagonist in the movie 'V for Vendetta.' Paul backers motivated donors on the Internet with mashed-up clips of the film on the online video site YouTube as well as the Guy Fawkes Day refrain: 'Remember, remember the 5th of November.'"

The kind of money would dwarf what Nader had in 2000 and would be not too far from what Perot got from his own personal piggy bank in his first race.

November Headline - "Obama Takes Georgia"

Maybe Obama can spread some of that financial love around to make sure ol' Bob Barr of the Libertarian ticket is on every state's ballot. For the good of democracy of course. :)

The Libertarians are on 30 state ballot lines and that will likely expand. If Barr can tap into the non-trivial Internet cash flow that Ron Paul got going earlier, he could make things pretty miserable for McCain in a couple of typically non-swing states like Georgia on top of the cash flush Obama making him play "50 States" on an empty tank.

This could be the perfect storm election year that makes Barr and the Libertarians the complicating factor noted with Ross "The Boss" Perot and the Reform Party in 1992 or Ralph Nader and the Green Party of the US in 2000. It could be even worse if McCain looks like he can't win and the already disgruntled conservative-to-libertarian types decide to go for Barr instead of McCain to demonstrate their pique.

Of course, as the election day draws near, if it's still close, a lot of those protest votes will be heading home as reality and pragmatism start to kick in. You could see that in the California polls of 2000 when Nader's near double digit numbers melted to just a couple in the end. Political voting habits are hard to change if any hope remains for a campaign.

No nifty graphs at Pollster.com yet but the last Georgia poll notes the following one point spread.

2008 Georgia General Election: McCain vs Obama - Pollster.com - 23 Jun 08

McCain 44
Obama 43
Barr 6
Undecided 7

And this reminder: Ron Paul Sets Online Fundraising Record with $4.2 Million in One Day - FoxNews.com - 06 Nov 07

"Paul, the Texas congressman with a libertarian tilt and an out-of-Iraq pitch, entered heady fundraising territory with a surge of Web-based giving tied to the commemoration of Guy Fawkes Day. Fawkes was a British mercenary who failed in his attempt to kill King James I on Nov. 5, 1605. He also was the model for the protagonist in the movie 'V for Vendetta.' Paul backers motivated donors on the Internet with mashed-up clips of the film on the online video site YouTube as well as the Guy Fawkes Day refrain: 'Remember, remember the 5th of November.'"

The kind of money would dwarf what Nader had in 2000 and would be not too far from what Perot got from his own personal piggy bank in his first race.