Kevin’s Word

Earlier today, Bob Barr and our campaign manager, Russ Verney, stood on the steps of the Supreme Court of Texas to rally a crowd of supporters and answer questions from the media.

Today, we filed an emergency stay to prevent the Texas Secretary of State from printing ballots until after our case was decided.

For a quick recap, earlier this week we filed a lawsuit to remove both John McCain and Barack Obama from the Texas ballot.  Texas election code §192.031 requires that the “written certification” of the “party’s nominees” be delivered “before 5 p.m. of the 70th day before election day” and both candidates missed that deadline.

-Shane Cory, Barr 2008 Presidential Committee

I’m saying this as a supporter, donator, and volunteer of the Bob Barr campaign: give it up.

What will forcing Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain do to help this campaign? Make people stay home on Election Day? Granted, if the two candidates aren’t allowed on the ballot, Bob Barr will almost certainly win the Texas election, giving Bob Barr an additional 34 electoral votes in addition to however many he wins fairly, helping increase his chances of reaching the 270 needed to become President. But at what cost, and what does former Congressman Barr have to gain from this?

Why is he fighting for this:

What does this fight have to offer the Barr campaign and the Libertarian Party (LP)?

• Sends a message: If the Barr campaign wins this fight, it could send a message to the Republican and Democratic parties that the LP won’t be bullied anymore. Of course, that will come at a cost (as we’ll talk about later), and let’s not forget it was Bob Barr at his nomination acceptance speech in May that said “…we are not in this just to send a message, although a very important message will be sent…we are in this to win!”
• Holds leverage against the top two parties: This is what I thought was the main purpose of this whole debacle: to use this as leverage against the Republicans and Democrats, particularly in Maine, Massachusetts, and Oklahoma where the Barr campaign or the LP is in court to try and get on the ballot (because the US doesn’t have a fair, uniform ballot access law for anyone except the two major political parties). Kind of a trade, you drop your cases against us (or you get the state to let us on the ballot), and we’ll let you on the Texas ballot.

Why this is a bad fight:

• Drains cash from the campaign: For a campaign too cash-strapped to run a national ad campaign, I’m not sure the tens thousands of dollars it’s costing them to fight this battle is worth it. People will donate to run TV ads, their not going to donate money to have the campaign bosses held up in court.
• Gives Bob Barr a bad name: It’s bad enough every time Barr goes on TV people call him a “spoiler” (a common derogitory term applied to third party candidates, since the vites they take away can “spoil” the election for one candidate or another), but now do we need people in Texas thinking Bob Barr was the guy that took away their ability to vote for McCain or Obama? I’m sure that will get people supporting the Libertarian Party in droves (not).
• Bob Barr won’t win: If Obama and McCain aren’t on the ballot, and Barr wins Texas this November 4th, the media, the LP, and everyone else will know that Bob Barr didn’t really win. The only fair way to win in the eyes of the media (and thus the eyes of America) is to compete against Barack Obama and John McCain. Get in the debates (another case where the US election system isn’t fair to anyone other than the two parties), run ads, call people. Don’t try and sue our way to victory: it’ll never work.

I’m the West Baton Rouge, LA coordinator for the Bob Barr campaign, and I think volunteering, donating, and spreading the message of Bob Barr is the best way to help him win, but we need the campaign to back us up, not with lawsuits against the other candidates, but with ads and money and change.