By Dan
Cheers of "Barr/Root" went up from the crowd (which sounded like the Hebrew derivation of Barack Obama's name, "Baruch" meaning "Blessed") after the results from the 5th ballot were posted to the floor at this year's Libertarian Party convention in Denver, Colo., when third-place finisher Waybe Allyn Root asked his supporters to throw their support behind a Barr/Root ticket in 2008.*
On the sixth ballot, the Libertarian party chose its presidential nominee. Bob Barr will be at the top of the ticket, after running neck and neck with Mary Ruwart through the first five ballots. During Bob Barr's acceptance speech, he gave a shout out to his campaign staff including the Marijuana Policy Project's executive director, Rob Kampia, who stood on the stage behind Barr, and shook his hand as he walked off the stage. Proving once again that libertarian party politics makes the strangest bedfellows.
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For those who don't remember, it was Congressman Bob Barr, in 1998, during his heyday as a Clinton impeachment manager, who got an amendment passed in Congress (with his name on it!) to block the District of Columbia from counting the results of its medical marijuana ballot initiative.
But in the last year, Barr has had a change of heart and he's become a lobbyist in Congress for the Marijuana Policy Project. Times have certainly changed a great deal during the past two administrations. No doubt the mainstream political pundits will miss the significance of this "unity" move, and focus their entire coverage on whether a Barr candidacy will impact Obama or McCain more. Unfortunately, those pundits vastly overestimate the strength of the Libertarian party and their supporters.
* On the condition that Root gets to be the LP's presidential nominee in 2012.