A warrior in the battle to impeach Bill Clinton, a former Democratic senator and a Las Vegas oddsmaker are among those seeking the Libertarian presidential nomination in Denver this weekend.
Some say that the party could have an impact in this election, particularly if former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., wins its nomination.
The Libertarian National Convention begins today at the Sheraton Denver Hotel. Almost 1,000 delegates are expected to attend and on Sunday pick a candidate for president from a slate of 14. They will also choose a vice president.
Barr, a former federal prosecutor and leader in the fight to impeach President Clinton, could corner votes that might otherwise go to Republican John McCain, said pollster John Zogby of Zogby International.
Ralph Nader, also in the presidential race, and Barr could pull several percentage points from McCain’s share of the vote, Zogby said.
So far, the presidential race is shaping up to be a squeaker, especially in battleground states such as Colorado, New Hampshire, Florida and Ohio.
Columnist George Will sees Barr causing trouble for McCain.
“Come November, Barr conceivably could be to John McCain what Ralph Nader was to Al Gore in 2000 — ruinous,” Will said in a column last month.
Barr dismisses concern about his candidacy among some Republicans.
“This is just sort of a knee-jerk reaction on the part of some Republicans that don’t want a candidate out there who will point out clearly that McCain is not a small-government candidate,” he said Wednesday.
Nader, who ran on the Green Party ticket in 2000, won only 2.8 million votes nationwide, but 97,488 of those votes were cast in Florida, where George W. Bush won by 537 votes.
However, independent pollster Floyd Ciruli of Denver doubts the impact of Barr or any Libertarian candidate come Election Day.
“The Libertarians have very little identity with the public. While Bob Barr is certainly more high-profile than some of their recent candidates, he isn’t considered a serious candidate. I don’t know if he has the presence or the charisma to build a big following,” Ciruli said.
The Libertarians have qualified to be on the ballot in 28 states, including Colorado, and the party expects to appear on ballots in 20 more.
But the party may have difficulty getting on ballots in some of those 20 states, said Ciruli.
Third-party candidates offer Democrats and Republicans an opportunity to vote against their own party without supporting traditional political rivals.
This year there may be disgruntled Democrats who supported Hillary Rodham Clinton or followers of Republican Ron Paul, the 1988 Libertarian presidential candidate, who are eager to cast a vote against the status quo.
Paul, who remains a darling of the Libertarians, was asked by the party to run this year, said Libertarian spokesman Richard Randall.
Paul turned down the offer, saying he had promised his supporters he would stick with the Republican primary process to the bitter end.
“There are a few people holding their breath hoping he would walk through the door, but there aren’t many expecting that to happen,” Randall said.
Libertarians object to big government but are opposed to the social agenda of many conservatives.
“A fair number of Libertarians are former Republicans who don’t agree on the Republican stand on social issues like gay rights and abortion,” said Larry J. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. “Others are fiscal conservatives who have come to the conclusion that neither side is serious about reducing the size of government and national debt.”
The Libertarian Party has never taken more than the 1.1 percent of presidential votes it claimed in 1980.
Even at a time when the number of people who identify themselves as Democrats or Republicans is dwindling, a Libertarian candidate will have to be well known to have any impact, Zogby said.
Barr and former Democratic U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel, who represented Alaska from 1969 to 1981, are the best known of the Libertarian candidates.
Wayne Allyn Root, a Las Vegas oddsmaker and a former college classmate of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, won a Colorado straw poll in March and has polled well among Libertarians in other states.
Gravel’s campaign literature calls “war without end” the big issue of our time. He announced he would campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination in 2006 but won little support.
In March, he announced he had joined the Libertarian Party.
“When I was in the Senate, I was a maverick,” Gravel said. “I ran as a Democrat, and they found out I was still a maverick and I wasn’t a cheerleader for the party.”
A ticket that includes Barr and Gravel as president and vice president, respectively, could take votes from the two major parties, Zogby said.
But Gravel, 78, said he wouldn’t consider taking the second spot on the ticket.
On Sunday, Libertarian delegates will vote until one candidate receives a majority of votes, eliminating the person with the fewest backers after each round of votes.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
Who are the Libertarians?
According to the party’s website:
•Members oppose government actions that either compel or prohibit abortion and want to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act and state laws and amendments defining marriage.
•They oppose any new laws or constitutional amendments defining terms for personal, private relationships.
•They believe government should operate on a “pay- as-you-go” basis and shouldn’t intervene in trade or the economy.
•They oppose gun control and believe individuals should be allowed to use drugs, whether for medical or recreational purposes.
•They oppose war unless the country is attacked.
