Posted on 10/31/2004 12:43:54 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
There's more than one Texan on the ballot for president this year.
Libertarian Michael Badnarik — the only third-party or independent presidential candidate on the Texas ballot — is from Austin.
Badnarik campaigned in Houston on Saturday and will spend the rest of his time on the trail in his home state.
"I'm a legitimate candidate from a legitimate party," he said at a gathering of about 25 people at a Clear Lake-area Fuddruckers.
Badnarik is actually on the ballot in more states than Ralph Nader. Badnarik is on 48 ballots. Nader is on 35.
Election Day could be a watershed year for the party, Badnarik said, if it is able to garner 1 million votes.
He's been traveling the country since January; he packed up his place in Austin, put all of his belongings in storage and hit the road.
Within five months he put 25,000 miles on his car.
He tries to get media attention wherever he goes, often doing six interviews a day with local media.
He has been largely ignored by the national press.
Badnarik was arrested in St. Louis for trying to gain admittance to the presidential debate.
"It's been like living on a roller coaster without getting off," he said of his bid for president.
He's spent about $1 million on his campaign, with $300,000 going toward TV ads in a few states, primarily New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona.
Badnarik is running, he said, because he can't vote for President Bush or Democratic candidate John Kerry and respect himself in the morning.
He cannot support a candidate who will continue the war in Iraq or operate government in a deficit, he said.
Badnarik, a computer consultant, stresses individual rights over government intervention, and limited regulation of business.
He says the war in Iraq is a failure and that there is no exit strategy. He has maintained that Libertarian philosophy supports gay marriages, arguing that government should not decide who can engage in a marriage contract.
The federal government's job is limited to three things, he said — national defense, coining money and operating the post office. He says the government should not have a Department of Education, the Food and Drug Administration or the Environmental Protection Agency.
Badnarik says he wants to cost both Bush and Kerry the election, but at the same time he isn't packing his bags for the White House just yet.
"We are just beginning this fight," he said. "We will continue to exist, and we will restore liberty."
kristen.mack@chron.com
Your posted article isn't proof of your assertion. Every vote against the incumbent is a vote to remove him. That doesn't mean the the LP or Badnarik are doing the bidding of the left.
You assume people even know who Cobb is.
You're beginning to get the drift.Road privitization is NOT the answer and governments,large and small,are not going to all of a sudden quit with the rules and regs.
Well,that's what's happening in two places.LOL
"Perhaps we (yes, I'm a Republican) should figure out why we don't appeal to more people."
You mean why the Republican (I'm not one) don't appeal to fringers who whine in the LP? Hmmmmmmmm? Maybe because they're sane.
That would depend on what your definition of is is. Most folks don't have that problem and most folks see the LP for what it really is...a tool for the left.
You said that you had no doubt that he was funding the LP. It should be easy enough to prove. If you don't have proof, you are doing nothing less than what Kerry is doing to Bush. Making assertions without proof.
My, you are awfully sensitive. I unleashed no venom. I asked some questions about his assertions as I did yours.
WORD
Look up Jaime Gorelik and find out the story for yourself.It's NOT my worry,but yours,that you came to a gunfight armed with a jar of hot air.
Obviously you've not read any of Badnarik's comments about President Bush and his administration....mostly assertions without proof. It seems your morale highground has it's own limitations.
How predictable.
LOL! It takes all kinds...to make a fringe party.
You want to know about Soros...YOU go see if you can find out whether or not he's helping fund this disgusting add.Me? I'll stand by my opinion,which isn't scurrilous in the least and so unKerrylike,as to be its antithesis.
That it does,that it certainly does. LOL
Obviously you can't pose a question here. That somehow makes you a "kid" who has no grasp of history, according to some.
Eh? You're an Austrian but you've never heard of Murray Rothbard?
With all due respect that's a little bit like being a Marxist who's never heard of Lenin or a Christian who's never heard of St. Peter.
LNGOP'r
(and you liked that one so much you had to post it twice?)
I'm not so sure. It does seem to be a trend for one of the unappeasable of the female gender tying them self to the name of a prominent English male historical figure.
Bush got 50 million votes last time. He didn't get the 150 million votes of those who voted "D" or didn't consider him (or Gore) worthy of a vote at all. A million LPers is a drop in the bucket. Why didn't the other 149 million vote for him?
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