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
Wow...you sure can make some long reaches when you try.
You're not an absolutionist? That's kinda the whole point of this web site.
I didn't know this site had "a" point.
You engage in a standard smear by confusing causality with moral blame.
If a man unecessarily walks down a dark alley in a dangerous neighborhood and is mugged, then his foolish action was part of the chain of causation that led to his being mugged. However, this is not so say the man was morally to blame for being mugged.
One may chastise the man for his foolish behavior, without laying moral blame on him.
Browne observed that America's interventionist foreign policy was a cause of the 9/11 attack. That is not the same as morally blaming America for the attack.
They have no intention to try and elect a candidate, just to throw the election to Kerry.
You did? What's so specaial about staying at a motel?
The quality if pathetic so it might have been made on the cheap, but buying the air time they are buying would be more expensive then they are claiming.
I'm saying, this guy is not the quixotic annoyance Harry Browne was. This guy has an agenda and it is malignant.
You've seen all the ads too, so you know what I'm seeing.
Badnarik TV ads target conservative voters
WASHINGTON -- The Libertarian Party launches a TV advertising campaign on Thursday that could boot George Bush out of the White House by appealing for votes from disgruntled conservatives.
"Michael Badnarik is going to bring his small-government message right into the living rooms of 96 million households who have a right to be angry at Bush," said Joseph Seehusen, the Libertarian Party's executive director.
"This ad tells Republican voters that the best way to get the party's attention is to patronize the competition -- and that means voting Libertarian."
The television ads, paid for by the Libertarian National Committee, start running Thursday on the No. 1-rated Fox News Channel, which appeals to a largely conservative audience.
The 30-second spots, titled "Send A Message," feature a couple sitting at their kitchen table agonizing over their choice on Election Day. After agreeing that Bush has betrayed his small-government promises, and that they can't vote for Kerry, they resolve to "send a message" by voting Libertarian. The ads can be seen at:
[deleted]
With Bush and Kerry running neck-and-neck, just a few thousand votes for Badnarik in key states could tip the outcome of the election, according to outside analysts.
Recent polls by Rasmussen Research have shown Badnarik drawing 5 percent in New Mexico, where former Vice President Al Gore beat Bush by 366 votes in 2000, and garnering 3 percent in Nevada, which Bush won by 4 percentage points in 2000.
Political science professor Lawrence Jacobs of the University of Minnesota says: "The Libertarians are drawing somewhere between 1 percent and 3 percent -- not big numbers, but in these very close races like the presidential contest, they could well be the margin of difference. They pose a genuine threat to be the kingmaker in several swing states."
Bush is especially vulnerable in swing states where Nader is not on the ballot, such as Oregon, Ohio, Missouri and Arizona. According to Jacobs, Badnarik's presence on the ballot in those states "creates a drain on Republican voters that the Democrats aren't experiencing."
Notes Seehusen: "In 2000, it's likely that Nader cost Gore the election by getting enough votes in one key state -- Florida," he said. "In 2004 Badnarik has the potential to Naderize Bush in several states.
"This ad campaign is designed to teach an important lesson to lying politicians like George Bush: If you don't start keeping your promises, you won't be keeping your job."
What they could not and did not imagine,was that our natural geography would not still be our safeguard.Planes were unimaginable to them.
And for all of the sillies,who keep talking about how small "l" libertarian the FFs were,they need to read more factual history,the FFs letters,and what laws they agreed with.These men were adamantly opposed to immorality;though admittedly some more than others.Jefferson was a spendthrift and an addicted shopaholic,which most of the other Ffs did NOT approve of.
Franklin had a weakness for dirty (pornographic stories),which he also wrote,affairs,and for giving licentious advice to young men.
Hamilton is known to have had an affair,which opened him to terrible blackmail (it had been a setup!),which caused several of his closest friends to desert him.
Adams was a hidebound moralist,who cut several of the FFs off completely,because of their moral turpitude.
Burr was a disgusting,corrupt little man,whom most hated.
But all in all,to suggest that any or all of the FFs believed the same as l/Libertarians of any stripe believe today,id delusional and disingenuous,at the least.They were all of them brought up under laws which were what today's l/Libertarians would find intrusive and far too moralistic.
By continuing and strengthening a kool-aid
platform, the only voter they could draw is
a democrat that sees s'Kerry's feet-of-clay.
If you follow through some of these LP threads you will see many of the usual suspects, "true" conservatives one and all, are buying into the LP BS. They must be the Ultra-Pure, True Uber-Conservatives that could still stomach the folly of the LP after 9/11.
The "quality" is not all that "bad". The ads run a LOT,on FNC,every single day and night and have done,for at least two months.That doesn't come cheap!
Browne was also malignant and had an agenda,but obviously didn't have the kind of cash Badnarik now has.
I'm sure there will be some kind of paper trail after the elections. It will be interesting to see who is bank rolling them but I'm sure it's just Soros. He's about the only one who has money to throw around to that degree, most other contributors would probably put their money into a more direct effort for Kerry.
That libertarian person is a fool.
"This ad campaign is designed to teach an important lesson to lying politicians like George Bush: If you don't start keeping your promises, you won't be keeping your job."
That says all I need to know. This rat-bastard is willing to jeopardize my children's future so he can make an assinine high-school harry debating point. And he's sold himself out to evildoers for the money to do it.
There must be a paper trail,so someone will have to do the scut work,in order to find out if our supposition is correct.
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