NRA Endorses McCain, Ignores Board Member Bob Barr

The NRA hasn't gotten where it is today by backing sure losers, so today they've announced an endorsement of John McCain, bypassing their own board member Bob Barr:

The National Rifle Association is endorsing Republican presidential nominee John McCain despite differences with the Arizona senator on gun-show rules and campaign finance restrictions. …

The NRA’s Political Victory Fund has spent more than $2.3 million opposing Democratic nominee Barack Obama. The chairman of the political action committee, Chris W. Cox, says its spending in the presidential race will grow to “eight figures” by Election Day. Besides ads, encouraging battleground-state gun owners to vote will be a key focus, he said.

Did Barr have a realistic chance of getting the nod? He thought so as evidenced by this release yesterday:

In 2004, the NRA issued lifetime rankings of all members of Congress. Sen. McCain received a “C+”, indicating a mixed record on the Second Amendment.

Bob Barr has an “A+” lifetime rating from the NRA. Bob serves on the board of the NRA. His record on the Second Amendment is without question.

Given the fact that Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox have exposed John McCain as an anti-gun sympathizer, we here at Bob Barr 2008 fully expect that the NRA will announce their support for Bob Barr tomorrow and run ads against both Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama.

I'm sure if you talked to the NRA folks they'd tell you they much prefer Barr, but an endorsement of a sure loser candidate wouldn't help their cause. They're a mainstream organization, not a fringe bunch that chases an ideology that's supported by way too few voters.

Bob Barr Tries to Toss Obama and McCain Off of Texas Ballot

From the Department of Lawsuits That Don't Have a Chance:

Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr has filed a lawsuit in Texas demanding John McCain and Barack Obama be removed from the ballot, saying they missed the official filing deadline.

Texas law requires that written certification of the party’s nominees be delivered before 5 p.m. of the 70th day before Election Day. This year, the deadline fell on Aug. 26.

Barr’s campaign contends that because neither candidate had been nominated by the official filing deadline, it was impossible for them to file under Texas law.

“The seriousness of this issue is self-evident,” reads the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday. “The hubris of the major parties has risen to such a level that they do not believe that the election laws of the State of Texas apply to them.”

Barr, a former Republican congressman from Georgia, is expected to press his case Thursday at the Texas Supreme Court. It is the campaign’s first legal action accusing the major-party candidates of not qualifying to run in a state. The campaign is not planning to file lawsuits in other states, a Barr spokesman said.

Neither Obama nor McCain’s campaign would comment on the suit, but the office of Texas Secretary of State Esperanza “Hope” Andrade said it certified the Nov. 4 general election ballot on Sept. 3.

“We are confident that the ballot was certified properly and that Texans will have the opportunity to select the qualified candidate of their choice,” Andrade spokeswoman Ashley Burton said in a written statement to FOXNews.com.

Based on previous lawsuits in similar situations around the country (remember Minnesota and New Jersey in 2002?), there's very little chance that the court would rule that the two major party candidates could not be on the state ballot just because their conventions fell within the 70 day deadline. The nomination at the convention is merely a formality with both nominees having been confirmed for months.

Nice try, Bob, but you won't be getting Texas' electoral votes. Those will be going to McCain.

Bob Barr Runs for the Losertarian Nomination

Former GOP Congressman Bob Barr is looking for some humilation in November:

Former US congressman Bob Barr on Monday announced plans to run for president on the Libertarian Party's ticket, in a move some analysts say could hurt Republican presumptive nominee John McCain.

"My name is Bob Barr and I'm a candidate for the presidency of the United States of America," said the former Republican lawmaker, who played a key role in the congressional impeachment of former president Bill Clinton.

Barr said he was running because there was not "currently or anywhere on the horizon" any candidate who understood the principles of fiscal conservatism and basic principles on which he said America was founded.

The former Georgia congressman, who announced his plans at a press conference here, must first win the Libertarian Party's nomination before throwing himself into the 2008 field for real.


The 59-year-old said he was not concerned about the prospect of damaging McCain, possibly among conservative voters whom the Republican candidate has had trouble courting.

"If Senator McCain ... does not succeed in winning the presidency ... it will be because Senator McCain did not present, and his party did not present, a vision, an agenda, a platform and a series of programs that actually resonated positively with the American people."

Barr believes spending by the US government is running out of control and says federal authorities have seized powers not granted by the constitution, and believes US forces should be brought home from Iraq.

The Libertarian Party stands for non-interference by the US government in the personal and business lives of Americans, and advocates lower taxes, a smaller government and more individual freedom.

All true, but third parties are a lost cause. Barr doesn't have the same fan base on the right that Ralph Nader had on the left, and consequently, will probably do even worse in November.

Bob Barr's Ego Trip

Former Congressman Bob Barr is considering a run for president as the Libertarian candidate:

"As Dante Alighieri said many centuries ago, the hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality." With that, former Congressman Bob Barr announced to a group of Midwestern Libertarian Party activists that he was taking the first step toward running for president.

If nominated, Barr could be the most successful Libertarian presidential candidate in the party's 37-year history -- and John McCain's worst nightmare. For unlike Ed Clark, the current Libertarian record-holder who won just under 1 million votes in the 1980 presidential race, Bob Barr is no "low-tax liberal."

Ever since Ronald Reagan appointed him U.S. attorney for the northern district of Georgia in 1986, Barr has been a leader on behalf of conservative causes (he has more recently, in the interest of full disclosure, been a contributing editor to The American Spectator). Representing Georgia's Seventh Congressional District as a Republican from 1995 to 2003, he is best known for his role in passing the Defense of Marriage Act -- which has kept the marriage laws of all 50 states from being at the tender mercies of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court -- and as a House manager in the impeachment of Bill Clinton.

In 2002, Barr lost his congressional seat after redistricting forced him into a primary with fellow Republican Congressman John Linder. After leaving the House, he has focused on civil liberties and privacy protections, opposing the Bush administration on the Patriot Act and its national surveillance program. These issues, along with the explosion in federal spending, drove Bar toward the Libertarian Party and away from the GOP.

If he runs it's purely an ego trip, or at best a right-wing temper tantrum against John McCain. Barr has no chance to win - at best all he can do is steal votes from McCain. Maybe he can offset the losses the Dems will have to Nader, but probably not. Barr won't get that many votes. He's not a particularly attractive candidate, and certainly won't have the emotional attraction that Nader seems to get from his ardent fans.