Liberals to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right, Here I Am, Stuck in the Almost-Far Right With McCain...146 Days to Go!

I wanted to delve a little further today into John McCain's libertarian problem. Libertarians have always been a strong segment of the Republican Party. Their ideals are best exemplified by Grover Norquist, who claimed, "I want to get [government] down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." Libertarians believe in small government, non-intrusive government. Many of them are pro-choice and against federally banning gay marriage, because they see this as an intrusion into our lives. People should be free from government interference - economically, socially, etc. However, the last 8 years have done quite a bit to isolate Libertarians from the focus of the Republican Party. George W. Bush's administration has been anything but "small government." From promoting government dictation of social values, to imprisoning citizens in secret, to the USA PATRIOT Act, government has gotten bigger, not smaller, and much more fiscally irresponsible (biggest debt in history, etc.).

Enter Rep. Ron Paul, by some measures the most conservative member of the U.S. Congress in the last 70 years. A pro-life former gynecologist, Paul entered the 2008 GOP Primary to represent the increasingly marginalized, Libertarian side of the GOP. His base of hardcore supporters (and yes, they are building gated communities of Ron Paul supporters) shot him to the top of the primary field in such important metrics as Youtube searches, web searches, and straw polls. In all seriousness, he did have a great deal of success in online fundraising, setting the American political record for money raised in a single day ($6 million, to be exact). However, he never broke into the mainstream, and never gained the traction some thought he might in the primaries, maybe because the IRS is so popular. After McCain clinched the requisite number of delegates, Paul effectively ended his bid, and went back to running for Congress.

But that didn't mean the Libertarians would be satisfied by McCain's Bush-like policies. As the Arizona senator tries to rally the base, Libertarians have proven resistant to his charms. In fact, in April Paul's supporters out-organized the Republican Party establishment at the Nevada State Convention, and actually won more than half the delegates to the National Convention, before the GOP abruptly ended the proceedings, and decided to reconvene at a later date. And Ron Paul has continued to win votes in the last few primaries; despite McCain's lock on the nomination, 16% of voters in Pennsylvania decided to record their protest by voting for Paul, who wasn't even running anymore. Now, it appears that, after failing to acquire a key speaking spot in the Twin Cities at the GOP Convention, Ron Paul is planning his own convention across the street on the Tuesday of convention week. A rival convention competing for attention with the GOP itself? I love it. Paul continues to deny any efforts to run as a third party candidate, or endorse Bob Barr, but he continues to make trouble for the Republicans with one of their core constituencies. This is the equivalent of hippies protesting the Democratic Convention, and we all know how well that turns out (see left).

You haven't heard much about this yet, because the media is obsessed with the two-man horse race. But the Libertarian Party and Ron Paul are the wildcards in this race. If it looks close heading to the finish, look carefully at Barr's poll numbers, and how much publicity he's been getting. A lot of Republicans are sick of the way their party has been going, and may lodge a protest vote against McCain to demonstrate this frustration. Barr could very well be the Republican's Nader this year. Most Democrats have learned their lesson about 3rd party candidates - this might be the GOP's turn.

By the way, check out Nader's site. His design honestly terrifies me. I don't like to associate my President with grey skies and lightning.

Other News of the Day:

--> Ted Strickland (referenced here at EDC) declared yesterday he is absolutely not interested in seeking the Vice-Presidency.

--> Meanwhile, the Obama campaign mulls 20 names as possibilities for running mate. You'll notice my article only listed 8. I listed the most well-known of the options there. Perhaps in a few days I'll mention the other guys. It's quite possible that both Obama and McCain will choose running mates not on either of my lists.

--> Obama is a busy man, but he still has time for Scarlett Johansson. Enjoy this one, folks. If I'm devoting this blog fully to American politics, I will probably not get another chance to post a picture of someone attractive. Just thought you should have the heads up on that one.

--> I would post more news here, but it's distracting when the news is accompanied by Scarlett Johansson. And so we wait...

--> The tone of the campaign shifts again today, with McCain reminding Pennsylvania voters that Obama thinks they're bitter, and Obama engaging him on Iraq. Apparently, McCain doesn't think it's "too important" when our troops come home.

That's all for today, check back tomorrow as I engage the Senate. With Dems clinging to a slim majority, they're looking to expand, while the Republicans, one seat away from a majority, are trying to...not lose too much.