Tag: Libertarians

Paul Is Not Through Yet

Representative Ron Paul, the Republican presidential candidate, will be the main attraction at the Twin Cities confab. No, not the Republican National Convention fewer than eight miles away at the XCel Center, but at his own party, to be held on the second day of the event that will seal Senator John McCain as the G.O.P. nominee.

“This isn’t a protest,” said Jesse Benton, the libertarian-leaning Republican’s spokesman. “This is a celebration of limited government and Republican principles.”

Mr. Paul, of Texas, racked up record-breaking amounts of money and passionate Internet support during his bid for the Republican nomination. He refused to officially quit the race even after Mr. McCain amassed enough delegates to claim the nomination, and he continued to garner around a quarter of the votes in late primaries. About 50 people will attend the convention as delegates pledged to Mr. Paul.

Will Paul retain his supporters through the general?  Will he be a McCain spoiler, the way Nader was accused in 2000?

Last Rites For Gravel

“I just ended my political career,” Mr. Gravel said at the party’s convention. “From 15 years old to now, my political career is over, and it’s no big deal.”

Mr. Gravel, 78, spent 12 years in the United States Senate from Alaska, pursuing even then an anti-war agenda and railing against the military industrial complex. His tenure was marked by dramatic procedural actions criticizing the Vietnam War, but his claim to fame came when he tried to release the Pentagon Papers by reading them on the Senate floor. He also waged a one-man filibuster that ultimately led to a compromise to let the draft expire in 1973. He lost his seat in 1980, after a contentious Democratic primary.

He lost the Dem nomination and now the Libertarian–this could well be Gravel’s last hurrah.