From the beginning, Bob Barr’s campaign admitted that it would be a serious challenge to get on the ballot in all or even most of the fifty states. According to a recent communication from Barr’s people, they feel they are on track to be on the ballot everywhere except West Virginia and Oklahoma. There are campaign representatives on the ground in West Virginia, but it seems that there is no organized Libertarian Party presence in the state. This is causing them to bring in volunteers from out of state to gather the required signatures, but they are also plagued by lagging fundraising.
I didn’t think we would have the manpower to get the drive done, but now I think it’s a possibility. I have enough petitioners in the state and on their way to collect enough signatures by our August 1st deadline.
But I won’t have the money to finish the drive if I don’t raise $43,000 by close of business on Monday.
Russ Verney, our campaign manager, wrote to me this morning and instructed me to shut down the drive if I cannot raise the funds by COB Monday.
So far this month, we’re raised less than $100,000. We’re even off pace from our June fundraising totals.
There are indications that Barr’s folks are out there doing the required work, as they just won a court case to ensure they get on the ballot in Ohio.
CINCINNATI — Ohio must include the Libertarian Party’s nominees on its ballot in November, a court has ruled, complicating Senator John McCain’s effort to win conservative votes in a hotly contested state rich in electoral votes.
What impact will this have? Some in the Republican party think it might swing the difference in Georgia, if nothing else.
In his syndicated column today, Robert Novak says Republican strategists are now “privately conceding that the GOP could lose Georgia’s 15 presidential electors for the first time since 1992 because of Bob Barr’s ballot position as the Libertarian Party presidential candidate. The most recent Georgia survey by the polling firm InsiderAdvantage, conducted July 2, shows 46 percent for Sen. John McCain, 44 percent for Sen. Barack Obama and 4 percent for Barr.”
Barr isn’t looking to be a spoiler though. As he mentioned during our conference call this week, he is playing to win and still believes that he can carry some states in November. He will be focusing on several Western and Southeastern states, notably including his home state of Georgia. The real questions remaining, most of which are intertwined, are:
– Will he be able to massively crank up his fundraising machine to make him competitive on the national stage?
– Will he begin to gain any media traction, bringing him into the public eye?
– Can he create a legitimate enough presence in the race to allow him a spot on stage for the presidential debates to come?
– Will he be able to fuel the kind of excitement that some other outsiders such as Ron Paul did?
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