CORRECTION: It was later discovered that this report was inaccurate. Please see the updated story. There had been some question as to whether the “majority neo-pagan” Libertarian Party of Massachusetts would put Barr/Root on the ballot based on Barr’s past anti-Wiccan activism. A highly placed source says the executive committee has voted unanimously to go [...]

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In his column in The Lantern, the Ohio State University newspaper, Travis Schulze offers a brief survey of alternative presidential candidates running this year. Schulze leads with Constitution Party nominee Chuck Baldwin, whose “campaign centers on a return to the Constitution. He calls for an immediate withdrawal of the U.S. from Iraq, all foreign military [...]

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Gary Hoover, a used car dealer running for Congress in Maryland’s Sixth District, has switched from an independent candidacy to a Libertarian bid. According to the AP, “Hoover says he contacted the Libertarian Party about his candidacy because he agrees with the party on many issues, including withdrawal from Iraq, opposition to the Patriot Act [...]

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South Carolina Green Party members are among those planning protests at Furman University on Saturday afternoon when President Bush comes to deliver the commencement address.

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John Bachtell, Illinois district organizer and National Board member of the Communist Party USA, was recently a guest on The Sandy Rios Show on Chicago’s WYLL radio station. Topics discussed (and debated) include healthcare, life in the former Soviet Union, poverty, and the 2008 presidential election. Listen Here:

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After offering “unsolicited advice” to Bob Barr, LRC blogger and Denver convention speaker Anthony Gregory posted some kind words about Green Party presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney. Gregory says the former Democratic congresswoman is “great on most civil liberties, foreign policy questions, good on the prison system, good on certain corporatist trade deals, and has been [...]

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Anthony Gregory, of LRC, has the following advice for Libertarian Bob Barr: Instead of semi-running on your Congressional career, renounce it all but completely. An ad from your Congressional campaign several years ago boasts of all the “vital” legislation you helped enact, including the renaming of the National Airport after Ronald Reagan. It attacks John [...]

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According to an anonymous third-party expert, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain is in talks with Frank McKay, the chairman of the Independence Party of New York, to receive the Independence Party ballot line. The Independence Party typically cross-endorses candidates for lower offices, but has run non-major-party candidates for president each of the past three elections. [...]

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It seems that the Constitution Party of Illinois had a pretty big foul up recently. Chairman Randy Stufflebeam reported to members that petitions they’ve been circulating for several weeks had an invalid date on them and cannot be used toward the party’s goal of collecting 25,000 signatures by June 23. On the plus side, it [...]

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Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader will take part in a forum put on by the Close-up Foundation. It will be broadcast this evening on C-SPAN 2 at 7pm. Nader is going to take questions from students and engage in a discussion of the key issues driving his campaign.

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The Barr campaign began their post-nomination media blitz with a trio of press releases today. The first has Barr taking a hard line on “national defense,” and criticizing John McCain for talking about nuclear-arms reduction and diplomacy with Russia. Even Sen. McCain, in his recent speech on nuclear disarmament, called for negotiations with Russia, despite [...]

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Says Nick Bradley of LRC: He’s double-booked with NeoCon Salman Rushdie that night, and Pat Buchanan is on the following night. Hopefully, Barr can reach out to Colbert’s Paulite-heavy audience. Does anybody think that Mary would be going on Colbert if she won? In my opinion, it was precisely his ability to get media exposure [...]

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It looks like a South Florida Democratic is going to have a tough time getting on the ballot, despite collecting more than enough signatures to qualify. Why? Because he filed the incorrect loyalty oath… The good news for Larry Byrnes: he collected enough signatures to get onto the ballot as a candidate for U.S. Congress [...]

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Scotty Boman, an active Ron Paul r3VOLutionary in the Detroit area and long-time Libertarian activist, will be seeking the Libertarian Party of Michigan’s nomination for U.S. Senate. The LPMI’s convention is June 7th in Romulus. Boman has nearly universal name recognition in the Wolverine State, and not just because he’s run for statewide office at [...]

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Today’s “American Voices” feature in The Onion is on the impact of Bob Barr’s presidential campaign. One “voter” says: “I’d gladly vote for Mr. Barr if I didn’t consider the voter registration process such a flagrant affront of my personal liberties.”

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The Oklahoman reports this morning that the Oklahoma Libertarian Party will today launch a petition drive to place the Barr-Root ticket on the state ballot as independents. The LP “is not recognized in Oklahoma so Barr would need to run as an independent candidate,” the newspaper says. At least 43,913 valid signatures must be collected [...]

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California’s Long Beach Signal Tribune has a straightforward and detailed profile of Libertarian state assembly candidate John Kling, who says if elected he would focus on the state’s budget crisis and on fiscal accountability. Kling also discusses health care, education, and same-sex marriage.

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Bob Barr was interviewed by Bloomberg Television on Thursday, in an appearance that was promoted throughout the day and broadcast around 8:30 p.m. Eastern. Barr said of his candidacy, “I am doing this because neither party is going to address the key and fundamental issues facing the American people, such as significantly smaller government, a [...]

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In the latest print edition of The Economist, U.S. political affairs columnist “Lexington” considers the ramifications of a “dysfunctional minor party” running “a grumpy ex-Republican” for president, saying Bob Barr’s campaign may turn out to be more than “just another quirk in the quirky history of the Libertarian Party.” The piece is generally critical of [...]

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If you’re a fan of Independent Political Report, please consider joining our official fan group on Facebook! Trent Hill created this group for us and we’re already up to about 15 members. It’s a great way to spread the word about this site to your friends, as well as to mingle and interact with other [...]

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