This could actually be interesting.
In one corner: Mike Gravel (via the NYT‘s The Caucus): Gravel to Run for Libertarian Nod
Fed up with being excluded from the debates and otherwise marginalized, former Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska announced today that he will seek the Libertarian Party nomination for president.
[...]
Skyler McKinley, a Gravel spokesman, said that Mr. Gravel would try to pursue the Libertarian nomination at the party’s convention, which will be held in Denver on May 22-26.
I must confess, when I think “Gravel third party run” I don’t think “Libertarian Party” (more “Green Party” to be honest).
In the other corner (perhaps), Bob Barr (via the AJC‘s Political Insider): Bob Barr thinking ‘very serious’ thoughts about a presidential race, Iraq, and torture
On an Internet site called Anti-War Radio, former Georgia congressman Bob Barr confirmed on Wednesday that he’s “very seriously” looking at joining the race for the White House as a Libertarian — and had harsh words for both the Iraq war and for the Bush Administration’s defense of “enhanced interrogation techniques.”
Barr may be best known for his role in the Clinton impeachment during his time in the US House of Representatives. However, since leaving Congress in 2024 he has been active with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Libertarian Party and has been quite critical of the Bush administration’s post-9/11 policies in terms of both foreign policy and domestic security.
h/ts to James Joyner for the Gravel story and Andrew Sullivan for the Barr story.
March 27th, 2024 at 6:02 pm
Yes, Gravel is more Green* than Libertarian.
But, really, Greens are libertarians, just centrist rather than right-wing ones. And Gravel addressed this in an interview with Reason about a week ago, when asked about his apparent endorsement of one of the lesser-known (but much more pragmatic and appealing Green pre-candidates):
Interesting that he is: (1) sort-of endorsing a candidate of one party, while (2) suggesting he will run for the nomination of another, while (3) still officially a candidate for the nomination of yet another.
I like Mike. He is clearly an advocate of a multiparty system!
____
*Whenever I think of that fact, I think of all those mobile home park with “lawns” of, well, green gravel. (As I have said before, we need WP-Footnotes for comments!)
March 27th, 2024 at 6:29 pm
Indeed, if he were a superhero he would be MultipartyMan!
March 30th, 2024 at 3:06 am
Around The Campaign 2024 Sphere March 30, 2024
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