Barr visits New Hampshire
July 23rd, 2008 by Jason PyeMany thanks to those of you who came out to Murphy’s Taproom last night. Here is a story from the Concord Monitor on Bob’s visit to New Hampshire:
Squeezing his thumb and forefinger together in the back of a Manchester bar last night, Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr told a crowd of 80 that when it counts, there’s that much difference between the Republicans and Democrats.
Americans, he argued, are looking for something new.
“The definition of throwing your vote away is to go into that voting booth and vote for one of two parties that will not change the direction this country’s going in,” Barr told a crowd of about 80 at Murphy’s Taproom. “And that’s the Republicans or Democrats.”
[…]
Republicans and Democrats have spent too much time fretting about the difference between a $3.1 trillion budget and a $3.12 trillion budget, he said. On Jan. 20, 2009, he said, a President Barr would skip the niceties of inaugural balls and call Congress in to tell them that he’ll cap spending at the size of the prior year’s budget and form a commission to look at the constitutionality and worth of various federal departments.
One target for Barr: the Department of Education, which he said is unconstitutional and wasteful. “My goal would be to get away from public schools in the first place,” he told one questioner.
If you’d like to help petition for Bob in New Hampshire, please contact the campaign and we will get you in touch with our coordinators.
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:13 am
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July 23rd, 2008 at 9:37 am
Barr polls 8% in close Colorado race
PolitickerCO.com reports that the latest Zogby poll shows Bob Barr getting 8% support in Colorado, in a very tight race where Obama leads McCain by just 2%—within the margin of error.
“Previous presidential polls in Colorado haven’t included Barr’s name as an option,” reports the site, “though polls within the last month have shown between 2% and 8% of Coloradans surveyed chose ‘other’ when asked who they favored for president.”
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July 23rd, 2008 at 10:26 am
Barr also gave a somewhat endorsement of the Free State Project last night.
The youtube link will be placed here when it is uploaded.
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:39 pm
any t.v appearances this week?
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Wow 80 people…but now that I think about it, I guess that’s around 10% of new hampshire!
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
The Union Leader article on the event…
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?articleId=077454f7-aa66-4375-a255-2b4b3e6c79d8
The press usually underestimates attendance. I made a headcount of at least 100. That’s a pretty good turnout for a political event in NH, especially with only a few days to promote it. I’ve been to plenty of major-party presidential events with much fewer people.
And the local AP sort of reported on it second-hand…
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080723/NEWS08/761190567&SearchID=73324664057766
WMUR ch9, the ABC affiliate in Manchester was there as well…
http://www.wmur.com/video/16968052/index.html
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Here is the youtube video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlnPIW6pQUs
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Here is the video from last night regarding the Free State Project.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlnPIW6pQUs
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Joel, don’t let the thumbs down bother you. 80 is a pathetic showing. The people in charge have to ask themselves why the turnout was so dismal. Ron Paul had to book a larger venue for his Rally for the Republic. He’s doing something right, the Barr campaign is doing something wrong. Only by bringing this up will changes be made. But the “Go, Bob, Go!” cheerleading squad on these boards can’t handle the truth. And the truth is that the Barr campaign should have had a larger turnout in a state polling at 10%.
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Now wait just a second… 80 people in a tavern is a pretty decent showing, considering that your average tavern usually holds up to 150 people, and that’s when nearly pack you in like sardines. So i’d say 80 at a tavern is a pretty good job.
Plus, don’t forget, this happened on a Tuesday, a WORK day. Let’s not forget, we libertarians and conversatives, unlike say, the leadership of the Workers World Party, have JOBS and things to do on weekdays. I can almost assure you, that if this event was on a Friday or Saturday, the turnout would be a lot better; cause the risk of getting fired goes from 100% on a weekday, to 0% on the weekend.
I will say this, the campaign needs to keep up these little fundraisers, whether it’s 80 or 8,000 people; it doesn’t matter, as long as we sow the seed of liberty, freedom, and show the people that there IS a real option, and that they don’t have to play games with their vote anymore.
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:42 pm
The media reported it as 80 to 90 people. Total attendance was closer to 120. A lot of the media left early.
And the crowd included a great many Ron Paul supporters.
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:46 pm
James R.: How much support do you think Ron Paul would’ve mustered thus far if he had never been permitted to participate in any of the televised Republican debates? Support would’ve still existed, but it would’ve been nowhere near as significant. This is precisely why the Bob Barr 2008 campaign is working hard to earn Bob’s inclusion in upcoming debates.
Blind comparisons are meaningless when they clearly don’t take pertinent variables into account. For example; Ron Paul officially launched his bid for the Republican nomination on January 11, 2007. That was over a year and a half ago. Compare and contrast with Bob Barr officially launching his bid for the Libertarian nomination in mid-May of 2008. That was roughly two months ago. So there’s no need to ask yourself why an eighteen-month-old multimillion-dollar major party campaign has a larger and more organized base of support than a two-month-old third party campaign that just recently broke the $500k mark. Your answer can already be found in the question.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:17 am
r u coming to arizona?
July 24th, 2008 at 7:54 am
DJ We did have about 300 people for Ron Paul when he visited NH in Feb 2007 at a house party. He also spoke at the FSP Liberty Forum in Feb to a packed room of 250. This was BEFORE all the media coverage.
Dondero is right (did I say that?) It was probably closer to 120.
On a rainy Tuesday night that isn’t that bad.
July 24th, 2008 at 8:36 am
It doesn’t really dilute the point, though, which is simply for everyone to avoid blanket comparisons that are wholly disconnected from the various mitigating factors involved; and disconnected from how those mitigating factors affect each side of the comparison.
Using your examples as examples of my own, my Live Free or Die State compatriot; how many would’ve attended the house party even if Ron Paul didn’t exist? How long in advance had the house party been planned? Similarly; how many would’ve attended the FSP Liberty Forum as a matter of course, with or without Ron Paul? How long in advance had Ron Paul’s participation been cemented? Was he mentioned in notifications about the event? How many received these notices? Of those, what percentage attended? …and on and on and on and on.
The same could be said for the event at Murphy’s Taproom. How many of those “in attendance” were your average bar patrons? On a rainy Tuesday night, eh, perhaps not many. So maybe 120 isn’t so bad for the event after all.
July 24th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Exactly my point. Why did Bob’s campaign staff think it was a good idea for Bob to fly from Texas to Manchester and back to Texas (I know Southwest has low fares and a direct flight so maybe that was the motivation) so he could have a “rally” on a rainy, Tuesday night
.
Believe me, no one wants me to see Bob succeed as much as I do. (I’ve voted in every election since 1972 and have never voted for a winning candidate, usually because of my libertarian beliefs.) But using limited resources to reach so few people (who were probably already “reached”) seems like a waste of time and money.
How can Bob introduce himself to more people at a reasonable cost per impression? Appear at the Rally for the Republic. Does anyone know if he’s planning on doing that? And if he isn’t, why not?
July 24th, 2008 at 10:27 am
It is great to see Bob Barr doing well on the Campaign trail. At these Events, I wonder if any of his Campaign Staff have blank Libertarian Party Membership applications and they try to get people attending these events to join the LP? At the “end of the day” I think it is critical that the Bob Barr Campaign can show that it has increased the Membership of the LP.
July 24th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Bill - yes we had LP membership and donation forms, newsletters, and bumper stickers and flyers for our other federal candidates. You can see someone reading our newsletter in the background in the WMUR video.
We also collected petition signatures from almost everyone who attended. At least 4 media outlets covered it. People also stuck around for a while. I was still fielding volunteering requests an hour after he was done speaking. So this was a very successful event.
July 24th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
DJ… the regular bar patrons were in the front.
All the people listening to Bob Barr were there to see Bob Barr.
For the House Party? zero It was planned about 3 weeks earlier.
For the Liberty Forum 2007….200 (prob got another 50 for RP) got him to commit about 2 weeks before.
I thought 200 would have been GREAT.
(I think it is because many of the LPers aren’t Barr fans)
July 24th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
(I think it is because many of the LPers aren’t Barr fans) There’s another problem. Why aren’t they? And why hasn’t the Barr campaign reached out to them?
July 24th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
James R.: I’m sure the expenditure was about visiting New Hampshire, being seen there, gaining mention in some NH news, the video, sparking general interest in the campaign, and sparking a positive discussion about all of the above.
As for the LP defectors; I think what happened was that these people unfortunately abandoned both a sense of perspective and objective thought. Some are comprised of his competitors for the nomination and their adherents, and some are comprised of individuals that were prejudiced against Bob and likely made up their minds about him years ago. They never bothered to give him a chance. Now they’re among the buzzards circling above Bob prepped to take his occasionally vague or quirky statements and twist them into opportunities to squawk, defecate, and feel better about themselves while feeding on the imaginary carrion of Bob’s campaign and the LP. It’s difficult to reach out to them because their minds were made up well in advance, their blinders are firmly on now if they weren’t already, and by convincing themselves that the LP has been destroyed they’ve allowed themselves to become the real implements of its destruction.
July 24th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Rich T. Thanks and great job,
July 24th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Rich T.: thanks for the update/it really helped me better understand the strategy of going to NH and what you accomplished while there.
James R raised an important point about why LP’s aren’t fully supporting Bob. I agree the campaign needs a strategy to reach out to them and we should all be helping with that….the most success will probably come person to person with people we know.
July 25th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
DJ. I didn’t make up my mind years ago.So far though, Bob hasn’t done one tangible thing to undo the damage he’s done. He’s paid a lot of lip service, but nothing tangible has come of it. The Barr Amendment is still there. So is the “Patriot Act.” Of course, he isn’t in a position to do anything about what he’s done. It’s a classic case of too little, too late. All I can hope is that Bob Barr’s candidacy paves the way for someone like Gary Johnson.
July 25th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
James R.: Considering you’ve said things like the “Believe me, no one wants me to see Bob succeed as much as I do.” found earlier in this commentary; you clearly aren’t among the “LP defectors” I was referring to in the comment you seemed to be responding to; although I can see how you might, nonetheless, wish to let us know that you “didn’t make up [your] mind years ago” in an effort to reassure us that you haven’t chosen to take a closed-minded approach to Bob Barr’s candidacy. I truly appreciate your efforts to maintain a healthier perspective than some have chosen to employ.
This is not to say dissent should be stifled; far, far from it. Dissent can, however, be grossly premature. The flames of dissent can be fueled by innuendo, fear, or wounded pride; and can then be fanned by groupthink. It’s unfortunate, but I think that’s essentially what has happened with many of our fellow Libertarians. It’s definitely understandable; and, having myself been initially skeptical of Bob Barr, I definitely understand. The key difference is that I maintained some optimism, kept an open mind, gave Bob Barr a fair shake, did my own homework, waited to see Bob in action, and then attempted to draw my own conclusions. I think some Libertarians never made it past one of the early steps of that process.
It’d be one thing if Bob was out making an utter fool of himself (and, by extension, the Libertarian Party), or was out promoting completely distorted “libertarian ideas” before the electorate; but that’s definitely not what we’re seeing. I may have been forced to stage a mock funeral of my own under those sorts of circumstances.
July 26th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
DJ, I agree. But I’m still waiting to see. I have met 3 elected officials whom I consider to be libertarians: Doug Anderson who serves on the Lakewood, CO city council, Ron Paul, who was a Libertarian candidate when I met and volunteered for him, and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. (who was and probably is still a member of the Republican Party.) All of them have voted “libertarian-like” in the offices they’ve held and that 2 of them still hold. Bob hasn’t. How do we REALLY know he will? Look at it this way; If I’m an employer and an applicant comes to my company with a resume’ that’s different than what I am looking for in an employee. Say he was fired from the company he worked for for stealing. (Stealing things from a company and stealing right through say the Barr Amendment are somewhat comparible.) Now he says he’s changed. He’s joined “stealers anonymous.” Why should I believe and hire him. My gut says I wouldn’t.
Like I’ve said on other posts, I’ll take the leap of faith and vote for him, but mostly because his higher-profile candidacy will hopefully pave the way for someone with a libertarian track record four years from now.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
If you go to http://www.libertyconspiracy.com you can listen to Bob Barr’s interview made during his visit to NH on 7/22. Host Gardner Goldsmith kept him on for 3 segments! The interview is currently #4 on the player at the top of the page.