Is the Ron Paul movement that big of a deal?
by Chris Spangle ~ November 7th, 2008
I’ve heard many say they were voting for Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party because of Ron Paul’s endorsement. Some were even writing in Ron Paul, who was not a qualified candidate. Some Libertarians have expressed concern that the Constitution Party may be a threat to the LP. I think the numbers show that Paul’s endorsement has little effect on voters. It also shows the foolishness of the media attention that Ralph Nader always gets. It ALSO shows the importance of ballot access for Libertarians.
Many people were upset that Barr would not visit the kiddie table by showing up at Paul’s third-party press conference. While we are still not in the same league as the big two vote-wise, we are still something different than other third parties. We damage our party’s legitimacy by making ourselves “one of the third parties” instead of THE third option.
Let me say that Ron Paul was someone I voted for in the primary, and instrumental in my understanding of libertarianism. It is now time to take his advice and focus more on his message and principles, the same one our founders expoused, and not the man himself.
| District | Candidate | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| Statewide | Obama, Barack Joe Biden (Democratic) | 1080584 |
| Barr, Bob Wayne A. Root (Libertarian) | 25553 | |
| McCain, John Sarah Palin (Republican) | 1180102 | |
| Faith, Michael L. (W/I(Americas Independent)) | 12 | |
| Castle, Darrell L. (W/I(Constitution)) | 4 | |
| McKinney, Cynthia A. (W/I(Green)) | 20 | |
| Baldwin, Chuck (W/I(Independent)) | 239 | |
| Bone, Lawson Mitchell (W/I(Independent)) | 10 | |
| Mottus, Kevin (W/I(Independent)) | 6 | |
| Nader, Ralph Matt Gonzalez (W/I(Independent)) | 228 | |
| Plemons, John Leroy (W/I(Independent)) | 0 | |
| Kujawski, “Lou” (W/I(Republican)) | 0 | |
| Moore, Brian Stewart A. Alexander (W/I(Socialist)) | 2 |
