Barr campaigns in Columbus

October 7, 2008

The Columbus Dispatch covered Bob’s visit to Capital University:

Libertarian Party presidential nominee Bob Barr contends that neither of his major-party opponents is showing the most important quality it takes to be president: leadership.

“Any one of us can relate to average people. That’s not presidential,” Barr told about 250 people in a speech at Capital University. “We ought to demand much more for a candidate for such high office.”

Barr, a lawyer, former Georgia congressman and CIA employee, is perhaps best known for his aggressive, high-profile role in President Clinton’s impeachment hearings in 1999.

Barr brought his long-shot candidacy to Columbus at the urging of John Stewart, a local lawyer who is his Ohio campaign coordinator.

Stewart made a pre-emptive strike tonight against critics who say that voting for Barr, who has virtually no chance of being elected president, is a waste. “John McCain and Barack Obama don’t represent me,” Stewart said of the Republican and Democratic presidential contenders. “What better example of throwing away your vote than to vote for someone who doesn’t represent you?”

Like McCain and Obama, Barr recognized Ohio’s pivotal role in the election. However, he took it a step further.

“This is a key state not just for the election generally, but for freedom,” he said. “Ohio is a battlefield state for liberty in America.”

Barr was not invited to the presidential debates and took a very dim view of the performances by McCain and Obama, as well as their running mates, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, respectively.

He was especially critical of Palin’s avowed refusal to answer questions “outside her comfort zone” in her debate with Biden.

“She said, ‘I’m going to stand here and talk about what I want to talk about.’ That’s not presidential, folks. A president is just about always outside his comfort zone.”

None of the four major-party candidates fully understands the duties of the jobs they’re seeking - to “protect, defend and expand liberty,” he said.

On a side note, I have some good news and bad news. The bad news is that Bob Barr will not be on the ballot in Oklahoma. I don’t think that comes as a shock to anyone.

The good news is that we may have found enough signatures to be included on the ballot in Connecticut.

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Barr campaigns in Columbus