Tempting: Bob Barr

Curious - why is Bob Barr running for President? I saw him on Hannity and Colmes last night and received an email from him today. He was a Republican but would run for President as a Libertarian. What's going on here?

Tom Tancredo was running as the immigration reform candidate. He knew he wasn't going to win, but he got in the race to ensure the Southern Border was an important issue in the Republican primary process. Fred hopped in late because he saw a leadership void in the field. Critics say Fred got in too late. If Fred got in too late, wouldn't Barr's candidacy in Spring 2008 be waaaaaaaay too late?

I'm trying to "read the stitches on the baseball" here and this is my take: Congressman Bob Barr bridges the gap between John McCain and Ron Paul. John McCain lacks conservative credibility and Ron Paul is nuts, so Bob Barr appeals to both sides. He's got the conservative credentials and has a federalist (states' rights, etc.) philosophy which fits with Libertarianism. Look, the Libertarians are going to have a candidate for president no matter what. If no one goes for it, they can always get a perennial candidate, but it is well within the realm of possibility that the Ron Paul Revolution will set its sights on the Libertarian Party Nomination. If nothing else, if Bob Barr wins the nomination, it prevents any more flare-ups in the Revolution.

Will Bob Barr be a spoiler? I doubt it. Libertarians will vote for their party's candidate no matter who it is. Barr won't steal too many votes away from McCain, but he will push the debate to the right (and hopefully push McCain to the right). But the fact that John McCain is our nominee does show that the conservative movement thoroughly failed in the Republican Presidential Primary process this time around. We had our chance to nominate a conservative but we didn't have our act together. McCain did not split or divide the party, but the success of his candidacy thus far is the result of a divided party.

I'm pulling for Congressman Barr to win his party's nomination, given the alternatives. We're stuck with McCain, the Democrats may very well get stuck with Hillary, but let's hope the Libertarians don't get stuck with Ron Paul. To me, his candidacy is tempting, but come November, I highly doubt he'll get my vote.