BARR THE SPOILER?

Zogby ^ | 08/31/08 | Zogby

[Greek]

While Zogby has McCain up by two today in a post-Palin bounce, there is one ominous line and statistic in the article:

"Still, storm clouds remain on the horizon for the Republicans, a four-way horserace contest between McCain, Obama, Libertarian Bob Barr and liberal independent Ralph Nader shows....."

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BARR:

TOTAL: 5% DEMS: 2% GOPers: 4% INDIES: 11%

[Greek]

Is there any sign that we can get BARR to understand that if he truly loves his country, can he put aside his hatred for the Republican party so we don't have another '92 Perot situation?

[OCCASparky]

Third-party candidates tend to poll better early on, then as the race goes on or if it's a close race, third-party candidates tend (not always, but tend) to fade as Election Day approaches.

If there isn't a clear lead for McCain/Palin (at least 5 points) by two weeks prior, look for a lot of the Barr support to go back to the GOP if only because the alternative is an Obama presidency, and even Libertarian-leaning folks aren't stupid enough to cut their noses off simply to spite their faces.

[Jeff Head]

With Palin on the ticket, Barr will be relegated to even more insignificance than he already was. And with Nader in there, any damage Barr does will be offset 10 fold by Nader IMHO.

[Greek]

I believe Barr has said in the past that he would UNDER NO CURCUMSTANCES pull out of the race, scary....

[Mr. Lucky]

After the selection of Gov. Palin as the Republican candidate for vice-president, BoB Barr wouldn’t get anybody to pay attention to him if he wore a pork chop around his neck to a dog show.

[bahblahbah]

Palin has said some kind comments about Ron Paul... maybe Ron Paul will endorse her. She probably couldn’t return it considering how the dems tried to scare the jews with her greeting Buchanan. I hope Palin shows more paleo, crunchy, or pomo conish attributes and doesn’t go full blown neocon. Let’s distance ourselves from that smear.

[Greek]

I hope you are right, but if this race comes down to one point, and he’s pulling from pubs....

[Always Right]

Barr will attract less support than Nader. Both will be below 1%. In a really really close race they could influence, but not likely.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Are we supposed to be scared of a candidate who many forget is even running? Had to Google search to find the name of his running mate.

[Congressman Billybob]

As I said on another thread on the same subject, I've worked for more than ten third-party or independent candidates for President, including John Anderson in 1980. All such candidates' support shrinks as the election nears.

Anderson got only 5% at the end, after being at 21% early in the campaign. And Anderson was on all the state ballots. I know; I designed his legal work. Barr and Nader together will not draw a total of 5%. They will be no factor in this election.

This is a false issue.

Congressman Billybob

Tenth in the ten-part series, "The Owner's Manual (Part 10) -- The Remaining Amendments"

Latest article, "In Praise of Sweetness"

[Hildy]

My brother just told me he’s going to vote for Barr. I’m getting a bit nervous.

[curth]

What exactly is Barr’s beef?

[Yorlik803]

Bob Barr is on a ego trip. trying to get him to think about anything but himself would be a waste of time.
Anyone who votes for Barr might as well vote for Obama.

[cmsgop]

This is stupid, no way Nader or Barr affect anything this year. There is always a 10% weirdo vote.

[pissant]

That is because there are still conservatives out there that do not know that Barr has morphed into a liberal.

[Thane_Banquo]

I suspect McCain just killed the Barr vote by picking Palin. I live in Illinois, so there is no chance that McCain wins this state (in Illinois, people are selected, not elected). So I was going to vote for Barr in protest. Now I’ll vote for McCain.

But both are meaningless. The Dem machine will make sure, McCain loses Illinois, even if he doesn’t (if you catch my drift).

[Cicero]

I don’t think Barr is much of a threat. The worst threat was that the Evangelicals would stay home, and I think Sarah Palin has just solved that problem.

I’ve always said I’d be happy to vote for McCain if he chose a decent conservative VP, and he has exceeded our expectations.

Frankly, I don’t even think Barr is a real conservative. He’s gone off the rails, just like Pat Buchanan. If McCain had chosen Joe Lieberman for his VP, I’d have likely written in Fred Thompson, or left the presidential line blank. But I can’t imagine ever voting for a conceited idiot like Barr.

I agree that Nader will pull a lot more votes from Obama than Barr will from McCain. Support for minority candidates always diminishes toward election time, with the one exception of what happened to “Read my lips” Bush senior. But even that taught people a useful lesson.

[Yankee Sailor]

Read the fine print in the poll; it’s an online survey and acitivists opinions get exaggerated in ‘net polling. In regular, random phone polling, Barr and Nader each pull 1-2% of the vote, and they’re about even.

In other words, wait until the next regular set of poll numbers come out.

[jerod]

Barr will NOT get %5 of the vote.

[Parley Baer]

Barr who?