2008 Libertarian National Convention
| 2008 presidential election File:2008 Libertarian Party Convention.svg |
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Nominees
Barr and Root |
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| Convention | |
|---|---|
| Date(s) | May 22 – May 26 |
| City | Denver, Colorado |
| Venue | Sheraton Hotel |
| Chair | Bill Redpath |
| Notable speakers | Dr. Mary Ruwart |
| Candidates | |
| Presidential nominee | Bob Barr (GA) |
| Vice Presidential nominee | Wayne Allyn Root (NV) |
| Other candidates | Mary Ruwart of Texas Mike Gravel of Alaska Mike Jingozian, software developer Steve Kubby of California, activist George Phillies of Massachusetts |
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The 2008 Libertarian National Convention was held from May 22 to May 26, 2008 at the Sheraton Hotel (formerly the Adam's Mark Hotel)[1] in Denver, Colorado. The delegates at the convention, which was sponsored by the United States Libertarian Party, nominated Bob Barr for the presidency and Wayne Allyn Root for the vice-presidency in the 2008 presidential election through the convention process, televised nationally by C-SPAN.[2]
Libertarians hold a National Convention every two years to vote on party bylaws, platform and resolutions and elect national party officers and a judicial committee. Every four years it nominates presidential and vice presidential candidates.[3]
Contents
Platform
In 2006 the self-styled Libertarian Party "reformers" at the convention in Portland, Oregon took out 46 platform planks detailing party positions, leaving just fifteen. In 2008 more "radical" libertarians wanted to restore that platform. They did not succeed, but they narrowly prevented the reformers from watering down the non-aggression principle in the party's “Statement of Principles”.[4] The revised platform did replace the plank on secession,[5] deleted in 2006, with a definition of self-determination drawn from the Declaration of Independence: “Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of individual liberty, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to agree to such new governance as to them shall seem most likely to protect their liberty.”[6]
Voting for presidential nomination
First ballot
After the first round, six of the eight candidates running moved onto the second round of voting. Mike Jingozian and Christine Smith were both eliminated due to their small percentage of votes. Jingozian endorsed Fmr. Sen. Mike Gravel, and Smith presented a speech attacking Bob Barr after the results were announced.
| Candidate | Total votes cast | Percent of votes cast | ||||||||||||
| Bob Barr | 153 | 24.6% | ||||||||||||
| Mary Ruwart | 152 | 24.5% | ||||||||||||
| Wayne Allyn Root | 123 | 19.8% | ||||||||||||
| Mike Gravel | 71 | 11.4% | ||||||||||||
| George Phillies | 49 | 7.9% | ||||||||||||
| Steve Kubby | 41 | 6.6% | ||||||||||||
| Mike Jingozian | 23 | 3.7% | ||||||||||||
| Christine Smith | 6 | 0.9% | ||||||||||||
| Ron Paul (write-in) | 6 | 0.9% | ||||||||||||
| Penn Jillette (write-in) | 3 | 0.4% | ||||||||||||
| NOTA | 2 | 0.3% | ||||||||||||
| Daniel Imperato (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | ||||||||||||
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Second ballot
After the second round, five of the six candidates running moved onto the third ballot. Steve Kubby, after receiving only 5% of the total vote, dropped out of the race and endorsed Dr. Mary Ruwart.
| Candidate | Total votes cast | Percent of votes cast | |||||||||||
| Bob Barr | 188 | 29.7% | |||||||||||
| Mary Ruwart | 162 | 26.2% | |||||||||||
| Wayne Allyn Root | 138 | 21.8% | |||||||||||
| Mike Gravel | 73 | 11.5% | |||||||||||
| George Phillies | 36 | 5.7% | |||||||||||
| Steve Kubby | 32 | 5.0% | |||||||||||
| NOTA | 1 | 0.2% | |||||||||||
| Stephen Colbert (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | |||||||||||
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Third ballot
After the third round of voting, four of the five remaining candidates moved on to the fourth ballot. Dr. George Phillies was eliminated after receiving approximately 5% of the vote.
| Candidate | Total votes cast | Percent of votes cast | |||||||||
| Bob Barr | 186 | 29.7% | |||||||||
| Mary Ruwart | 186 | 29.7% | |||||||||
| Wayne Allyn Root | 146 | 23.3% | |||||||||
| Mike Gravel | 78 | 12.4% | |||||||||
| George Phillies | 31 | 4.9% | |||||||||
| Ron Paul (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | |||||||||
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Fourth ballot
After the fourth vote, three of the four candidates went onto the fifth round of voting. Fmr. Sen. Mike Gravel was eliminated after not getting a sufficient number of votes, and subsequently announced that his political career was over.
| Candidate | Total votes cast | Percent of votes cast | ||||||||
| Bob Barr | 202 | 32.1% | ||||||||
| Mary Ruwart | 202 | 32.1% | ||||||||
| Wayne Allyn Root | 149 | 23.7% | ||||||||
| Mike Gravel | 76 | 12.1% | ||||||||
| NOTA | 3 | 0.4% | ||||||||
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Fifth ballot
After the fifth ballot, the final two of three candidates continued on to the sixth ballot. Wayne Allyn Root was therefore eliminated, and after the vote, he made a speech endorsing Barr and stating that he would like to be Barr's candidate for Vice-President. Barr and Root then stated that they would run together.
| Candidate | Total votes cast | Percent of votes cast | ||||||||
| Mary Ruwart | 229 | 37.1% | ||||||||
| Bob Barr | 223 | 36.1% | ||||||||
| Wayne Allyn Root | 165 | 26.7% | ||||||||
| NOTA | 6 | 0.9% | ||||||||
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Sixth ballot
With only Barr and Ruwart remaining on the ballot, Barr received 324 votes to Ruwart's 276 and 26 NOTA. Barr thus won the nomination with 51.8% of the final vote.[7]
Ruwart made a concession speech following the announcement of the results with her campaign staff on the stage.
| Candidate | Total votes cast | Percent of votes cast | |||||||
| Bob Barr | 324 | 51.8% | |||||||
| Mary Ruwart | 276 | 44.1% | |||||||
| NOTA | 26 | 4.2% | |||||||
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Voting for vice presidential nomination
A separate vote was held for the vice presidential nomination. Presidential nominee Barr endorsed Root, while Presidential runner-up Ruwart endorsed Kubby.
First ballot
After the first ballot, three of the six active candidates running moved on to the second ballot.
| Candidate | Total votes cast | Percent of votes cast | |||||||||
| Wayne Allyn Root | 269 | 47.7% | |||||||||
| Steve Kubby | 209 | 37.1% | |||||||||
| Daniel Williams | 40 | 7.1% | |||||||||
| Jim Burnes | 27 | 4.8% | |||||||||
| Gail Lightfoot | 14 | 2.5% | |||||||||
| NOTA | 2 | 0.4% | |||||||||
| Mike Ferguson (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | |||||||||
| Mary Ruwart (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | |||||||||
| Leonard Schwartz | 1 | 0.2% | |||||||||
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Second ballot
After the second ballot, Wayne Allyn Root was nominated as the vice presidential candidate, prevailing by a difference of 30 votes over Steve Kubby, and 279 votes over Daniel Williams.
| Candidate | Total votes cast | Percent of votes cast | ||||||||
| Wayne Allyn Root | 289 | 51.0% | ||||||||
| Steve Kubby | 259 | 45.7% | ||||||||
| Daniel Williams | 10 | 1.8% | ||||||||
| NOTA | 6 | 1.1% | ||||||||
| Richard ??? (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | ||||||||
| Mike Ferguson (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | ||||||||
| Mary Ruwart (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | ||||||||
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See also
References
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Wikinews has related news: Bob Barr wins the Libertarian Party presidential nomination |
- Official Convention Website
- Press Release
- Official Convention Guide
- An account of the convention from The New Republic
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/cspan.csp?command=dprogram&record=202093789[dead link]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ David Weigel, Who Isn't Trying to Take Over the Libertarian Party? Scenes from the LP's most newsworthy convention in years, Reason Magazine, May 23, 2008; Matt Simon, Libertarians Nominate Ex-Republican Barr, Huffington Post, May 26, 2008.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ National Platform of the Libertarian Party, Adopted in Convention, May 2008, Denver, Colorado.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
