As Ron Paul has dropped out of the Republican presidential race, Bob Barr believes that he will get a majority of his supporters to vote for him. However, Ralph Nader is also making a play for those voters too.
Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr is counting on Ron Paul's supporters to jump on his ship for money and support. Barr believes that he needs a standing of at least 15 percent to qualify for admittance in presidential debates. Paul raised more than $35 million and the former Georgia congressman certainly needs that amount and much more to seriously compete with Obama and McCain.
However, Ike Hall, who coordinated Paul's Georgia campaign, believes that some Paul supporters might vote for Constitution Party nominee Chuck Baldwin, Barack Obama or John McCain. James Sibold is the chairman of the Dekalb County, Georgia Republican Party and he is happy that Paul dropped out of the race.
''I'm really glad, because maybe now I can co-opt all those people into Republican races.''
Ralph Nader also chimed in stating that he is a natural Paul ally because he opposes the Iraq war and the Patriot Act. Many analysts claim that Barr would badly trail Obama and McCain even if he received all the votes of the more than 1.16 million people who cast their ballots for Paul in the Republican primaries and caucuses.
''But, with a close race between those two expected, Barr's total could be the difference in a number of states.''
Paul has always promoted limited government. Barr has always believed in cutting government spending and would work on getting a handle on entitlement spending. Nader opposes the war in Iraq and is a fierce defender of civil liberties. Libertarians regard Nader as a big government Socialist. Barr should get more Paul supporters than Nader. Besides, Paul was once a Libertarian and was their presidential nominee in 1988.
I can't believe too many Paul supporters will vote for McCain or Obama. Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin is a possibility but he may be too much of a social conservative. Libertarians seem to focus more on taxes, spending, regulations and personal freedom than religious and moral aspects. They are ''pro-choice'' on everything which makes them ideologically consistent. Baldwin is much more of a religious, evangelical conservative than Barr or Paul. Obviously, it's up to each voter to make these decisions for themselves.
