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Thursday, May 22, 2008
Are you really voting for Barr?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If Barack Obama is the 2008 version of George McGovern, it looks like former Georgia Congressman could be this year’s version of Ross Perot. A nationwide Zogby poll of 1,076 likely voters conducted Thursday through Sunday puts Obama up 10 points over John McCain. It suggests that Barr’s Libertarian campaign — assuming he gets that party’s nomination this weekend in Denver — could inflict serious damage by siphoning off voters McCain needs.
Barr comes in with about 3 percent in Zogby’s poll of general election match-ups, to 47 for Obama, 37 for McCain, 4 for Ralph Nader and 10 percent undecided or for others. Zogby finds that Barr gets the support of 10 percent of those who describe themselves as very conservative and 22 percent among those whose philosophy would be considered libertarian, though they may or may not be members of that party.
For McCain the danger is that the more he tracks to the left, the greater Barr’s appeal to libertarian and very conservative Republicans who have never been enamored with him. It should be noted, of course, that unless Obama finds a way to appeal to whites who are not part of the liberal base that got him through the primaries, he has electability problems too. And there’s always Nader camped out nearby ready to pull off disgruntled Democrats if he tries to move to the center. Democratic flight is a lesser concern, though, because die-hards still blame Nader for putting George W. Bush in the White House.
I’ve previously stated my absolute unwillingness to vote again for any third party candidate. If I decide I want Obama in the White House, I’ll vote for him directly and not use Bob Barr as the conduit. The only way that vote could happen, though, would be for McCain to signal that he loves David Souter and that he, too, will set a firm timetable for surrender in Iraq. Otherwise, I’m with him.
Anybody here actually intend to vote for Barr? If so, explain your thinking.
