It is a 1,404-mile drive from Atlanta to Denver.

Ten Georgia Libertarians took off in a rented van from Atlanta at 7 p.m. Wednesday, with 21 hours of interstate ahead of them.

Mikki K. Harris (ENLARGE)

Georgia Libertarians prepare to hit the road for their party's national convention in Denver, Co. Most taking the trip in the van support Bob Barr for the candidacy.

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Lance Lamberton of Austell, one of the 10, was not looking forward to it.

"I don't like long car rides anyway," he said. "But this is going to be with a bunch of smelly Libertarians. And I don't think there's going to be any girls on the trip, either."

So why put himself through such an ordeal?

"Because Bob Barr is running," he said. "He's very presidential. He's very credible."

Barr is the former Republican congressman from Cobb County who is already in Denver, where the 2008 Libertarian National Convention began Thursday. The former prosecutor and four-term congressman hopes to leave there Sunday with the title of Libertarian nominee for president. Lamberton and crew plan to be there to help. But not, apparently, the entire crew.

Doug Craig of Griffin was on the van with Lamberton. He said there were eight Barr supporters on board, with one undecided and one backing California Libertarian Steve Kubby.

At about 9 a.m. eastern time Thursday, the Georgians had pulled over at a truck stop in Kansas. While there, they just happened to catch Barr on a radio talk show.

The Kubby backer, however, was asleep in the van, with a surprise in store.

"He passed out," Craig said, "and we put George Phillies stickers all over him. He doesn't realize it yet."

Phillies, of Massachusetts, is another Libertarian presidential candidate. There are, in fact, 14 of them, some of whom have been running for more than a year and have been party activists for decades.

Barr joined the Libertarian Party in 2006. While he is by far the candidate best known by the general public, he is unlikely to cruise to the Libertarian nomination. His own campaign manager admitted as much, when he told Reason magazine this week that it could take several rounds of voting Sunday before Barr, hopefully, emerges with the nomination.

Georgia's Libertarian Party has 40 delegates to the convention, where between 800 and 1,000 delegates will decide the nomination. According to a state party survey of its delegation, nearly 75 percent of Georgia delegates plan to vote for Barr.

If the other states' delegates are smart, they'll also pick Barr, said Georgia party chairman Daniel Adams. "As far as the Libertarian Party goes, this is the first time they've actually got, maybe small, but a chance to actually win the election," said Adams, who flew to Denver for the convention. "Bob is a viable candidate. That's what it means."

There doesn't appear to be any scientific polling on the Libertarian race itself, but several reputable pollsters have included Barr in recent surveys about November's general election. Barr gets 7 percent against Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, according to a poll Barr's exploratory committee commissioned from Pulse Opinion Strategies in early April. A poll by Rasmussen Reports from earlier this month showed Barr getting 6 percent nationally.

No other Libertarian candidate would approach that, Craig said. No Libertarian candidate for president ever has. In 1980, Libertarian Edward Clark won 1.06 percent of the vote and his 921,128 votes are the most ever for a Libertarian.

Barr will broaden the party's appeal like no other candidate could, Craig said. And Craig has first-hand knowledge of the struggles Libertarians face. He once ran for the Georgia House from Clayton County as a Libertarian.

"I was a radical," Craig said. "I got like 6 percent. Folks aren't ready for the radical Libertarian. They're ready for the mainstream Libertarian. (Barr) is a guy my dad could vote for. We've got a chance to go to the next level."

The difference between "radical" and "mainstream" Libertarians is not always obvious, Craig understands. He described himself as being "anarcho-capitalist," believing there is "very little need for government." He believes the free market "can take care of almost all problems — school system, health care, the roads."

But, he said, "guys like Bob Barr know we can't go that far, that quick. He'd like to see smaller government in general. He doesn't want to get rid of public schools. He's a little more incrementalist than some of the hard core people."

But to win the nomination, Barr will likely have to win over those hard core Libertarians.

Lamberton said Barr's transition from Republican to Libertarian is real and heart felt.

"I've known him since he was in Congress," Lamberton said. "I knew where he stood on issues. I said, 'Well, he's a good strong social conservative, he doesn't agree with Libertarians on some issues, so he's not a Libertarian."

But, he said, since Barr left Congress, "I saw the evolution and the transformation occur."