Intellectual Property Law

Former Georgia congressman Bob Barr is hoping to harness this election cycle's multi-million dollar wave of dissatisfaction with the GOP as he launches his bid to become the Libertarian party's presidential nominee.

In this July 22, 2004, file photo Rep. Bob Barr, R-Georgia, participates in discussion at the National Conference of State Legislatures in Salt Lake City. Now, a former Republican representative, Barr announced Monday, May 12, 2008, that he's running for president as a Libertarian.
(AP Photo/Steve C. Wilson)

"I think there would be a natural inclination on the part of (Texas Republican congressman) Ron Paul supporters to support my candidacy," says Barr in an interview.

Barr, who represented Georgia's 7th congressional district between 1995 and 2003, announced his plans to run for president as a third party Libertarian candidate Monday.

"Ron is not really an active candidate right now. In general terms, we both certainly stand for a dramatic shrinking of the size and scope of the federal government," he says. "I think Ron Paul supporters, as well as Ron, would share my interest in moving our country back to constitutional rule, re-invigorating our state to get back to the rule of law, and opposing the expansion of the government's powers in the Patriot Act."

Should Barr win the Libertarian Party's nomination at its convention later this May, he could quite possibly rack up enough support to cost the Republicans a victory in a close  general election race in November.

"I think he could certainly take away votes from (John) McCain -- the potential is definitely there," says Mike Turk, a Republican internet consultant who's worked on both former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson's 2008 campaign as well as George Bush's 2004 re-election campaign. "Could he be the Ross Perot of 2008 and take away 15 percent of the vote? There's enough potential I suppose -- there's certainly enough dissatisfaction out there from libertarian conservatives and some social conservatives."

Paul hasn't dropped out of the race, even though McCain 's presidential campaign has collected the required number of delegates to win the party's nominating convention early this September. Campaign spokesman Jesse Benton says that Paul wants to win enough delegates to be able to get the Republican party to adopt some of his ideas for the party platform at the summer convention.

Benton said Monday that there aren't any plans for Paul to endorse Barr. 

"Dr. Paul is continuing to try to work within the Republican party to bring it back to the traditions of limited government and personal liberty," Benton says. 

Nevertheless, Barr is is setting up an infrastructure to try to siphon off some of that Paulite passion.

He's hired Terra Eclipse, a Santa Cruz, California-based web design and consulting shop that designed Ron Paul's site. And in an April appearance on Fox News, Barr pointed to Ron Paul's support base as a reason for his faith that he'll be able to find enough money to finance a sustainable campaign.

Does the fund-raising bar look familiar? Barr has hired the same web consulting firm as Ron Paul's to help him online
Screen shot courtesy of Bob Barr's campaign

"There is a large body of folks out there that fall into the independent movement in the center," he said during that interview. "[There are] a lot of young people who are willing to give in large numbers small, reasonable amounts of money to support a true independent voice and choice."

Despite losing his long-shot bid, Paul's campaign became known for the fervor and money-raising prowess of its supporters.

One supporter, Trevor Lyman, effectively made the word "money-bomb" a part of the presidential campaign lexicon after his organized effort managed to elicit $6 million out of Paul supporters.

Paul's campaign was notable not only for its consistent success at raising money, but also for its supporters' unrivaled level of energy, creativity and sometimes zealous passion in getting the word out in "meat-space" for their candidate.

But much of Paul's campaign finance raising  success was driven by the self-organized efforts of impassioned supporters rather than simply having a good web site -- although having features on the site to inspire those supporters seemed to help.    

"I think the success of online campaigns depends on having a good candidate who's got that charisma that we look for in a president," says Turk. "It's about having the right message, and a message that resonates with the base online. The 'X factor' is the charisma. I don't know if the personality factor is there enough to make him the phenomenon that Ron Paul was."

See Also:

• Ron Paul Supporters Make History with $6 Million Online Haul ...
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• Ron Paul Blimp Flies
• Ron Paul Vows To Fight On, Calls for March on Washington
• Ron Paul To Stay In Race Despite Poor Showing on Super Tuesday