2008 Libertarian National Convention
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, on behalf of the U.S. Libertarian Party, nominated Bob Barr for president and Wayne Allyn Root for vice president in the 2008 presidential election. The convention was televised nationally on C-SPAN.[2]
2008 presidential election | |
.jpg.webp) Nominees Barr and Root | |
| Convention | |
|---|---|
| Date(s) | May 22–26, 2008 |
| City | Denver, Colorado |
| Venue | Sheraton Hotel |
| Chair | Bill Redpath |
| Notable speakers | Dr. Mary Ruwart |
| Candidates | |
| Presidential nominee | Bob Barr of Georgia |
| Vice presidential nominee | Wayne Allyn Root of Nevada |
| Other candidates | Mary Ruwart of Texas Mike Gravel of Alaska Steve Kubby of California, activist George Phillies of Massachusetts |
 2008 U.S. presidential election | |
|---|---|
| Democratic Party | |
| Republican Party | |
| Minor parties | |
| Related races | |
| |
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]
The theme of this convention was A Better Choice for America.[4]
Two non-binding primaries preceded the convention.
Platform
In 2006 the self-styled Libertarian Party "reformers" at the National Convention in Portland, Oregon took out 46 platform planks detailing party positions, leaving just fifteen. In 2008 more "radical" libertarians attempted to restore that platform. They did not succeed, but they narrowly prevented the reformers from softening the language of the non-aggression principle in the party's “Statement of Principles”.[5] The revised platform did replace the plank on secession,[6] 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."[7]
Presidential candidates
| Libertarian Party presidential candidates, 2008 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Home state | Profession | Campaign | |
 |
Bob Barr | Georgia | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 7th district (1995–2003) |
 (Campaign • Positions • Website) |
 |
Mike Gravel | Alaska | U.S. Senator from Alaska (1969–1981) |
(Campaign • Positions • Website) |
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Daniel Imperato | Florida | Businessman | |
_(1).jpg.webp) |
Mike Jingozian | Oregon | Software developer | |
.jpg.webp) |
Steve Kubby | California | Libertarian activist | (Campaign) |
 |
Robert Milnes | New Jersey | Activist | |
 |
George Phillies | Massachusetts | Professor of Physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute | |
_(a).jpg.webp) |
Wayne Allyn Root | Nevada | Businessman, media personality, author, TV producer | (Campaign) |
 |
Mary Ruwart | Texas | Retired biomedical researcher; Libertarian speaker, writer, and activist | (Campaign) |
|
Christine Smith | Colorado | Humanitarian activist, and writer | |
Voting for presidential nomination
First ballot
After the first round, six of the eight candidates running moved on to the second round of voting. Mike Jingozian and Christine Smith were both eliminated due to their small percentage of votes. Jingozian endorsed former Senator 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 | 24.3% | ||||||||||||
| Mary Ruwart | 152 | 24.1% | ||||||||||||
| Wayne Allyn Root | 123 | 19.5% | ||||||||||||
| Mike Gravel | 71 | 11.3% | ||||||||||||
| George Phillies | 49 | 7.8% | ||||||||||||
| Steve Kubby | 41 | 6.5% | ||||||||||||
| Mike Jingozian | 23 | 3.7% | ||||||||||||
| Christine Smith | 6 | 1.0% | ||||||||||||
| Ron Paul (write-in) | 6 | 1.0% | ||||||||||||
| Penn Jillette (write-in) | 3 | 0.5% | ||||||||||||
| NOTA | 2 | 0.3% | ||||||||||||
| Daniel Imperato (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | ||||||||||||
| Stephen Colbert (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
Second ballot
After the second round, five of the six candidates running moved on to 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 | 29.8% | |||||||||||
| Mary Ruwart | 162 | 25.7% | |||||||||||
| Wayne Allyn Root | 138 | 21.9% | |||||||||||
| Mike Gravel | 73 | 11.6% | |||||||||||
| George Phillies | 36 | 5.7% | |||||||||||
| Steve Kubby | 32 | 5.1% | |||||||||||
| NOTA | 1 | 0.2% | |||||||||||
| Stephen Colbert (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
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 | 29.6% | |||||||||
| Mary Ruwart | 186 | 29.6% | |||||||||
| Wayne Allyn Root | 146 | 23.3% | |||||||||
| Mike Gravel | 78 | 12.4% | |||||||||
| George Phillies | 31 | 4.9% | |||||||||
| Ron Paul (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | |||||||||
| |||||||||||
Fourth ballot
After the fourth vote, three of the four candidates went on to 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 | 32.0% | ||||||||
| Mary Ruwart | 202 | 32.0% | ||||||||
| Wayne Allyn Root | 149 | 23.6% | ||||||||
| Mike Gravel | 76 | 12.0% | ||||||||
| NOTA | 3 | 0.5% | ||||||||
| ||||||||||
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 | 36.8% | ||||||||
| Bob Barr | 223 | 35.8% | ||||||||
| Wayne Allyn Root | 165 | 26.5% | ||||||||
| NOTA | 6 | 1.0% | ||||||||
| ||||||||||
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.[8]
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% | |||||||
| |||||||||
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 Burns | 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% | |||||||||
| |||||||||||
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% | ||||||||
| Unknown Richard (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | ||||||||
| Mike Ferguson (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | ||||||||
| Mary Ruwart (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | ||||||||
| ||||||||||
See also
- 2008 United States third-party presidential candidates
- Libertarian Party of Colorado
- Other 2008 American political conventions
References
- Richard L. Johnson. "Starwood to Re-brand and Renovate Former Adams Mark Hotels as Sheraton Dallas Hotel and Sheraton Denver Hotel / February 2008". Hotel-online.com. Retrieved 2012-06-27.
- "Database Error". Archived from the original on 2008-06-04. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
- "Libertarian Party Bylaws". Lp.org. Archived from the original on 2008-06-05. Retrieved 2012-06-27.
- LibertyWillWin.com (cited 12 February 2016).
- 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.
- "2004 Libertarian Party Platform". Lpedia.org. 2012-05-06. Retrieved 2012-06-27.
- National Platform of the Libertarian Party Archived May 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Adopted in Convention, May 2008, Denver, Colorado.
- "Press Releases: Presidential and VP Vote Totals – Updated Live!". LP.org. 2008-05-25. Archived from the original on 2008-05-28. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
External links
- Official convention website at the Wayback Machine (archived July 30, 2008)
- LP News (January 2007)
- Official convention guide at the Wayback Machine (archived 2008-05-20)
- "Freedom Freaks" published by The New Republic
