http://www.cnn.com/…

With 97% of precincts reporting at time of posting.

http://www.ballot-access.org/…

This year, 23 presidential candidates are on the ballot in at least one state. That is the highest in U.S. history except for 1992, when there were also 23. Generally there are more such candidates in periods of great public unhappiness.

Here is a list, with the predominant party label for each, and the percentage of the voters that will see their names on the ballot:

Barack Obama, Democratic, 100.0%
John McCain, Republican, 100.0%
Bob Barr, Libertarian, 94.5%
Ralph Nader, independent, 85.2%
Cynthia McKinney, Green, 70.5%
Chuck Baldwin, Constitution, 59.8%
Gloria La Riva, Socialism and Liberation, 26.8%
Roger Calero or his stand-in James Harris, Socialist Workers, 25.0%
Brian Moore, Socialist, 21.5%
Alan Keyes, America’s Independent Party, 18.1%
Charles Jay, Boston Tea, 10.0%
Gene Amondson, Prohibition, 9.6%
Thomas Robert Stevens, Objectivist, 8.0%
Richard Duncan, independent, 4.6%
John Joseph Polachek, New, 4.3%
Jeffrey Boss, Vote Here, 3.0%
Jeffrey Wamboldt, We the People, 2.5%
Ron Paul, Taxpayers/Constitution, 2.0%
Jonathan E. Allen, HeartQuake ‘08, 1.7%
Bradford Lyttle, U.S. Pacifist, 1.7%
Frank McEnulty, unaffiliated, 1.7%
Ted Weill, Reform, .9%
George Phillies, Libertarian, .6%

Poor George Phillies at the bottom. I would vote for him or Paul if available in New Jersey. Sadly they are not.

After 6 rounds of voting Bob Barr has been nominated as the 2008 Libertarian Party candidate for President of the United States.The final results:

Bob Barr: 324
Mary Ruwart: 276
NOTA: 4

I was hoping for Ruwart. At this point I do not believe Barr to be authentically libertarian. This may be the end of the LP as we knew it if the conservative takeover conspiracy is to be believed.

5th vote:

Ruwart: 229
Barr: 223
Root: 165
NOTA: 6

Root will be dropped from the next ballot. Even though there are only two candidates left, they must get a majority of delegate votes to be nominated. “None of the above” and write-ins are included in the total.

Root just endorsed Barr and said he hopes to be the VP candidate.

4th vote:

Barr: 202
Ruwart: 202
Root: 149
Gravel: 76
NOTA: 2

Gravel will dropped from the next ballot.

3rd vote:

Barr: 186
Ruwart: 186
Root: 146
Gravel: 76
Phillies: 31
NOTA: 2

Phillies will be dropped off the next ballot. Phillies got up and declined to endorse anyone.

2nd vote:

Barr: 188
Ruwart: 162
Root: 138
Gravel: 71
Phillies: 36
Kubby: 32
NOTA: 1

Kubby will now be eliminated on the next ballot. Kubby got up and endorsed Ruwart.

1st vote:

Bob Barr: 153
Mary Ruwart: 152
Wayne Root: 123
Mike Gravel: 71
Geo. Phillies: 49
Steve Kubby: 41
Mike Jingozian: 23
Ron Paul (WI): 6
Christine Smith: 6
NOTA: 2

Jingozian and Smith will be dropped from the next ballot. Following the vote announcement, Mike Jingozian spoke and endorsed Mike Gravel. Christine Smith got up and gave an anti-endorsement of Bob Barr.

http://www.bobbarr2008.com/

http://thirdpartywatch.com/…

According to bloggage at the New York Times (confirmed by other sources), Bob Barr announced today that he’s (drum roll, please) … forming an exploratory committee.

Barr’s newly launched web site also bears the “exploratory committee” label.

Don’t know about y’all, but I’ve never heard of a prospective presidential candidate forming an “exploratory committee” weeks after his party’s only primaries, less than two months before his party’s presidential nominating convention, and only seven months before the general election.

Then again, I’ve never heard of a two-term former US Senator and Democratic presidential candidate jumping the partisan fence one day and declaring for his new party’s presidential nomination the next day, either.

It’s turning into a very strange election year indeed.

It sure is. The LP lineup is very thick. The convention is going to be really crazy I’m sure. Ruwart, Barr, Phillies or Imperato? Decisions, decisions.

Barr’s site looks awfully familiar doesn’t it?

California:

1. Christine Smith : 25.1%
2. Steve Kubby : 17.0%
3. Wayne A. Root : 13.8%

No one else broke 10%. Phillies got 5.0%. Interestingly according to Eric Garris over at Third Party Watch Ron Paul may have actually won:

[I]t appears that Smith was beaten by “write-in votes.” The 12 ballot candidates received a total of 13,750 votes statewide, out of about 80,000 who are registered statewide.

A check of major counties shows that, in each case, the number of “write-in votes” exceeded Smith’s total. For example, in Los Angeles, the largest county in the state (making up a third of the state’s population) reported 2,157 write-in votes, compared to Smith’s total of 746. Orange County reported 1,279 write-ins compared to Smith’s total of 352. San Francisco County reported 145 write-ins, compared to Smith’s total of 86. Alameda County reported 138 write-ins, compared to Smith’s total of 133.

Unfortunately, the write-in votes will not be counted, since no one filed as an official write-in candidate, but one can make an educated guess as to what candidate LP registrants would write in.

Missouri:

1. UNCOMMITTED : 46.8%
2. Wanye A. Root : 18.1%
3. Steve Kubby : 9.6%
4. George Phillies : 8.0%

Arizona:

1. George Phillies
2. Wayne A. Root
3. Barry Hess

• 9:00AM Watched a Libertarian debate featuring: Alden Link, Daniel Imperato, George Phillies, Wayne Allyn Root, and Michael Jingozian. It was moderated by Gardner Goldsmith and former Libertarian presidential candidate Don Gorman. Part 1, Part 2. Link was less enthusiastic than Fred Thompson. He admitted that the only reason for his candidacy was to raise awareness for and push nuclear power. Imperato had a problem understanding that if you place your face so close to the mic that you could kiss it it doesn’t sound good. He’s not even a libertarian. He’s anti non-American. He wants to place fees on everyone else who comes in contact with us from naturalization to exports. Phillies had the most consistent LP platform. He also appears to be the most educated on the issues in general and is very realistic and frank about what he would and could do as president. He also fully admits that’s an incredibly unlikely situation and he’s more interested in making the LP a legit party in the eyes of the general public. Root is a libertarian Republican really but more Republican than libertarian unlike Ron Paul. He’s really got the attitude and money experience that would be nice to see in a LP candidate but his platform isn’t nearly as good as Phillies’. He does have an interesting plan on growing the party which I’d like to see him do regardless of whether he wins the LP candidacy. Jingozian wasn’t very motivated. I didn’t feel that he was putting all that much effort into his candidacy and came across as ignorant often on topics. There were people video recording this but at the time of posting I’ve been unable to find it online.
• 12:00PM Closing Ceremony. Bob Schultz introduces John McManus of the John Birch Society. He have the speech called What About the Constitution? At around 1:10PM Ron Paul was introduced. He brought Barry Goldwater Jr. with him. The video below isn’t complete but it’s a decent speech.
• After Paul had left the room people started to leave and xyz and myself decided to head home. We went around to say goodbye to our new acquaintances. Gardner Goldsmith, Mark Edge, etc. Unfortunately some people were busy dealing with Paul so Chris Lawless, Glen Jacobs and a few others were missed. I met some Objectivists during the forum, both who hate and like Paul, who invited me to the Atlas Society’s Summer Seminar. It’s 2 weeks after PorcFest which I’m more interested in attending so I it’s not likely I’ll attend (that and it’s in Oregon and I’m not in agreement with some of the major tenets of Objectivism as far as I currently understand them).
• We got in the car, went to exit the parking deck and there was a large group of Paul supporters blocking the exit. Seems Dr. Paul was just leaving. We crept through the back of the crowd and headed home. Took about 4 hours.