Bye-Bye, Mike!

Alas, the end has arrived for Mike Gravel. He was aiming for the Libertarian nomination for president, but he only lasted until the fourth ballot. After two more ballots, former Republican Congressman Bob Barr won the prize. Gravel has given us much entertainment through the campaign, it will be too bad to see him go.

But meanwhile, now we've got Bob Barr, a known quantity, on a bona fide ticket. But although people have heard of the Libertarians, they rarely vote for them. According to Wikepedia (I know), the Libertarian ticket has only managed to make more than 1 percent a grand total of one time (and that just barely). Barr's promising to make this a real race, but he'll need to be polling 15 percent to wrangle an invitation to any of the debates. Will he be able to have an effect on the race? You don't need a lot to make a difference, I guess. Nader only got about 2.5 percent in 2000, but I suppose it was the right 2.5 percent. Barr's promising to make a strong run, and various Democrats and Republicans are making sounds that they don't like the figure at the top of their tickets (or presumed to be at the top, as the case may be), so will Barr be able to poach some votes there? It'll be worth watching.