Among other difficulties I have with the Rasmussen analysis is
that Cato Institute and others have identified 7% of likely
voters as libertarian, with up to 15% of the total population
self-identifying as libertarian in their views.

> I dont know any libertarians that would vote for either McCain or Obama.
> Are there any here?

I'm part of a Facebook group now 667 members who refuse to
vote for either McCain or Obama.

> The alternatives I hear about are:
> 	Baldwin

The Constitution Party's candidate.  I would mark him "not bad"
in most areas.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Baldwin
He is a Christian conservative, more principled about it than
some, and bad in most of the areas where Christian conservatives
aren't libertarian at all.  I think he's opposed to the war in
Iraq, though, so good marks there.

> 	Barr

The Libertarian Party's candidate.  I would mark him "not
believable" in all areas.  A Christian conservative Republican
who has donned libertarian outfits for the sake of expedience.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Barr   I think Barr is a drug
war warrior, a gutless stooge of the Republican party in his
votes on the USAPATRIOT act, and generally bad on all liberty
issues.  Two weeks before winning the LP nomination he was on
Fox News insisting that he would not legalize drugs, and the
day after winning the nomination he was on CNN glorifying his
Defense of Marriage act.  He has never satisfied the pagans
in the LP about his desire to launch a pogrom against Wiccans
in the military.

> 	Paul (writein)

I think write-in votes are looked at.  I have heard that the
60-plus votes for Harold Krassny written in for various races
in Arizona in 2006 caused much consternation.

> 	Why Bother?

You might like Charles Jay who is the presidential candidate
for both the Personal Choice Party and the Boston Tea Party.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Jay  See his blog-like
campaign site at http://www.cj08.com/

Unfortunately, porn star and gun shop owner Marilyn Chambers
is not his running mate this time.  But Tom Knapp is an okay
guy.  http://tomknappforcongress.com/

Knapp is the Boston Tea Party candidate for vice president
and is also running for a Congressional seat in Missouri.

His blog site for his VP bid is
  http://myfrontporchcampaign.com/

Several months ago, he asked for my help keeping the Boston
Tea Party alive.  Since it seemed destined to disappear into
the dingy attic of libertarian political entities discarded,
I agreed.  Really, I was just going to help a friend until he
got over his separation anxiety.

Then Bob Barr got nominated in Denver, and all kinds of very
sincere people developed an affliction, I mean, an interest
in the Boston Tea Party.  Party membership has quadrupled
since then, and there are now state affiliates in 8 states,
with about a dozen more in progress.  The party has completed
the paperwork and paid the fee to be on the ballot in Colorado,
though the state there has not graced us with any official
notice about whether our guys are on.  We're working on Florida
ballot access, which is supposed to be pretty easy.

And, of course, volunteers in many other states are doing their
bit to put Jay/Knapp on ballots.  Whether that means you would
have the option of voting for them, I don't know.

The party's main site is http://www.bostontea.us/ and there
are Facebook, and, I'm told, Myspace pages for the party, as well.

Regards,

Jim