The 2008 Libertarian National Convention was held from May 22 to May 26, 2008, at the Sheraton Hotel (formerly the Adam's Mark Hotel) 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.
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.
The theme of this convention was A Better Choice for America.LibertyWillWin.com (cited 12 February 2016).
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”.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. The revised platform did replace the plank on secession, 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."National Platform of the Libertarian Party , Adopted in Convention, May 2008, Denver, Colorado.
Presidential candidates
Libertarian Party presidential candidates, 2008Candidate Home stateProfessionCampaignBob BarrGeorgiaMember of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 7th district(1995–2003)(Campaign • Positions • Website)Mike Gravel AlaskaU.S. Senator from Alaska(1969–1981)(Campaign • Positions • Website)Daniel Imperato FloridaBusinessmanMike Jingozian OregonSoftware developerSteve Kubby CaliforniaLibertarian activist(Campaign)Robert Milnes New JerseyActivistGeorge Phillies MassachusettsProfessor of Physics at Worcester Polytechnic InstituteWayne Allyn Root NevadaBusinessman, media personality, author, TV producer(Campaign)Mary Ruwart TexasRetired biomedical researcher; Libertarian speaker, writer, and activist(Campaign)Christine Smith ColoradoHumanitarian 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. + 2008 Libertarian Party National Convention total vote count: Round 1 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%Color key: 1st place 2nd place 3rd place 4th place 5th place 6th place 7th place
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. + 2008 Libertarian Party National Convention total vote count: Round 2 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%Color key: 1st place 2nd place 3rd place 4th place 5th place 6th place (tied)
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. + 2008 Libertarian Party National Convention total vote count: Round 3 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%Color key: 1st place (tied) 2nd place 3rd place 4th place
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. + 2008 Libertarian Party National Convention total vote count: Round 4 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%Color key: 1st place (tied) 2nd place 3rd place
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. + 2008 Libertarian Party National Convention total vote count: Round 5 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%Color key: 1st place 2nd place 3rd place
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.
Ruwart made a concession speech following the announcement of the results with her campaign staff on the stage. + 2008 Libertarian Party National Convention total vote count: Round 6 Candidate Total votes cast Percent of votes cast Bob Barr 324 51.8% Mary Ruwart 276 44.1% NOTA 26 4.2%Color key: 1st place 2nd place
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. + 2008 Libertarian Party National Convention total vote count: Round 1 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%Color key: 1st place 2nd place 3rd place 4th place
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. + 2008 Libertarian Party National Convention total vote count: Round 2 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%Color key: 1st place 2nd place 3rd place (tied)
See also 2008 United States third-party presidential candidates Libertarian Party of Colorado Other 2008 American political conventions Green Party Democratic Party Republican Party
References
External links
LP News (January 2007)
"Freedom Freaks" published by The New Republic