Three candidates, representing three parties, debating as equals on the same stage, on television.
(Photo Credit: Matt Born, Wilmington Star-News)
And the voters get to decide.
My respects to the NC Bar Association. As sponsors, they got to decide whether to include the Libertarian Party candidate for US Senate, Dr. Michael Beitler, in the debate. And for the first time ever, they did.
So, it's up to us, now. We have a seat up on the stage. We just have to use it.
The most recent poll I have seen on the Senate race....
Burr 50%, Marshall 40%, Beitler 6%. The crosstabs are interesting, in the poll. For example, Beitler gets 4% among "Conservatives," 5% among "Moderates," and 8% among "Liberals." The Libertarians need to run as the center-left party, and emphasize the futiilty of the war on drugs and the war on gay people.
4 comments:
and the war on Scotsmen too :-)
Libertarians:
Pro-Choice on everything
Anti-War on everything
Much of the credit for the invitation to debate goes to a former NC Libertarian candidate, who had to struggle to get invited, but then performed beautifully. Thanks, Mungowitz.
Dr. Beitler, for his part, made good use of his opportunity. The best part is this: now, we have a tradition, Libertarians included.
I was really excited to see Dr. Beitler included in the debate, and I thought he did OK but it felt like he was trying too hard to "play the game". Sen. Burr is so f'n slick, I don't think there is a libertarian alive who could out-schmooze him.
The only thing I really got from Dr. Beitler was that the other two paries are in bed with big business, blah, blah, blah. It may be true, but it's so cliche at this point that it doesn't mean anything. Someone in our party needs to explain to all the non-libertarians out there that a big corporations won't bother wasting their money on a government that doesn't have the power to help them. As it so happens, under the gov't controlled by Rs and Ds, buying candidates is a pretty good investment. From the party polling at 6%, the not taking PAC money angle seems pretty flaccid, like the high school loser preemptively rejecting the popular girl that he has no chance with anyway.
Maybe instead of the center-left party, the Libertarians should try running as the party of reality. Instead of tiptoeing around some of the tough questions, finally say what we all know is the truth. The budget needs to be cut and it's going to suck but it has to happen. The gov't can't afford a war on drugs. The gov't can't afford a war on the Middle East. The gov't can't afford to ship out all the Mexicans. The gov't has no say in who's sleeping with who or who sells what to whom.
Please, God! Send a Libertarian candidate who is unafraid of losing an election today to gain some credibility for tomorrow. Let's not underestimate the power of "I told you so."
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