BREAKING: Bob Barr Wins LP Presidential Nomination

After six ballots in which he was virtually (and sometimes precisely) tied with left-libertarian Mary Ruwart, former GOP Congressman Bob Barr has won the Libertarian Party's presidential nomination for 2008.

Eric Garris reports on Antiwar.com:

After 6 ballots, the Libertarian Party national convention has nominated former Congressman Bob Barr. Barr has turned around on many major issues since leaving congress. He now favors:

– Ending the Iraq War, withdrawal of all American troops from all foreign countries.

– Ending the federal War on Drugs.

– Repealing the Defense of Marriage Amendment, which he had authored.

– Repeal of the PATRIOT Act and Real ID.

Barr's nomination came after third-place finisher Wayne Allyn Root endorsed him over Ruwart, a longtime libertarian activist. (By contrast, Barr joined the party just about two years ago.)

Congratulations to Bob Barr and to the Libertarian Party.

A writer for National Review once described 1992 LP presidential candidate Andre Marrou, who served two terms in the Alaska state legislature, as having a résumé that, for Libertarians, was the equivalent of Elliot Richardson's. Not since Ron Paul in 1988 has the LP nominated a presidential candidate with as much credibility as a vote-getter, policymaker, and public speaker.

Bob Barr will represent the party and its issues well in the months to come. Let's hope he can get enough attention from the MSM that he can affect the terms of the debate and force the two bigger party candidates to discuss things like ending the War on Drugs and repealing the most repugnant components of the USA PATRIOT Act.

Update: The media is already getting the story wrong. The AP reports:

Barr beat research scientist Mary Ruwart, who was the party's presidential nominee in 1983 and vice presidential candidate in 1992. Barr left the GOP in 2006 over what he called bloated spending and civil liberties intrusions by the Bush administration.

Mary Ruwart has never been on the LP ticket. The 1984 (not 1983) presidential candidate was David Bergland. The 1992 vice presidential candidate was my friend, Dr. Nancy Lord. I know, because Nancy and I shared a hotel room during the nominating convention, and it was through her that I became the chief foreign policy advisor to the 1992 LP presidential campaign. (Mary Ruwart was a candidate for the veep slot that year and she lost to Nancy.)