"We realized that basically not a single well-rounded campaign had been run."

Some bracing honesty in a detailed and well-rounded picture of the state of the Libertarian Party post-2006 elections, via this Third Party Watch interview with the Party's Executive Director Shane Cory. A sample:

There is no putting lipstick on our election results this year. We ran too few candidates and of those candidates, not many received even a moderate level of support (man hours and money).

This led to incomplete campaigns. Some candidates did well with media but didn't have the volunteer resources/time for fundraising efforts. Others did well with fundraising but generated no media. In talking to our Candidate Tracker coordinator, Sean Haugh, we realized that basically not a single well-rounded campaign had been run.

Let me be clear in saying that this is not a failure of our candidates, but of our organization. Being a candidate alone is a Herculean task. Being a candidate who books the media, stuffs the envelopes and handles the accounting is impossible. From the national level to the local level, we have to do a better job of offering support to our most valuable assets, our candidates.

It's long, but interesting throughout. The similarly long and detailed comments thread is also worth reading through for an even more well-rounded picture of the LP's present and prospects in the view of many past and future candidates and party watchers.

Comments

[jf]

It was interesting, and thank you for the link.

I’ll slog through the comment thread next, but only because I still believe in the LP as a viable party and am curious to see if anyone has any good ideas to make it work.

[jf]

Ok, the comment thread did lead me to something interesting:

Doug Stanhope in 2008!

[highnumber]

I heard Stanhope on Penn Jillette’s radio show. They did discuss his candidacy. Maybe in the presence of another showbiz guy he couldn’t allow himself to be very serious, but I couldn’t get too much of a feel for him as a real candidate.

[Warren]

It’s long, but interesting throughout. The similarly long and detailed comments thread is also worth reading through…

Oh Brian, didn’t you get the memo. The LP is nothing but, and forever will remain, just a collection of impotent wackos. Only losers pay them any mind. Serious political aficionados only back major party candidates and hope next time things will get better.

[jf]

Warren,

If there were an internet award category for “post most dripping with irony” you would win for sure. Well done.

[Robert]

“We are a political party. Our job is to find and elect Libertarians.”

True, but that does nothing to justify the existence of the party in the first place.

[Thomas Paine\'s Goiter]

Wow, the LP in disarray, what a shock. Maybe if they’d stop playing grabass with each other over minutia and rules of order and other bullshit, they’d be able to remove their heads from their rectums.

[Akira MacKenzie]

We are a political party. Our job is to find and elect Libertarians.

And what “Libertarians” has the LP presented us with? Black helicopter watching wackos who turn their skin blue with home-remedy antibiotics, self-proclaimed “druids,” anti-tax scam artists whose presidential campaign platform is to blow up the UN building with VP running has a degree in New Age nonsense from a diploma mill? Bob Barr? THAT is the best the Party can find?

It shouldn’t be too hard to find people who are for economic freedom AND personal liberty who are sane and reasonable. However, that’s a little hard to when many in the LP are obsessed with ideological purity (with the exception to Mr. Barr). In the end, all you end up with is a but of loons obsessed with repealing the gold standard and seat belt laws.

[Akira MacKenzie]

Edit: …with a running mate who has a “degree”…

[kwais]

I dunno, maybe if the LP focuses on local elections, that might be a better way?

[Eric Dondero]

Doug Stanhope is most likely not going to run. I was rooting for him early on, then he crapped out.

But… it looks like another, even bigger Celebrity may enter the Libertarian fray. From the Sports Entertainment & Oddsmaking World, Wayne Allyn Root is tossing around the idea.

Root recently appeared on Fox News, ESPN, ABC Sports and other shows, plus was featured in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, on his possible candidacy.

The famous Ladbrokes.com out of London is even giving him 250 to 1 odds for being the next President.

Root’s web site: http://www.millionairerepublican.com

[DeepSouth]

The Libertarian Party can no longer Stay The Course. It is in a Conflict It Cannot Win. The only solution is a Change of Course. Bring The Candidates Home Now.

[Mike Laursen]

Akira pretty much nailed the basic problem. But to make positive suggestions:
* Loosen up on the idea that we’ve already figured out the one true way of thinking about freedom. Encourage open thought within the party. The default should be to trust that somebody who says they are a libertarian and care about freedom has their heart is in the right place, even if some of their ideas don’t accord with yours.
* Make the party a bigger tent. Welcome people who aren’t purely libertarian. You can teach them more about libertarianism after they join.
* Stop worrying about dues-paying membership and worry about the number of people who register and vote Libertarian.
* Structure the party as more of a market than a top-down authoritarian hierarchy. Use libertarian ideas about organization within the Libertarian Party.
* Concentrate on growing grass roots support and local races.