Journalists Wonder Why They're Not Paying Attention to Virginia's Libertarian Candidate for Governor

Reason

Media treatment of third-party political candidates usually consists of blowing tumbleweeds and a chorus of crickets interspersed with an occasional "ain't that cute" human interest story. But Republican Ken Cuccinelli and Democrat Terry McAuliffe are so profoundly sucky and scandal-ridden, and Libertarian Robert Sarvis an intriguingly polymath alternative, that journalists are beginning to ask why nobody is giving him the time of day. They're not necessarily covering him themselves, but at least they want to know why nobody else is.

From Watchdog.org:

ALEXANDRIA — Virginians will have three options in November when they mark their choice for governor on the ballot.

But you wouldn't know it from scanning coverage of the contentious race for the commonwealth's highest seat in public office.

It's hard to turn on the TV, read a tweet or open a web browser without seeing ads — usually attack ads — for either Republican Ken Cuccinelli or Democrat Terry McAuliffe. Many pollsters and debate gatekeepers, not to mention media outlets, are leaving Libertarian Robert Sarvis out of the conversation entirely.

And they won't say why.

Likewise, the Roanoke Times editorialized, "Sarvis isn't ready to deliver the State of the Commonwealth speech anytime soon, but he is a bona fide candidate for governor, and he deserves some time in front of the microphone before the debate season ends." A news story in the same paper added, "he's the only candidate in the governor's race not fielding questions about scandals or investigations in an acrid political season with polls showing little enthusiasm for Democrat Terry McAuliffe or Republican Ken Cuccinelli." A. Barton Hinkle (whose columns also appear in Reason) took to the pages of the Richmond Times-Dispatch to castigate journalists and debate organizers alike for ignoring Sarvis.

Even with minimal media coverage, Sarvis is polling as much as seven percent. That may have something to do with the really, really questionable (read: sleazy) business and money connections dogging Cuccinelli and McAuliffe, or it may have to do with Sarvis's credentials as a software developer, attorney, entrepreneur and non-dirtbag.

Either way, journalists are now asking each other why they're not paying attention to the guy. Which, in political coverage, is progress.

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Comments

[MikeP]

God help us, we're Virginia's in the hands of engineers politicians.

[The Deacon]

God help us

consider the Sevo signal lit

[Hyperion]

Don't forget that a significant portion of Virginians live in NOVA. IOW, there's a very good chance that they work for the federal government.

That in itself is probably a non-starter for a Libertarian gubernatorial candidate in Virginia.

[Hyperion]

If Virginia elects the first Libertarian Governor, I promise to move there even if I have to drive 2 hours to work through DC rush hour traffic, just so that I can vote for the first Libertarian governor, ever, in his re-election campaign.

On a more serious subject, I just found some decent Kraut at a local market. It's not as good as my homemade, but I am out of that. So, anyway, I'm slow cooking it with some cubed sirloin steak. Wow, the smell is awesome!

[Res Publica Americana]

Not as awesome as freshly opened No. 7.

[Hyperion]

What's No. 7?

[Gojira]

Well, that's where we go a-ridin' into town, a-whompin' and a-whumpin' every livin' thing that moves within an inch of its life. Except the women folks, of course.

We rape the shit out of them at the Number Six Dance later on.

[Hyperion]

Ok, I'm in.

[Xenocles]

Kinky.

[Gojira]

It's so very rare that an opportunity to use that quote just falls into your lap.

[Hyperion]

Well, if we can't have us the first Libertarian mayor, then riding into some peasant village on horses painted blood red and with devil horns, while death metal plays in the background, while we plunder and pillage and defile the wiminz, then... that's the next best thing, amirite?

[Hugh Akston]

He told No. 2 everything about why he quit and went on tho live a long and tranquil life as a number in the Village.

[grrizzly]

Do you seriously drink Baltika in the US? Why?

[jesse.in.mb]

I used to drink Baltika (#9 I think) in a Uzbek restaurant in South Korea.

When I got home I went looking for Baltika because I remember it being tasty, only to realize when I found it that it was tasty COMPARED to Korean beer. I do miss having Uzbek food a subway ride away.

[Francisco d Anconia]

You were in the ROK and weren't drinking OB? 🙂

[jesse.in.mb]

There was a good reason that I thought Baltika was tasty. OB was definitely better than Hite!, but not by much. There was a hotel in town that had an all you could eat/drink night with a live Filipino cover band. Their beer was better, but was still worse than most of what you'd get in a country that had been overrun by Germans at some point.

[Francisco d Anconia]

OB was gross. Rumoured to still have formaldehyde in it. I prefered White Dogs and Ammo Bowls.

[jesse.in.mb]

Korea:things that will give you a massive hangover::Australia:cute things that will kill you.

I still have a bottle of Andong soju that is supposed to be not awful. (???) makkoli, soju, korean beer and ???? (bokbunjaju) all gave me terrible headaches. I enjoyed drinking all of them except the Korean Beer. The makkoli tasted like artificial banana flavoring, they did fun things with the soju, and bokbunjaju is just delicious.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Worst hangover I've ever had in my life was in Korea. Woke up with what felt like a knife between my eyes. But the street vendors had some of the greatest drunk food in the world. Yaki Mandu served in a rolled up newspaper. And Mrs Lee's burgers.

[jesse.in.mb]

That looks delicious. I wasn't near one of the bases skirting Daegu. We went hunting for one of the black markets one time near one of the bases and I completely failed at making friends with a radio operator. I had to go to the other side of town to get a decent burger and it was still very Korean. I actually had to go to a different town to get Mexican food and the place was owned by a Canadian so it was never spicy enough. The poutine was some of the best I've ever had.

[Hugh Akston]

On a more serious subject, I just found some decent Kraut at a local market. It's not as good as my homemade, but I am out of that. So, anyway, I'm slow cooking it with some cubed sirloin steak. Wow, the smell is awesome!

Speaking of chemical weapon attacks.

[Hyperion]

If it smites all of the proglotards in the vicinity, then it's even more awesome than I thought it would be.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

They sell fresh German slaves at your local market?

[Hyperion]

If they did, I'm sure the Germans would be in to that, for free, if you promised to tie them up and whip them with some latex.

[Francisco d Anconia]

And then shit on them.

..or so I'm told.

*looks around guiltily*

[Adam330]

Before you go thru that trouble, you should probably read up on VA's single term limit for governors.

[[e-mail]]

"Polling at 7%" for a third party candidate means he'll be lucky to get 2%.

[Hyperion]

something like that.

[Almanian!]

This is why there are no Libertarians.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Is that what the Illuminati told you?!

[Killazontherun]

'Libertarians are damned to lose. Join us and win for a change.'

It's their usual spiel. Almost all libertarians get invited at some point or another.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

In fairness, they are an equal opportunity employer. Their desire to use CIA-invented AIDS to kill all blacks and to use pornography to destroy Islam don't in any way diminish their passion for creating a safe, inclusive work environment.

[Killazontherun]

OT: Miley Cyrus's vagina may destroy the world according to the headline blaring on the Drudge Report linked to this article:

And, really, this criticism is way too much.
Actress Brooke Sheilds, who made several appearances as Cyrus' mother on "Hannah Montana," spoke to the "Today" show Monday morning about her eyebrow-raising display.

"I was Hannah Montana's mother. I do not approve," Sheilds said. "Where did I go wrong? I just want to know who's advising her, and why it's necessary?

"[Our children] can't watch that," she added. "I feel like it's a bit desperate."

Brooke Shields, you were Pretty Baby, ffs!

[Killazontherun]

http://www.nydailynews.com/ent.....-1.1437027

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Didn't she get famous for doing sexy movies like 'Endless Love' and 'The Blue Lagoon' when she was that age?

[Ted S.]

She calls George Burns a fag in Just You and Me, Kid, which came out a couple of years earlier.

[Killazontherun]

She was much younger than Miley in all of those movies. The one I mentioned likely could not be legally made today.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

girls just wanna have fun

[SIV]

Brooke Shields posed nude at age 10 and played nude and sex scenes at age 12 in Pretty Baby. The 1970s were much more accepting of such things.

[Killazontherun]

Meh, Selena Gomez at 21

http://cdn.wwtdd.com/wp-conten.....Selena.jpg

is much cuter than Shields ever was at any age.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Oh, and let's not forget that nothing comes between her (at 17) and her Calvin Kleins.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Ha ha, you guys are old.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Laugh now, punk, your day is coming.

[Killazontherun]

I got around to watching Miley. The first song bit is hilarious. Mulatto trannies carrying around midget furries on their backs? well, that's how I'm interpreting what I saw.

And then picture from that article (field too long to link directly) of the Will Smith family. Cover junior's virgin eyes. He's about to cry!

[Killazontherun]

If I ran his ads:

Republican Ken Cuccinelli or Democrat Terry McAuliffe for governor? Are you really that stupid?

[Hyperion]

You would be being honest. We Murikans don't like that in our politicians, obviously.

[Pope Jimbo]

Why not recycle Jesse Ventura's old ads? They were great.

Action Hero

Jesse won in the same sort of dynamic. Two horrible main stream hacks that no one wanted to vote for. He trailed big time until the very end, and when people realized that he had a chance they went for him big time.

The butthurt from the two major parties was awesome.

[DJK]

I lived in Minnesota when Ventura was Governor. Fantastic Governor. Seriously.

[Hyperion]

So, is this the PM links thread? Since us poor Libertarians are so disadvantaged that we have to make up our own PM links, because we can't really have them.

Are Libertarians the next oppressed and disadvantaged special class of Murikans? What do we get? Do we get a special prize? Ooh, ooh, I want my special prize!

[jesse.in.mb]

Can your sense of disadvantage be turned into a SoCon or identity politics advantage?

Then no.

[Hyperion]

There are already 12,000 comments on HuffPo for the post about Kerry declaring WMD.

There are virtually fucking zero comments in support of intervention in Syria.

This is not going to go well for this administration, they are running out of excuses.

[Cytotoxic]

WTF is the prez even thinking? That this will distract from his domestic troubles? Cuz it isn't. It will make them worse. More likely, Obama just doesn't think. He just...does. Like a dog chasing cars. The only way to live is without rules
/The Joker

[Atanarjuat]

Some aide probably said, "Hey, your ratings are down and wars always boost a president's approval ratings".

[LynchPin1477]

Got to remember to get my absentee ballot. Maybe the guy can break double digits!

[Killazontherun]

Washington D.C.: "People Now Come To This Town To Get Rich"

Half way into the interview, it's really something. What Leibovich describes in his every example is the true face of bipartisanship.

[James Anderson Merritt]

"Why aren't you covering him?"

"I dunno. Why aren't YOU covering him?"

"Hey, there's Jeffy! He'll cover ANYTHING!"

"He's not covering it! Jeffy HATES it!"

Such is Life (for Libertarians).

[jesse.in.mb]

AnonBots are falling faster and faster. Bring back WomSom.

[LynchPin1477]

I often wondered if WomSom was a real person, and if all the time he/she spent posting here made them appreciate liberty a little more. I asked once or twice, but it was calling into the night.

[jesse.in.mb]

I bet an excellent existentialist novel could be written about that.