Libertarian Debate at 9:00 EST Tonight on C-Span

It is May 24th, and the Libertarians are in the midst of their National Convention in Denver. The Convention started on May 22nd, and will continue until May 26th. This year, there are many candidates for Libertarians to choose from. Six of those candidates acquired enough “tokens” today to participate in a Live Libertarian Debate on C-Span tonight, at 9-11 o’clock Eastern time, 6-8 o’clock Pacific time.

Concerning “tokens” the Libertarian Party website clarifies, “The 12 presidential candidates who made the trip to Denver for the National Convention have been petitioning Libertarian delegates for their support in the form of delegate tokens, which go towards qualifying candidates for certain events at the national convention.”

The candidates debating will be Former Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel, Former Congressman Bob Barr, Mary Ruwart (a Libertarian party activist), George Phillies (Libertarian activist and professor of physics), Steve Kubby (Libertarian activist and cancer patient), Michael Jingozian, and Wayne Allyn Root (business mogul). Other Libertarian candidates who did not acquire enough tokens to debate were Christine Smith, Daniel Imperato, and Alden Link.

If you have any interest in the campaign for the 2008 Libertarian nomination, be sure to tune in tonight. Again, it starts this evening at 9 o’clock Eastern time on C-Span, and goes on until 11 o’clock. If you had the interest to watch the debate, please leave a comment here on what you thought about it.

Mike Gravel is a Libertarian now?

I have supported Mike Gravel for a long time now. I have always admired his willingness to call out the liars within the Democratic establishment. I have supported the National Initiative for Democracy, which is an idealistic and romantic idea of how the system should work. Gravel’s Fair Tax is also idealistic and romantic, however, the problem with the Fair Tax is that it is unfair, but really that is another matter.

Quite a few times throughout his campaign I have wondered why Senator Gravel has done certain things. Some of them do come across as crazy and a little bit wacky. In one video Gravel is seen on a street corner with Ron Paul supporters trying to set up a debate with Paul and another time Gravel dressed up as Santa Claus for a special holiday musical video. Neither of these times, was I really concerned that Mike Gravel did not deserve my support.

However, last night Senator Gravel announced that he would be switching parties and joining the Libertarians.

I wanted to update you on my latest plans before news gets out. Today, I am announcing my plan to join the Libertarian Party, because the Democratic Party no longer represents my vision for our great country. I wanted my supporters to get this news first, because you have been the ones who have kept my campaign alive since I first declared my candidacy on April 17, 2006.

I completely agree with the criticisms about the Democratic Party, however the Libertarian Party is the wrong direction to go. It is said that the two pillars of the Libertarian Party are “greed and weed.” I am a Liberal, I believe in helping the working poor. So really, I could never support a candidate who entered the same party Ron Paul shied away from. I don’t know who I will support now, I may stick with Gravel. The other options are a celebrity speech reader and a famous wife of a famous president. Nader of course, is a possibility, but maybe that is too cliché.