Bob Barr Weighing Presidential Run
File: Former Georgia Rep. Bob Barr was an impeachment manager against President Bill Clinton in 1998. (AP video still)
Former Republican Georgia Rep. Bob Barr is considering a run for president on the Libertarian Party ticket.
Barr told FOX News on Tuesday that he should know in the next few days whether he is going to go for it.
If he does decide to make an announcement in the next few days, Barr said it “would not be in either Washington or Atlanta.“
Another source todl FOX News that the announcement should happen this weekend, probably on April 5. That is the day Barr is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the Heartland Libertarian Conference in Kansas City, Mo.
Barr, who joined the Libertarian Party after leaving Congress in 2003, is looking to attract conservatives who are unhappy with the choice of John McCain as the expected Republican presidential nominee. McCain and Barr are at odds primarily over the role of U.S troops in Iraq, although both agree that tough interrogation methods should not be permitted.
FITNews, who was first to report the possible presidential bid, wrote that Barr will receive the endorsement of Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul, a GOP presidential candidate who is still technically in the race but has not suggested he would throw his support to McCain. McCain and Paul, who ran on the Libertarian Party presidential ticket in 1988, also are at odds primarily over the role of U.S. troops in Iraq.
Barr, who represented Georgia’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House from 1995-2003 and served as a House manager during impeachment proceedings against former President Bill Clinton, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week that he identifies closely with Paul’s outlook.
“Ron Paul tapped into a great deal of that dissatisfaction and that awareness. Unfortunately, working through the Republican party structure, it became impossible for him to really move forward with his movement. But we have to have ….a rallying point out there to harness that energy, that freedom in this election cycle,” he said.
Click here to read the FITNews article on Barr’s possible run for president.
FOX News’ David M. Lewkowict contributed to this report.
Bob Barr does not need to get in the presidential race as a conservative. Although not excited or happy about McCain, Barr could be the Ross Perot of the 2008 election. We got the Clinton’s once because of stupidity, I don’t want an Obama or Clinton II for the same reasons.
I was hoping another candidate would enter the race. Unfortunately, we have another one that I won’t vote for. I want a candidate that has an aggressive foreign policy and a fairly libritarian domestic policy. Is that so hard to find? Ron Paul had some good ideas on the domestic side and completely blew it on the international side. It sounds like this guy is going to be the same thing. If we are voting for the lesser of the evils, I guess Barr would still be better than Obama, Clinton or McCain.
Frankly, I was embarrassed to have Ron Paul as a Republican let alone running for my president, let alone he came from my state!!! We DO NOT need another Obama/Clinton fight for presidency on the Republican side to make us look dirty and fight like they do!!!
This idea in no way helps the Republicans win the presidency as WE are the only party not being dragged down into the MUD!!! Thanks, but No thanks to this idea!!
Conservatives unhappy? and we DO need a VP on the ticket, I highly reccommend Mitt Romney both as the economics to help John McCain but also he is VERY likeable and appealing to the public, and the conservatives will be happy and John McCain will have united the party with a man that can out do Barrack Obama and his con’s!!!
I was TOTALLY unhappy with Condi Rice’s racist attitude as she sounds like Barrack Obama!!
“A vote for Paul-Barr is a vote for Obama-Clinton”; talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face! duh!?.
Doesn’t this guy know that there’s a war on?!
There are more important issues than the vanity of one ex-Congressman (no matter how much I may admire him), and the doctrinaire myopia of my fellow Conservatives.
Both Democrats are eager to embrace defeat in the War on Terror. Mitt Romney was right (as well as decent, classy, and patriotic). Now is not the time for factional infighting.
As imperfect as McCain is (and as a Conservative, I fully acknowledge how flawed his past decisions to break from his Party have been), he is committed to victory.
I would hope in time of war, so all patriotic Americans should be!
Is this the same ACLU employed Bob Barr? The guy that appears to have gone off the deep end after leaving congress? I’m thrilled to know that he also supports the coddling of terrorists even if the saving of American lives is at stake.
Ron Paul’s support? Now that’s comforting. Ha!
Is this the same ACLU employed Bob Barr? The guy that appears to have gone off the deep end after leaving the senate? I’m thrilled to know that he also supports the coddling of terrorists even if the saving of American lives is at stake.
Ron Paul’s support? Now that’s comforting. Ha!
To the people worried that they will steal votes from McCain and give us a democratic president, I’m sure they have considered that. I think they’re reason for running is that they feel that McCain is not really much better. Barr and Paul both have very different ideas from either the Democratic or most of the Republican parties, and the two parties have grown very much alike.
Yes, this move by Barr is bound to split some of the McCain base.. But, Barr is much more of a threat to the Republicans than Nader is to Democrats.. Maybe just maybe, this move will make the true conservatives come to their senses and force McCain and the errant Republicans to return to a more conservative agenda .. Republicans are not the champions of conservatism any more …
I’ve lived in Georgia most of my life and I would NEVER even consider Bob Barr, let alone vote for him. And, I don’t know of anyone (relative or friend) that feels any differently. He did an awful job!