Who is the best Libertarian Party Candidate for 2016 POTUS?

Which are your top picks for Libertarian Party 2016 POTUS?

  • Total voters
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Realistically Gary Johnson and John McAffee are the only people that would have any campaign at all. McAffee seems nuts, so Gary Johnson it is.
 
Gary Johnson led the Libertarian Party to the largest election the party's ever had: 1.3 million voters in 2012, more than doubling the party's previous election results. Impressive, especially considering the one million voters that were siphoned off to other third parties (CP, etc). I watched the 2012 third party debates on C-SPAN and RT, and Johnson can hold his own in a debate. He got my vote that year.

I voted for him in this poll. I don't know any of these other people, while Johnson has built the party's base.
 
r3volution 3.0 said:
First, LOL at the LP's astonishing inability to find competent candidates.

Second, it really doesn't matter who the nominee is.

We know he has 0% chance of winning.

The LP is good for protest votes only (such as I'll probably be throwing their way in November).

In other words, you're not voting for the nominee, or even really for the party, as much as against the GOP/Dems.

The nominee only matters insofar as you want someone to who can maximize the LP vote.

So, name recognition. So, Gary Johnson.

...I'm a politics junkie and I have no clue who most of the other people are.
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Less derision, more relevance. To somebody outside the Paul movement or the LP universe, there is no functional difference between a minor party that is structurally suppressed or marginalized away from winning, and an alternative liberty candidate running in a major party that is structurally suppressed or marginalized away from winning. The outcome is the same either way---we haven't gotten anywhere, so our vote was 'thrown away' in both directions. It's just taken us longer to notice that the Pauls also had 0% chance of winning.

Lots of changes have to happen, to realistically change that 0% outcome on either end. Indeed one can argue case by case, depending on the campaign, that several national LP candidates made fewer mistakes, and exercised more competence in their campaigns than Rand just did in his campaign. And clearly, the fact that all the other minor parties have had similar struggles, no matter who they ran, or how they ran, indicates the issue is the power elite that dominates the American electoral system.

If there were 100 districts that were specifically gerrymandered for libertarians, and the LP failed to win most of them, yes, perhaps we could concede the main issue was party incompetence. But of course, there are no such gerrymandered districts. The US political order is hardwired for 'them,' not for us, and that's why we keep losing. Until we have a better handle on how to dismantle that order, the fix will still be in against liberty, whether pursued via the minor or the major parties. The entire liberty movement needs to cooperate to foster that end, not wax superior over our pot supposedly being less black than the other side's frying pan.
 
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jkob said:
Realistically Gary Johnson and John McAffee are the only people that would have any campaign at all. McAffee seems nuts, so Gary Johnson it is.
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In a year that has delivered us Trump and Sanders on the major party scene, maybe "nuts" McAffee will succeed. Johnson is the most organized all around. Austin Peterson has been active in the LP, Paul, and FOX universes (having worked for Judge Nap). HE should raise money to run for Congress in MO on a fusion basis (LP/GOP), wait for an open seat situation and win. From there, he could be a potential future 'favorite son' pro-liberty GOP candidate for President, as his state is adjacent to Iowa.
 
....FYI, not trying to discourage anyone from voting LP in November. I'm probably going to vote LP in November.

But don't think the LP is ever going to be anything more than a vehicle for protest voting.

Libertarians wanting to win elections need to run in one of the major parties.
 
Peace&Freedom said:
In a year that has delivered us Trump and Sanders on the major party scene, maybe "nuts" McAffee will succeed. Johnson is the most organized all around. Austin Peterson has been active in the LP, Paul, and FOX universes (having worked for Judge Nap). HE should raise money to run for Congress in MO on a fusion basis (LP/GOP), wait for an open seat situation and win. From there, he could be a potential future 'favorite son' pro-liberty GOP candidate for President, as his state is adjacent to Iowa.
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Petersen is a pro-establishment troll who's never won an election. Worst of both worlds.
 
I was pretty disenchanted after watching the Mississippi debate.

I probably liked what McAfee said more than any of the others, but his delivery wasn't what I'd hoped. He sounds washed up and kind of "cosmic, man." There wasn't the fire there that I had hoped for.

Johnson was okay until he got stuck on Shariah Law. I think somehow Mark Levin took over his body for 10 minutes. It was a bizarre moment and made me think he's not so clearheaded.

So yeah, protest vote. McAfee has more name recognition and congruence with my views. Johnson is okay but I'm for the LP to keep trying something new until they hit the jackpot.

Honestly, it could be world changing if someone well spoken, presentable, inspired and informed would step up as an LP candidate.
 
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