Thursday, January 14, 2016

An Unrequested Endorsement

As usual, there hasn't been a lot of talk in the Libertarian Party about its 2016 vice-presidential nomination.

Interestingly and fortunately, the Libertarian Party has traditionally kept its presidential and vice-presidential nominations at more formally separate than the "major" parties.

In the Republican and Democratic parties, the presidential nominee chooses his or her running mate, whom the convention delegates pretty much accept by acclamation.

In the Libertarian Party, we actually have candidates say in advance "I'm seeking the party's vice-presidential nomination," campaign for that nomination, etc. The presidential nominee can express a preference, but the delegates genuinely choose on their own. In 2008, for example, Bob Barr endorsed Wayne Allyn Root for the vice-presidential nomination. Root won that nomination. Barely. A pretty substantial portion of the delegates voted for Steve Kubby.

Speaking of which, if he's willing, I hope that Kubby will be the 2016 vice-presidential nominee. And I hope that regardless of which presidential candidate is nominated (this assumes that None of the Above doesn't carry the day, of course).

I doubt that this endorsement will surprise anyone, except maybe Steve himself, whom I did not consult prior to trotting it out.

As a delegate to the 2000 national convention, I voted for Kubby for VP (he was defeated by Art Olivier). I managed Kubby's 2008 presidential campaign, proudly voted for him for the presidential nomination until he was eliminated from the balloting, and then voted for him for VP yet again.

If anyone wants to talk about why I think he'd make a great VP candidate, I guess we can do that. But personally, I think it's pretty damn obvious that he would, and that the LP made a huge mistake by not nominating him for either president or vice-president in 2008.

Heck, if he was willing, I'd support him for president again too.

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