Right now, Barr’s polling mimics the performance of Ross Perot and his Reform Party candidacies in 1992 and 1996. In his first run, Perot won nearly 14 percent of the vote in Georgia. In his second, he dropped to 6 percent.

But in each case, Bill Clinton was the beneficiary. In ‘92, Clinton won Georgia. In ‘96, he came within 1.2 percent of taking the state.

Don’t think that the Obama campaign isn’t watching every move that Barr makes. Should he become the Libertarian candidate, how Barr does in Georgia — worth 15 electoral votes — becomes especially important.

Bob Barr's potential run for the presidency could spice up this election season. I like Barr. I think he is the most professional politician associated with the Libertarian party, and I think he is genuinely interested in civil liberties. His bid for the Presidency would help raise the profile of the Libertarian party, but at the expense of damaging it's soul.

His bid has a chance of being popular this season because there are a lot of people who are disaffected with the Republican party, and there are a lot of people who are disaffected with John McCain. The trouble is that there are also a lot of people involved in the Republican party who don't understand what Libertarian means. They think it means that you "support a smaller government." Thats not exactly correct. Its true in the sense that triathletes are interested in bicycling, but its not the complete picture.

It is because of this misunderstanding you have people who think Ron Paul is a Libertarian. He isn't. His political philosophy most closely resembles that of civil war era state's rights confederates. Thats nothing like Libertarianism, but there are an aweful lot of people who don't understand the differences, and these people are likely to vote for Barr.

It is because of this misunderstanding that you get what I refer to as "Neal Boortz Libertarians." People who are died in the wool partisan Republicans who would never vote for a Democrat if their life depended upon it, who are socially conservative and have absolutely caustic views toward civil liberties who for some reason think of themselves as "Libertarians." These people are not Libertarians, but they are likely to vote for Barr.

Add in the ultraconservatives who hate McCain purely because he is willing to consort with Democrats and who might be looking for a protest vote. Ultraconservatives are certainly not Libertarian, but they are likely to vote for Barr, who is a fairly conservative guy.

So the question is, what happens after this election is over? Do some of these people who voted Libertarian for the first time in their lives stick around? I guess thats the point, but its a bit like Hong Kong's absorption into China. Will contact with Libertarian thinkers at Reason and Cato cause these conservatives to reconsider their authoritarianism or will we be seeing bumper stickers that read "Libertarians for the Patriot Act?"

Barr could put Georgia in play, and the Obama campaign knows it | Political Insider