| Year: | 2008 |
| Party: | Libertarian |
| Date: | May 22–26, 2008 |
| Venue: | Sheraton Hotel |
| City: | Denver, Colorado |
| Chair: | Bill Redpath |
| Speakers: | Dr. Mary Ruwart |
| Presidential Nominee: | Bob Barr of Georgia |
| Vice Presidential Nominee: | Wayne Allyn Root of Nevada |
| Othercandidates: | Mary Ruwart of Texas Mike Gravel of Alaska Steve Kubby of California, activist George Phillies of Massachusetts |
| Previous Year: | 2006 |
| Next Year: | 2010 |
The 2008 Libertarian National Convention was held from May 22 to May 26, 2008, at the Sheraton Hotel (formerly the Adam's Mark Hotel)[1] in Denver, Colorado. The delegates at the convention, on behalf of the U.S. Libertarian Party, nominated Bob Barr for president and Wayne Allyn Root for vice president in the 2008 presidential election. The convention was televised nationally on C-SPAN.[2]
Libertarians hold a national convention every two years to vote on party bylaws, platform and resolutions and elect national party officers and a judicial committee. Every four years it nominates presidential and vice presidential candidates.[3]
The theme of this convention was A Better Choice for America.[4]
Two non-binding primaries preceded the convention.
In 2006 the self-styled Libertarian Party "reformers" at the National Convention in Portland, Oregon took out 46 platform planks detailing party positions, leaving just fifteen. In 2008 more "radical" libertarians attempted to restore that platform. They did not succeed, but they narrowly prevented the reformers from softening the language of the non-aggression principle in the party's “Statement of Principles”.[5] The revised platform did replace the plank on secession,[6] deleted in 2006, with a definition of self-determination drawn from the Declaration of Independence: "Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of individual liberty, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to agree to such new governance as to them shall seem most likely to protect their liberty."[7]
| Libertarian Party presidential candidates, 2008 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width:120px; | Candidate | Home state | Profession | Campaign | |
| data-sort-value="Barr, Bob" | Bob Barr | Georgia | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 7th district (1995–2003) | (Campaign • Positions • Website) | |
| data-sort-value="Gravel, Mike" | Mike Gravel | Alaska | U.S. Senator from Alaska (1969–1981) | (Campaign • Positions • Website) | |
| data-sort-value="Imperato, Daniel" | Daniel Imperato | Florida | Businessman | ||
| data-sort-value="Jingozian, Mike" | Mike Jingozian | Oregon | Software developer | ||
| data-sort-value="Kubby, Steven Wynn" | Steve Kubby | California | Libertarian activist | (Campaign) | |
| data-sort-value="Milnes, Robert" | Robert Milnes | New Jersey | Activist | ||
| data-sort-value="Phillies, George" | George Phillies | Massachusetts | Professor of Physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute | ||
| data-sort-value="first, last" | Wayne Allyn Root | Nevada | Businessman, media personality, author, TV producer | (Campaign) | |
| data-sort-value="Ruwart, Mary" | Mary Ruwart | Texas | Retired biomedical researcher; Libertarian speaker, writer, and activist | (Campaign) | |
| data-sort-value="Smith, Christine" | Christine Smith | Colorado | Humanitarian activist, and writer | ||
After the first round, six of the eight candidates running moved on to the second round of voting. Mike Jingozian and Christine Smith were both eliminated due to their small percentage of votes. Jingozian endorsed former Senator Mike Gravel, and Smith presented a speech attacking Bob Barr after the results were announced.
| Candidate | Total votes cast | Percent of votes cast | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 153 | 24.3% | |||||||||||||||
| 152 | 24.1% | |||||||||||||||
| 123 | 19.5% | |||||||||||||||
| 71 | 11.3% | |||||||||||||||
| George Phillies | 49 | 7.8% | ||||||||||||||
| 41 | 6.5% | |||||||||||||||
| 23 | 3.7% | |||||||||||||||
| Christine Smith | 6 | 1.0% | ||||||||||||||
| Ron Paul (write-in) | 6 | 1.0% | ||||||||||||||
| Penn Jillette (write-in) | 3 | 0.5% | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | 0.3% | |||||||||||||||
| Daniel Imperato (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | ||||||||||||||
| Stephen Colbert (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
After the second round, five of the six candidates running moved on to the third ballot. Steve Kubby, after receiving only 5% of the total vote, dropped out of the race and endorsed Dr. Mary Ruwart.
| Candidate | Total votes cast | Percent of votes cast | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 188 | 29.8% | ||||||||||||||
| 162 | 25.7% | ||||||||||||||
| 138 | 21.9% | ||||||||||||||
| 73 | 11.6% | ||||||||||||||
| George Phillies | 36 | 5.7% | |||||||||||||
| 32 | 5.1% | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | 0.2% | ||||||||||||||
| Stephen Colbert (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
After the third round of voting, four of the five remaining candidates moved on to the fourth ballot. Dr. George Phillies was eliminated after receiving approximately 5% of the vote.
| Candidate | Total votes cast | Percent of votes cast | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 186 | 29.6% | ||||||||||||
| 186 | 29.6% | ||||||||||||
| 146 | 23.3% | ||||||||||||
| 78 | 12.4% | ||||||||||||
| George Phillies | 31 | 4.9% | |||||||||||
| Ron Paul (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
After the fourth vote, three of the four candidates went on to the fifth round of voting. Fmr. Sen. Mike Gravel was eliminated after not getting a sufficient number of votes, and subsequently announced that his political career was over.
| Candidate | Total votes cast | Percent of votes cast | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 202 | 32.0% | |||||||||||
| 202 | 32.0% | |||||||||||
| 149 | 23.6% | |||||||||||
| 76 | 12.0% | |||||||||||
| 3 | 0.5% | |||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
After the fifth ballot, the final two of three candidates continued on to the sixth ballot. Wayne Allyn Root was therefore eliminated, and after the vote, he made a speech endorsing Barr and stating that he would like to be Barr's candidate for vice-president. Barr and Root then stated that they would run together.
| Candidate | Total votes cast | Percent of votes cast | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 229 | 36.8% | |||||||||||
| 223 | 35.8% | |||||||||||
| 165 | 26.5% | |||||||||||
| 6 | 1.0% | |||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
With only Barr and Ruwart remaining on the ballot, Barr received 324 votes to Ruwart's 276 and 26 NOTA. Barr thus won the nomination with 51.8% of the final vote.[8]
Ruwart made a concession speech following the announcement of the results with her campaign staff on the stage.
| Candidate | Total votes cast | Percent of votes cast | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Barr | 324 | 51.8% | |||||||||
| 276 | 44.1% | ||||||||||
| 26 | 4.2% | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
A separate vote was held for the vice presidential nomination. Presidential nominee Barr endorsed Root, while presidential runner-up Ruwart endorsed Kubby.
After the first ballot, three of the six active candidates running moved on to the second ballot.
| Candidate | Total votes cast | Percent of votes cast | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 269 | 47.7% | ||||||||||||
| 209 | 37.1% | ||||||||||||
| Daniel Williams | 40 | 7.1% | |||||||||||
| Jim Burns | 27 | 4.8% | |||||||||||
| Gail Lightfoot | 14 | 2.5% | |||||||||||
| 2 | 0.4% | ||||||||||||
| Mike Ferguson (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | |||||||||||
| Mary Ruwart (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | |||||||||||
| 1 | 0.2% | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
After the second ballot, Wayne Allyn Root was nominated as the vice presidential candidate, prevailing by a difference of 30 votes over Steve Kubby, and 279 votes over Daniel Williams.
| Candidate | Total votes cast | Percent of votes cast | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wayne Allyn Root | 289 | 51.0% | ||||||||||
| 259 | 45.7% | |||||||||||
| Daniel Williams | 10 | 1.8% | ||||||||||
| 6 | 1.1% | |||||||||||
| Unknown Richard (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | ||||||||||
| Mike Ferguson (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | ||||||||||
| Mary Ruwart (write-in) | 1 | 0.2% | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||||