Several delegates have said they’ve been pleasantly surprised with Steve Kubby‘s performance at the convention.
“He looks healthy, and he has a lot of enthusiasm,” said one delegate.
Steve Kubby has been one of the top performers, by most delegates’ accounts, at both the Libertarians for Justice forum and the “unofficial, all-inclusive” debate.
“If he could have come to the state conventions and performed like this, or even showed this kind of enthusiasm in his online videos, his campaign would be in much better shape coming into Denver,” said another delegate.
Kubby had perhaps the loudest ovation of any candidate at last night’s “unofficial” debate. Questions were submitted on note cards from audience members. A later question asked about the PATRIOT Act and REAL ID. The crowd groaned, knowing that all of the candidates (minus the unimportant Imperato and Link) would answer the same way. Kubby leaped to his feet to answer the question first: “Don’t you wish Bob Barr was here to answer this question?” The cheers went on for at least a minute, with many delegates standing.
Steve Kubby is still vigorously pursuing the presidential nomination, but rumor has it that his campaign is also collecting vice-presidential tokens. Kubby and Mary Ruwart, as well as their campaign staffs, appear to have very friendly relationships.
Damn, GE asked me a question days ago and it slipped under my radar.
Barr was still my first choice, but a very uncomfortable one. Though I still think Kubby would have been the natural compromise candidate (I don’t know anyone that would’ve suggested “Libertarians for _____” in competition with him), I couldn’t shake the impression that his candidacy would have represented just another leap year. And that’s about the strongest criticism I can muster for him.
I might be the only guy that supported Barr going in that isn’t sure if he can support him coming out. So now I’m doing what I probably should have planned to do from the point Ron Paul definitively shut the door on a 3rd Party run – I’m watching, listening, and waiting to see how Barr and Baldwin match up against each other as the campaign rolls on. With Barr, I’ll also need to know that Damien – err, Viguerie – isn’t going to get a big commission off anything I might contribute.
Austin,
Regarding Kubby’s performance as a gubernatorial candidate:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/marketliberal/message/2475
Also, keep in mind that Kubby’s gubernatorial campaign PRECEDED the legal odyssey that is responsible for most of his name recognition, etc.
Regards,
Tom Knapp
Excluding Root, all of the candidates are united against Anybody But Barr.
I think Kubby is likely to back Ruwart.
The interesting part will be to see who Gravel, Root, and Phillies backers decide to move over to on the final ballots.
Who’s your first choice now, Fred?
Like Gene, Kubby’s my second choice. From the sound of it, he’s a lot of people’s second choice, and that why I consider him to be the natural “compromise candidate” that we can all rally behind and move forward with next week. He’s got sound ideas, a great survival story, and the potential to get stoners off the couch to cast a ballot for the LP. I’ve seen fair criticism of his campaign so far, but no one’s got anything on the man himself.
As for Austin’s questions, I think the NORML crowd might be distracted at the moment by the ongoing direct assaults by the federal government on the medical marijuana clinics and growers, and probably aren’t interested in a third party prenomination fight in the face of it. On the other hand, should word get out that there’s a third party candidate with a central focus on their issue, I think some money would start rolling in.
As for 98… I remember it as a contentious year. A lot of people were eager to get Pete Wilson out and didn’t have much time for minor party candidates. Kind of like the ’04 national result.
But his complete lack of success in fundraising success should be concerning. He has deep roots with the NORML crowd, but they’ve barely bought into his campaign.
His showing in the California gubernatorial race of 1998 was very low. The lowest in a couple of decades. In fact, he got fewer than half the votes of the Libertarian nominee in 1994 or 2002.
If I was a delegate I’d like to hear an explanation, given the two facts from above, of how Steve Kubby would be a strong Presidential candidate that could capture 1 million or more votes.
If Barr isn’t nominated, I would like to see Steve get the nod. He’s a good man who I very much respect.