It's now the fourth round of voting and Mary Ruwart and Bob Barr are tied for first place with 202 votes apiece. Wayne Root has 149, while Mike Gravel and George Phillies are dropping out.

The party is truly struggling with what Mary Ruwart called the choice between the Sensible Candidate and the Silver Bullet Celebrity.

Bob Barr Considered

I spoke with Bob Barr on the second morning of the convention. He was a very approachable and polite man.

"I have a deep commitment to the Libertarian Party," he said. Barr, who has been a Libertarian for years, believes that he can bring the party something that it has never had: national name recognition. "I'm running on electability, credibility with the media and the ability to get the ideas out there."

I asked him if he was running in order to

a) Win
b) get the ideas out there and influence the national debate
c) be a spoiler for John McCain

"How about all three of them?" said Barr. He recognized that choice a) was "a long shot."

"We don't have to be captives of the two-party system," he went on. "It doesn't have to be the lesser of two evils."

But as a Republican, I stated, he's been one of the lesser evils.

"I know the issue from the inside and the outside," he responded. "The two parties are stifling to ideas and approaches.  They're too wedded to the status quo."

Barr believes there's growth in the LP, especially with young people. "They're more open to new ideas."

I spoke with one such person, Aleq Boyle. Boyle entered the party after being the head of his chapter of the Young Republicans. Like many Barr supporters, he was disaffected by the Bush Administration and now backing Barr's campaign even though he doesn't agree with all of his positions.

"I'm a green Libertarian," Boyle said with a smile. "I don't agree 100 percent with any candidate."

Boyle appears to be willing to hold his nose on some issues in order to get a candidate that can get the uniquely positioned LP out of the shadows and into the national game.

Boyle, like many LP folks, talks about the "perfect storm" of polticial events that might lead to a real change in established political politics. The LP is the only third party with ballot access in 48 states. "The LP is the only other party with the groundwork to get a presidential candidate elected through the electorial college."

Boyle claimed that some polls had Barr polling 10 percent nationally already.

"This is the first time a nationally credentialed candiate could represent the party."

 -text and photography by Cornelius Swart