in a normal election year, I would say that PA just got that much harder to win for mccain/palin. but given
barr's position on the war, for example, and palin's presence on the ticket, I'm not quite as sure about who
he will hurt the most this year. probably still mccain.
the mccain campaign must think that barr would take votes from them, because it was apparently the mccain
campaign that tried to have hi removed from the ballot.
according to barr's presidential web site (if you have 5 minutes to wait for it to load), he is on the ballot in
44 states.
Judge: Barr will be on Pa.'s presidential ballot
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania judge's ruling that keeps Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr on the ballot will force Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama to take him seriously in a key battleground state, a Barr campaign spokesman said Monday.
The major-party candidates "will have to compete for the votes of Pennsylvania citizens instead of taking them for granted," Russell Verney, Barr's campaign manager said in a statement.
The challenge to Barr, a former Republican congressman from Georgia who some GOP strategists fear might siphon votes from McCain, was filed by Harrisburg lawyer Victor Stabile, who also is chairman of the Cumberland County Republican Party.
Commonwealth Court Judge Johnny Butler rejected arguments that the party tricked voters by gathering signatures under another candidate's name and substituting Barr's name in August, three months after he was nominated at its national convention.
The Libertarians' intent "was to comply with the (state) election code, not to mislead Pennsylvania's voters," Butler wrote.
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