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Libertarian gubernatorial candidate to meet Victoria County voters

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Melissa Crowe Originally published October 10, 2013 at 10:30 p.m., updated October 11, 2013 at 8:44 a.m.

Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Kathie Glass is making a campaign stop in the Crossroads to meet voters.

Glass will be at The Barn in Mission Valley, 12201 Farm-to-Market Road 236, for an informal meet and greet at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Glass, the Libertarian Party chairwoman for Harris County, said she wants to be a governor who makes "nullify" a household word.

She wants to put an end to the Affordable Care Act and the Environmental Protection Agency's cap and trade policy.

"I want to have a governor who will lead the nullification fight," she said. "If it has to be me, I will do it. I will be the leader Texas needs."

Bill Machnis, Victoria County Libertarian Party chairman, called it "a mini conference."

Saturday's meeting will include a strategic planning session with local Libertarians at 2 p.m. and Glass' talk at 4 p.m., he said.

Her other issues include the border, jobs and the economy, eminent domain and toll roads, property and franchise taxes, education, guns and voter guides.

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Libertarian gubernatorial candidate to meet Victoria County voters

Libertarian Candidate Not Invited to Final Gubernatorial Debate

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Blacksburg, VA - The Libertarian Candidate for Governor, Robert Sarvis, will not be participating in the third and final debate of the governor's race.

WDBJ, the host of the debate announced Thursday that Sarvis had fallen short of the 10 percentage points required to be invited to the stage on October 24th at Virginia Tech.

Recent polls showed Sarvis polling as high as 12 and as low as 8%.

In a statement released Thursday, he responded to the announcement by saying:

"We all know what happened here. As the goalposts kept changing over the past couple weeks, it became clear that the decision would be made on the basis of measures that have the patina of objectivity, but in fact are designed to exclude.

A decision made two weeks in advance of the debatean eternity this close to Election Daybased on an average of polls released over a three-week window effectively anchors us to the lower numbers of older polls, even though our numbers continue to rise in every poll. I am disappointed, but not surprised.

Our political system has been distorted for the benefit of the two incumbent parties and no longer serves the voters of Virginia. That's why this campaign is such a breath of fresh air for so many people and why I remain undeterred.

To the voters of Virginia, I say this: I won't let anyone take away your right to hear from all the candidates. I will carry on the campaign and show you why I am - and my vision for a Virginia that's both "Open-minded and Open for Business" is - the best choice for Governor of Virginia."

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Libertarian Candidate Not Invited to Final Gubernatorial Debate

Libertarian excluded from Va. debate

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The Libertarian candidate will not be invited to participate in the final debate of the Virginia governors race, a break for Republican Ken Cuccinelli.

WDBJ7, the CBS affiliate organizing the Oct. 24 debate on the campus of Virginia Tech, announced late Thursday that Robert Sarvis has fallen just short of the 10 percent threshold for a third candidate to get on stage.

As of this date, the third party candidate is polling at 9.0% based on the averages on realclearpolitics.com and would, therefore, not meet the guidelines agreed upon by the campaigns, emailed Kelly Zuber, the stations news director.

Thursday was the deadline for deciding who would participate.

With both major candidates viewed more unfavorably than favorably, the libertarian option has fared well among voters who dont want to pick between the lesser of two evils. Sarvis received 12 percent in a three-way POLITICO poll conducted over the weekend of likely voters, while Democrat Terry McAuliffe was at 44 percent and Cuccinelli 35 percent.

Cuccinellis campaign has warned that Sarvis could be a spoiler. The 37-year old ran unsuccessfully for state Senate as a Republican in 2011.

McAuliffes campaign had hoped he would be included. Sarvis being on stage would have given him the chance to criticize Cuccinellis views on social issues and taken some potential heat off McAuliffe.

This final debate is much more important for Cuccinelli, who is trailing in the polls, than McAuliffe, who has the money to significantly outspend his rival on television advertising.

The Sarvis campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But in an interview earlier Thursday, he told POLITICO that if the debate decision didnt go his way well keep just trying to get ourselves in front of as many voters as possible, as much as possible, before the election.

I dont know that there is grounds for a lawsuit, maybe I can have people look into that, Sarvis added, but thats not really what Im trying to do, Id rather not go that route.

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Libertarian excluded from Va. debate

Libertarian Sarvis blocked from final debate for governor

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The final scheduled Virginia gubernatorial debate will proceed without Libertarian nominee Robert C. Sarvis.

Organizers of the Oct. 24 debate at Virginia Tech announced today that the debate will take place with Republican nominee Ken Cuccinelli and Democrat Terry McAuliffe.

In a statement, Kelly Zuber, news director of WDBJ7, which is co-hosting the debate with Virginia Tech, said both major party campaigns agreed to language that the third-party nominee would be invited to participate if he was polling at 10 percent or greater in major statewide independent polls released within the three weeks ahead of Oct. 10.

The eligibility decision was to rely heavily on the averages of major polls on http://www.realclearpolitics.com and as of today they said Sarvis is polling at 9 percent based on the averages.

The debate will take place at 7 p.m. on Oct. 24.

In a statement tonight, Sarvis decried the decision.

"We all know what happened here. As the goalposts kept changing over the past couple weeks, it became clear that the decision would be made on the basis of measures that have the patina of objectivity, but in fact are designed to exclude.

"A decision made two weeks in advance of the debatean eternity this close to Election Daybased on an average of polls released over a three-week window effectively anchors us to the lower numbers of older polls, even though our numbers continue to rise in every poll. I am disappointed, but not surprised.

"Our political system has been distorted for the benefit of the two incumbent parties and no longer serves the voters of Virginia. That's why this campaign is such a breath of fresh air for so many people and why I remain undeterred.

"To the voters of Virginia, I say this: I won't let anyone take away your right to hear from all the candidates. I will carry on the campaign and show you why I am - and my vision for a Virginia thats both 'Open-minded and Open for Business' is - the best choice for governor of Virginia."

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Libertarian Sarvis blocked from final debate for governor

Libertarian Candidate for Gov. Makes Campaign Stop in Roanoke

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Roanoke, VA - You've heard a lot from both the Republican and Democratic candidates in the race for Virginia Governor.

Libertarian Robert Sarvis though brought his message to a Roanoke area audience Tuesday night.

When it comes to polling, Sarvis, is dead last. His numbers though are strong. In fact, experts would argue they are stellar for a third party candidate. And his popularity continues to increase.

His face may not be all that familiar, but at small meet and greets like the one he hosted in Roanoke Tuesday, Libertarian Gubernatorial candidate, Robert Sarvis, is making his name known.

When asked what his campaign philosophy was, Sarvis replied, "Well this is a campaign for the people, and so you have to engage with the people."

With a bank account a fraction of the size of his opponents', less than $100,000, Sarvis is having to campaign with events like this. He says he's unable to compete with the millions backing the two front runners.

But it's slowly paying off, recent polls place him at anywhere from 8-12%, and climbing. His first televised campaign ad just went state-wide this week. His competitors hit the air waves, months ago.

"I think their campaigns have just been very negative, very vacuous, not a lot of substance to them. I think this is how campaigning should be done, even if you do have $10 million, you should still be doing this" said Sarvis.

The Harvard and Cambridge graduate was not included in the first two debates. But his message has still gone public.

"You get to see who he is, and you get to talk to him" said Dianne Erb.

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Libertarian Candidate for Gov. Makes Campaign Stop in Roanoke

Libertarian Candidate Gains Ground in Va. Governor's Race

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October 8, 2013

Election Day is four weeks from Tuesday, and new poll numbers show voters are gaining more confidence in whom they want as Virginia governor while a third-party candidate is gaining ground.

Democrat Terry McAuliffe continues to jump ahead in the governor's race against Republican Ken Cuccinelli.

"I would say at this point Cuccinelli should be generally concerned about his chances in November," said Geoff Skelley of the UVa. Center for Politics.

Data show McAuliffe is attracting women, independents and even some Republicans.

"This is a very unusual case in which both of the major-party candidates have less than 50 percent of a positive rating by voters in polling," said Rick Sincere, a blogger for Virginia Politics on Demand.

That's part of the reason why some analysts say Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis is showing some impressive poll numbers.

A poll from Christopher Newport University released this week shows McAuliffe leads Cuccinelli 47 percent to 38 percent among likely voters. But Sarvis was favored by 8 percent of likely voters.

In a Politico poll also released this week, McAuliffe draws 44 percent of the vote to Cuccinelli's 35 percent, but Sarvis received 12 percent.

"If anything, it just shows he's getting consistent support and it's not going away from him as we get closer to Election Day, which is typically what happens to a lot of third-party candidates," Skelley said.

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Libertarian Candidate Gains Ground in Va. Governor's Race

Ernesto "Che" Guevara: true "Humanitarian Libertarian", or total "Racist Stalinist Mass-Murderer" – Video

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Ernesto "Che" Guevara: true "Humanitarian Libertarian", or total "Racist Stalinist Mass-Murderer"
This video goes to the memory of Che and to his work and life. This video attempts to address a very precise critique very recently built by Nick Gillespie (...

By: Marc Abela

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Ernesto "Che" Guevara: true "Humanitarian Libertarian", or total "Racist Stalinist Mass-Murderer" - Video

Libertarian view: The government (non) shutdown

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Tad DeHaven, CONSTITUTION DAILY Last updated: Friday, October 4, 2013, 12:15 PM

In this commentary, Tad DeHaven from the Cato Institute says the budgetary impasse may be obscuring the fact that the federal governments long-term financial situation remains bleak.

Its looking like it will take a week or more for Republicans and Democrats to reach an agreement to reopen the federal government. Regardless, with each passing hour a resolution necessarily becomes closer at hand because a so-called government shutdown effectively means that a budgetary impasse in our two-party dominated system has reached the end stage.

I say so-called government shutdown because most federal activities will continue and most federal employees will continue to work. If you had plans to visit Yellowstone National Park, youre out of luck until the government reopens. However, the NSA will continue to track our private conversations, the military will continue to expend blood and treasure protecting the interests of wealthy allies, and the federal entitlement system thats the source of our future fiscal imbalances will continue to pump out the checks.

So while it is true that some of the federal leviathans tentacles will take a brief respite, its reach into practically every facet of our lives will continue largely uninterrupted.

Unfortunately, one of those tentacles that will live to see another day is Obamacare. As a libertarian, I would obviously like to see it completely dismantled. But the political environment is not friendly to this stated aim of House Republicans. Democrats still control the Senate and the law also happens to be the current White House occupants signature policy achievement. It would take overwhelming public opposition against reopening the government with Obamacare in place for the president to evenconsideragreeing to such a deal. The law might not be popular, but neither is shutting down the government over it. A mainstream media that is less sympathetic to an interventionist federal government would be helpful to the House Republican cause, but the opposite is reality.

The good news for those of us who want less government is that Democrats have already agreed to support a continuing resolution at a funding level that is lower than they originally desired. Although I was initially concerned that the opposite would be the case, the House GOPs willingness to go to the mat over Obamacare probably enabled this small win for taxpayers.

As it stands, Democrats are willing to fund those portions of the government that require annual appropriations at $986 billion (on an annualized basis), which is essentially the same figure that the House GOP proposed. On the downside, because that figure originally proposed by the GOP would still be above that which the still-in-effect sequestration would allow for the new fiscal year ($967 billion), the stage would be set for another round of wailing and gnashing of teeth over the mandatory cuts in January.

January is a relatively long time away, however, and other issues will need to be addressed first. According to the Office of Management and Budget, the $16.7 trillion statutory debt ceiling will need to be raised by October 17. In fact, there is growing sentiment on the Hill that a resolution of the government shutdown will involve a resolution of the rapidly approaching debt limit issue. Seemingly grinding its gears in their multiple attempts to extract concessions from Democrats in exchange for opening the government, it is hard for this analyst to envision a scenario in which the GOP will be able to extract anything of substance from the Democratic opposition on the debt limit front either.

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Libertarian view: The government (non) shutdown


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