For all of the Sentinel coverage on Portland businessman and Presidential hopeful Mike Jingozian go to Libertarians Gone Wild on this site.

After 2 years of campaigning and over $300K of his own money, Mike Jingozian did not walk away from last weekend's Libertarian Party Convention empty handed. Jingozian was elected  Vice Chair of the Libertarian Party early yesterday (Monday, May 27th).  He won in a relative landslide 65-35 vote against incumbent Chuck Moulton who was elected in 2006.

Jingozian was endorse by outgoing presidential candidate Mike Gravel who spoke before the delegation; describing Jingozian as 'a class act' who possessed 'integrity' and whom represented the 'future of the party'.

With new comers Wayne Allyn Root and former Congressman (R) Bob Barr weighing the presidential ticket to the right, the party may indeed be looking for a new leader for the left wing of the party.

"Kubby only lost to Root by 30 votes," said Jingozian, speaking of left wing marijuana activist Steve Kubby's failed VP bid, in a phone interview this morning.  "That shows that there was a strong desire to balance the ticket out with both wings of the party."

Root takes the VP position by just 30 votes over medical marijuana activist Steve Kubby. The party may never be the same.

I have not seen Mike Jingozian in a few hours. He seemed exhausted the last time we talked. His campaign team and family all seem exhausted and drained.

Jingozian impressed a lot of people here this weekend, though. There have been calls for him to run on the LP ticket in Oregon against Republican Gordon Smith.  Others are asking him to run for a seat on the national committee.  They all seem like good ideas. But I'm not sure Jingo is thinking about anything other than sleep right now. He's put a year of his life and thousands of his own dollars into this. His campaign team, fueled mostly by passion, has carried him to great heights. 

Where they go next is anyone's guess. But for now I think a lot of them are going to bed...and then...maybe the bar...

-text and video by Cornelius Swart

[coolplayer width="640" height="480" charset="GBK" autoplay="false" loop="true"]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlGDXWNdjC4

[/coolplayer]

[coolplayer width="640" height="480" charset="GBK" autoplay="false" loop="true"]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vn2XyHh3G8

[/coolplayer]

After six rounds of voting (I'm leading in with that because Jeff Brady from NPR is leading with that),  Bob Barr has emerged as the most prominently known Libertarian candidate in party's 36-year history.  While the nomination process may have been divisive, Barr stated that he was ready for the national campaign as shown in the following video. PENDING

Barr's campaign manager is Russ Verney, who was involved in the Ross Perot campaign of 1992, was campaign manager for Perot in 1996, and was established with the creation of the Reform Party.

Vereny stated that the campaign headquarters would be located in Atlanta Georgia.   Here is a quick Q & A:

The Sentinel: What will you do differently than you did with Ross Perot?

The ticket is now Bob Barr as President. Vice President is voted for separately. It's going to be interesting to see if there will be a total neo-con/neo-con ticket, or a split ticket with the "soul" of the party represented by Mary Ruwart and the "face" of the party represented by Bob Barr.

Barr is now about to make his speech.

Wayne Allen Root, the Vegas online gambling millionaire-turned-politician, has announced that he will run with Bob Barr as VP. That seems to lock up the nomination for sure.

Root, a hyper-driven former classmate of Barack Obama, sees himself as a link between disaffected businessmen and young people; in essence, the Barack Obama of the Libertarian party.

"It's not about the message, it's about the messenger," he has said repeatedly. In an interview yesterday, I spoke with Root, whose energy is so intense up close he looks like he might burst into flames at any moment. "Barry Goldwater lost in a landslide and 20 years later Ronald Reagan won in a landslide. Same message, different messenger. Same thing with Lynden LaRouche, and now Barack Obama. Obama is different because he is positive."

Root sees that he can be the Obama of the LP by moving away from the anti-this and anti-that message of the past and toward a more positive vision of the world.  Now it appears he will get the chance.

-text and video by Cornelius Swart

[coolplayer width="640" height="480" charset="GBK" autoplay="false" loop="true"]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV_L5m9xZGA

[/coolplayer]

Mike Gravel is not giving a concession speech. Nor is he endorsing a candidate, though he said he voted for Root. He is also not accepting any of the VP offers he's gotten.  Lastly, it appears no candidate is taking up the torch of his beloved national initiative idea.  Senator Gravel seems determined to go back to private life, and retire as a politician once and for all.  He spoke graciously about these things with reporters very briefly.

I can't seem to locate our hero Mike Jingozian.

The votes on the 5th round are now in. Mary Ruwart has pulled ahead with 229 to Bob Barr's 223 and Wayne Root's 165. It will be very interesting to see who pulls ahead. One would think Root's supporters are a mix of party traditionalists and people looking for a "silver bullet."

It's only a few moments away.

 -text and video by Cornelius Swart

[coolplayer width="640" height="480" charset="GBK" autoplay="false" loop="true"]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDFICinrZN4

[/coolplayer]

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

[coolplayer width="640" height="480" charset="GBK" autoplay="false" loop="true"]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hu_Ksnwij0

[/coolplayer]

POSTED BY CORNELIUS SWART (duh) This video clip provided by Disaboom. Thanks Jelena

We just finished with closing speeches and Jingozian's went off very well.  His campaign showed a video of the Anglevision's style of internet campaigning that had delegates in my area rapt.  He laid into the failure of the two-party system (the center of his campaign platform) again and again.

Just after receiving the news he'd won a slot in the televised debates, Jingozian seemed exasperated. He retired to his room for a nap.  I personally thought he might throw in the towel before the debates began.

But what a difference 40 winks can make. Jingozian rallied at the debates, pounding points, taking aggressive stances, making brave statements and getting the only standing ovation of the night.

A new Jingozian was out on the podium last night, one with a clear message who could deliver it passionately and forcefully. Jingozian got his biggest applause when he said he would pardon all non-violent drug offenders.

Most of the candidates performed well.  Bob Barr refuted a number of his earlier sins in Libertarian eyes, including the USA Patriot Act and the Defense of Marriage Act. The debate was strangely upbeat. Candidates did not attack one another. For example nobody attacked Barr's controversial positions - he was one of the leaders of the Clinton impeachment campaign, and he holds less than defensible attitude towards his own vows of straight marriage.

Candidate Mike Gravel gave a often-times flat performance but continued to push for a national referendum system.  He found some support from the crowd; that support would have perhaps been stronger if the LP had taken national referendums on as a party platform.

However Gravel gave the press the moment of the day when he had a 'senior moment' at the press conference afterwards. He exchanged terse words with the Media Coordinator Andrew Davis after Davis attempted to halt questioning for a moment. SEE VIDEO BELOW.

Jingozian emerged not only as a viable candidate after poor showings at last night's forum, but he may actually stand a chance to pull ahead of some of the more stalwart candidates such as Mary Ruwart, George Phillies, and perhaps even Steve Kubby.  Because Jingozian ranked just below Sen. Mike Gravel in the debate poll, I am going to predict that Jingozian has a 60% of taking more votes tomorrow.

Those are just my predictions.

Today the nominations for President and Vice President will be awarded and broadcast, again by C-SPAN, beginning at 8:30am Pacific time.

-text and video by Cornelius Swart

[coolplayer width="640" height="480" charset="GBK" autoplay="false" loop="true"]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc6_4LEeI6E

[/coolplayer]

Down to the wire.

This morning it looked like Jingozian would not have enough votes, counted through little slips of paper called tokens, to make it into the C-SPAN debates later tonight. Former Congressman Bob Barr was said to have 200 votes.  With Vegas motivational speaker Wayne Root pulling in almost 100 votes himself there was not a lot of room for other candidates.

Jingozian seemed resigned and exhausted when I last saw him around noon.  However, at about 12:45 I returned to the Reset America booth to find there had been yet another rule change. Candidates now had to hand their ballots in in person at 1pm.  Mike was nowhere to be found.

 -text and video by Cornelius Swart

[coolplayer width=”640” height=”480” charset=”GBK” autoplay=”off” loop=”on” download=”on”] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7mCQodJIYo[/coolplayer]
 

This posting really needs no introduction. But uh.. I will anyway. If you haven't read the earlier posts, Cornelius Swart (me) is blogging from the Libertarian Convention this weekend. The hubbub is that former Republican Bob Barr has swept in at the last minute as a strong favorite to win the Presidential nomination. Bob Barr is famous for various things good and bad.  He's a very high profile former Republican known for things such as the USA Patriot Act, the Defense of Marrage Act (anti-gay marriage) but perhaps best loved for this moment.

[coolplayer width=”640” height=”480” charset=”GBK” autoplay=”off” loop=”on” download=”on”] http://youtube.com/watch?v=mPn4mlFycpI[/coolplayer]

Race to second place

The ballroom floor here at the downtown Sheraton is packed with almost 600 delegates.  The booths are set up and selling their messages.  The press is powered up and roving and camera’s are rolling. It's show time today. At 1pm the first test of presidential potential will close as we see who makes it into the debates.

“I just want it to be over,” said Our Hero, Mike Jingozian. “I’ve been doing this for a year now. I went to bed at 4am and woke up at 6am.”

All the cards are on the table now. Mike needs 30 votes in order to speak tomorrow (corrected date from last night's post) as a presidential candidate. He needs 60 (not 80) votes to make it into the C-SPAN debate this evening.

[coolplayer width=”640” height=”480” charset=”GBK” autoplay=”off” loop=”on” download=”on”] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS936hi5DNs[/coolplayer]
 

SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE
Cornelius Swart Reporting

LIBERTARIAN CONVENTION: DAY 1, SETTING THE STAGE
Big name Dem and GOP politicos duke it out for control of little party

Not long after the state of Colorado was swept by rogue tornados, Denver has become the strange scene of a major third party swept away by celebrity candidates from the two major partires.

I came out here to Denver to help out Mike Jingozian, a local businessman running for President and featured in the Sentinel ‘Democracy’ issue.  Since it's a Libertarian convention, I can expect a  fairly quiet weekend. Libertarians, once described as Republicans who don’t believe in God, are known for their extreme laissez-faire views on both government and morality.  I was stocking up my handguns, pot and prostitute jokes.  Eccentric characters here include the delegate with the name tag that says “Hello my name is The Antichrist” and the man with the Mad Scientist Union label on his jacket. In the midst of the kookiness, however, I was surprised to find a significant political struggle going on here that has some national ramifications.

As the third largest political party in America, formed in the late 1970’s, the party has access to the ballot in 48 states. However, they have never fielded a candidate that could get even 1% of the national vote.

That may change.

Approximately 2 months ago Former Democratic Senator from Alaska Mike Gravel announced his candidacy for the LP libertarian nomination.  Then two weeks ago Former Republican Congressman from Georgia Bob Barr jumped into the race as well.

Sentinel News Service

By Cornelius Swart

Yes, it's true.  We're going way out on a limb this Memorial Day Weekend. Yours truly will be blogging, live or occasionally live, from the Libertarian National Convention in Denver CO this weekend. Oregon is one of the nation's most Libertarian-leaning states (look out New Hampshire), and it's also home to Mike Jingozian, the internet millionaire whose bid for the Libertarian Presidential nomination was first featured in the Sentinel November 2007's Democracy Issue.

Jingozian's Reset America campaign looks to put a kinder, gentler, less hookers-guns-and-bong-hits face on the Libertarian Party. He's going to Denver to try and win delegates over and get his name on ballots in 48 states for this November's election.

Even more interestingly, he is one emerging activist in a growing national movement that aims to empower third parties by removing barriers to ballot access.  Jesse Ventura was on CNN's Larry King Live last night with the exact same message.

Well, if Jesse's Ultra-Mullet (he looks more like Peter Boyle after a strong wind blew off his comb over) is any indication of what this convention is going to look like, I'd say we're in for a wild ride.

Monitor this blog or go to portlandsentinel.com/libertariansgonewild  for all the postings.