Barr campaign in Atlanta

Barr slammed the Bush administration today:

Bob Barr blasted the Bush administration on Wednesday for eroding the privacy of U.S. citizens, which he called the most fundamental of American rights.
"Obviously, under this administration, the right to privacy not only isn't important, it doesn't exist," Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate for president, told the Clayton County Rotary Club.

(Via Jason Pye.) I'm in the Atlanta area today, but didn't go to the event in Jonesboro, because I was visiting with friends and family, including my high school drama and chorus teacher, Carolyn Hansard, whose son Bart Hansard has built a career as an actor.

Something else from the AJC story:

[Barr] already has campaign events planned in Washington, New York, Las Vegas and Portland, Ore., with more to come, he said.

I had a brief phone conversation today with a Barr operative, who told me the campaign staff is currently busy meeting the legal requirements, doing necessary paperwork, "dotting the i's and crossing the t's" of establishing the campaign infrastructure. The candidate will continue doing media -- he appeared on Neal Cavuto's Fox show today -- and fundraising for the general election will get underway. Expect to hear a lot more from Team Barr in June.

Meanwhile, a clueless MSM report from Newsweek:

Barr's goal is snag the support of 15 percent or more of registered voters and participate in this fall's presidential debates. That's unlikely to happen. One big reason: Ron Paul. With his cult-hero bid for the White House, Paul has done more this year than any of his predecessors to popularize Libertarian ideas--no foreign interventions, minimal government, a return to the gold standard. But the trouble is, he ran (and is still running) as a Republican, and shows no signs of abandoning his party. If Paul continues his campaign through the GOP convention, as he's already promised, he'll monopolize much of the newly-unleashed Libertarian energy--the record-breaking donations, the clever online organizing, the passionate activism--at least through September.

Moron. Paul's campaign makes it more likely (not "unlikely") that Barr will reach double digits in the polls. Paul's campaign within the GOP is effectively over. Paul's delegates will make noise at the GOP convention, but as fair as advancing the goal of his supporters -- to dethrone their pro-war conservative adversaries -- the Paul campaign has failed, where Barr may yet succeed.

Dozens of delegates at the Denver LP convention had been active Ron Paul supporters in the GOP primaries. Now their support (their time, effort and money) will be devoted to Barr.

Don't believe anything the MSM writes about Barr. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Aaron Sheinin is the only MSM reporter who has even really tried to be fair to Barr. Otherwise, go to Third Party Watch.