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NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY
2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100
Washington DC 20037
World Wide Web: http://www.LP.org
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For release: August 21, 2002
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For additional information:
George Getz, Press Secretary
Phone: (202) 333-0008 Ext. 222
E-Mail: pressreleases@hq.LP.org
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LP's medical marijuana ads play role
in defeat of U.S. Rep. Bob Barr
WASHINGTON, DC -- The "worst drug warrior in Congress" has lost his
seat, and the Libertarian Party appears to have played a small role in
making it happen.
U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, a four-term incumbent, lost the Republican primary
in Georgia's 7th District on Tuesday night to fellow Republican John
Linder, 67 percent to 33 percent.
Over the past two weeks, Barr's Libertarian opponent, Carole Ann Rand,
flooded Georgia's 7th District with more than 4,000 TV spots. The ads
feature a multiple sclerosis victim who lashes out against the
Congressman for his crusade against medical marijuana.
"Barr's defeat is a victory for every American who believes that
doctors and patients [radical] rather than politicians [radical] should be making
medical decisions," said Rand. "Like Babe Ruth pointing to a spot in
the bleachers before he hit that home run, we pointed out our target
and knocked him right out of Congress."
The party's political director, Ron Crickenberger, acknowledged that
many factors contributed to Barr's defeat.
"Actually, it's impossible to gauge the precise effect that this or
any other ad had on the outcome," he said. "Nevertheless, there are a
number of reasons to believe that our ad had an impact.
"For one thing, our ad was virtually the only issue-based TV spot in
the campaign, so it became a lightning rod for publicity. Both Barr and
Linder ran personality-based, feel-good ads. Linder's main ad simply
described how he met his wife, which was designed to leave voters with
a warm, fuzzy feeling. And Barr's TV spot came to be called the 'Barr
is gooder' ad. It portrayed a good 'ol boy saying, 'Linder is good. But
I'm going to vote for Barr, because he's gooder.'
"That left us a huge opportunity to inject our issue into the public
debate [radical] and we did."
For another thing, media interest was piqued by the dramatic ads,
Crickenberger said.
"Political reporters for every major paper in the district, including
the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, wrote about the ad's expected
impact," he said. "In addition, local talk radio hosts turned it into
a topic for discussion, and Atlanta-based, syndicated radio host Neal
Boortz really beat Barr up over the medical marijuana issue.
"So while Barr's loss was attributable to many factors, I believe
these ads put another nail into his political coffin."
The 30-second ad opens with a shot of multiple sclerosis sufferer
Cheryl Miller lying on a stretcher as an announcer asks: "Why does Bob
Barr want this woman in jail?" Miller introduces herself as a medical
marijuana user and says, "Bob Barr thinks I should be in jail for
using my medicine. Why would you do that to me, Bob?"
The ad concludes: "When the Drug War turns on our own sick and dying,
it's gone too far -- and so has Bob Barr."
The 30-second ads ran in Barr's district on two broadcast networks [radical]
Fox and NBC [radical] as well as on CNN, TNT, Comedy Central, MS/NBC, and
dozens of other cable networks.
Produced by the national Libertarian Party, the ads are part of its
goal of defeating the worst drug warriors in Congress, whether
Republican or Democrat. Other targets for defeat include U.S. Rep.
Henry Bonilla, R-TX; Sen. Max Cleland, D-GA; Senator Tim Hutchison, R-
AR; and Senator Max Baucus, D-MT.
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