Liberty Maven

Andrew Davis, on the Libertarian Party HQ website addresses why Barr will not attend the third party debate scheduled for Sunday evening.

…official invitations for the debate just went out this week — mere days before the event is to take place. Given that the proposed event is intended to take place less than 16 days before the election, it is a little absurd to assume that candidates, in the peak of a presidential campaign, have time to drop all pre-scheduled activities and run off to New York for a hastily planned event.

The Barr campaign, which has a very fast paced travel schedule, had already made campaign commitments in other parts of the nation that can’t, and won’t, be dropped for an event that another campaign put together at the last minute without prior coordination.  There is good reason why the Commission on Public Debates puts out their schedule well in advance; it gives the campaigns a chance to put it on their calendar.

Contrast that with the fact the invitations to this hastily conceived event are still in the mail.

All along, the Barr campaign has said it would be willing to debate any third-party candidate if the debate was going to be at the national level. Otherwise, the Barr campaign has a campaign plan and they are going to stick to it.

The Barr campaign blog follows this up with the following:

Please understand that we cannot help the events surrounding the organization of this debate. Bob will continue to do as he has been doing for the last few weeks, visiting battleground states and spreading the message of Liberty.

Looking at the comments to the blog entry from the Barr campaign, It looks like Barr is losing some formerly staunch supporters over this decision. Others are heartened by the decision and view the debate as an opportunity to preach to the choir rather than campaign for new votes.

I can see both sides but I must admit I lean on the side of wanting Barr to participate in the debate. Although this desire could be more selfish than practical because I think Barr could earn some votes by actually campaigning face to face.

This is equivalent in strategy to shunning your base while seeking new votes. That is a balancing act in any campaign, but I think for Barr it is a particularly dangerous strategy when a good portion of his base isn’t already completely devoted to him. In the end he could lose more votes from his brittle base than he gains from courting the undecided.