The American Spectator

I just got off a wide-ranging bloggers’ conference call with Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr. Some of the topics:

• Barr strongly opposed the housing bill awaiting President Bush’s signature.
• He said cutting spending would be the top priority of a Barr administration
• Everything would be on budget, including Iraq “which would be wound down”
• He said he would try to get into the debates with McCain and Obama, but declined to say whether he would debate Ralph Nader, Chuck Baldwin or other third-party candidates
• Barr argued that he was not an isolationist on foreign policy, that he would not “zero out” all U.S. foreign aid and military spending abroad, and that he supports a strong national defense posture (but “not offense and occupation) like that which Ronald Reagan used to win the Cold War but he will also reduce foreign aid and overseas military commitments
• Barr talked about streamlining the legal immigration process while deporting, without major national round-ups, those in the country illegally. He didn’t take a full restrictionist line, emphasizng the importance of attracting skilled foreign workers as legal immigrants

In a future conference call, Barr said he would address the intricacies of state ballot access issues but he expected to be on the ballot in “virtually” all 50 states. He named Oklahoma as the one possible sticking point.