John, you make a good point regarding the “gridlock vote.”

As for the treatment that Boaz and Kirby give to national security, they say that libertarians may move away from the Republican Party “If terrorism is not as critical a decision point in upcoming elections, or if support for Bush’s handling of terrorism declines.” However, it should be pretty clear that terrorism will be the dominant issue for the foreseeable future, and even if support for Bush declines, libertarian hawks will still gravitate toward the candidate who would be the best on national security, so the economic/social libertarian swing voter won’t really be “in play” anyway. Or, more accurately, less votes will be “in play” than Boaz and Kirby suggest.