[Iowa-dx] FW: Barr and McKinney file for President in Iowa (Iowa Independent)

[Hart, Holly J]

http://iowaindependent.com/3985/barr-and-mckinney-file-for-president
Barr and McKinney file for President in Iowa
By John Deeth 8/14/08 9:13 AM

Iowa's two official third parties both qualified their presidential candida=
tes for the state's ballot on Wednesday. In a coincidence, both parties are=
 running former U.S. House members from Georgia.

Bob Barr was a Republican in Congress, but now he's the Libertarian preside=
ntial nominee. Cynthia McKinney, a former Democrat, is the Green candidate.

Barr is showing up as a 2 to 3 percent blip in national polls, drawing supp=
ort from disgruntled Republicans and former Ron Paul supporters. Paul, stil=
l serving as a Republican congressman, hasn't endorsed Barr - but he hasn't=
 endorsed John McCain either, and speaks often and highly of Barr.

First elected in the 1994 Republican landslide, Barr had a high profile rol=
e in the 1998 House impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Barr lost his se=
at in a 2002 primary, when redistricting paired him with another Republican=
 incumbent. He surprised people by working with the American Civil Libertie=
s Union on privacy issues, and left the Republicans last year.

National polls have excluded McKinney, preferring to ask about Ralph Nader =
instead. McKinney was first elected in 1992, and lost a 2002 primary where =
she was targeted by pro-Israel groups for her pro-Palestinian views. She wo=
n the seat back in 2004, but lost again in 2006 after getting a lot of nega=
tive attention over a physical confrontation with a Capitol police officer =
who failed to recognize her as a House member.

McKinney will compete with Nader, who qualified for the Iowa ballot as the =
"Peace and Freedom" candidate last week, for a similar group of voters. Nad=
er is the better known name, but the Green Party has more of an organizatio=
n than Nader's loose network. The Greens had hoped to increase their suppor=
t from minority voters by nominating their first African-American candidate=
, but the Democrats seem to have had the same idea.

Greens and Libertarians earned a place on Iowa's voter registration forms o=
n Jan. 1 this year as "political organizations," the new law's term for thi=
rd parties. Voters can register as Libertarian or Green, but the parties st=
ill have to petition to get their candidates on the ballot. The deadline is=
 Friday.