Belly Up to the Barr

History shows that third-party candidates win few, if any, votes in the Electoral College. Can you really win?
History provides no blueprint for the future in politics. We know that by looking at the dynamics of this particular race, which are very different in terms of the significant increase of new younger voters, the deep dissatisfaction with the status quo, the more than 70 percent of voters who believe that the country is on the wrong track, the cynicism about the current administration and the fact that I have not run for president before. I'm a very different candidate from the Libertarians and other candidates who have run in the past.

Take me through your strategy. In which states will you be most competitive?
We're not going to disclose that at this point. There are a number of states that we believe, based on our analysis, give us a greater chance for carrying those states. But I don't think it would be appropriate to lay those out right now. But that is a very tangible part of our strategy.

But how will you compete with both big-party candidates?
We certainly will. Russ Verney, who is heading up our team, has very unique and very positive credentials in terms of running national campaigns in the past, and so-called outsider campaigns like [Ross] Perot in '92 and '96. We're going to make a very wide and deep use of the Internet for fund-raising and grass-roots organization. We'll take some cues from [GOP candidate Ron] Paul's campaign and Senator Obama, both of whom have shown great progress in motivating new young voters, largely through use of the Internet. That illustrates there is a pretty significant well of support for a new candidate and a new approach. A lot of these younger people I don't think are wedded to the status quo as much as their parents and grandparents, which provides a refreshing approach.

You mentioned Ron Paul. How can you unite this libertarian movement that grew so strongly for Paul over the past year?
We certainly will make that a strong part of our effort. We aim to motivate and keep [Paul's supporters] involved in emphasizing the uniqueness of my approach with similarities, certainly, that the Paul campaign was able to tap into.

You were among the most vocal opponents of President Clinton during his 1998 impeachment. What do you think of how Hillary is doing?
I don't think that the Clinton campaign has shown a tremendous ability to win votes and raise money. I don't think they were able to respond to the newness and youth of Senator Obama's campaign nor tap into that.

Do you have any residual combative feelings about the Clintons?
No. I'm not focused on that for a couple reasons. One, it's unlikely she's going to be the nominee. Secondly, what I intend to emphasize very strongly is a very positive focus on issues and not personalities.