Playing the Spoiler Role?

Root, a millionaire, Spike TV host and former Las Vegas odds maker, is betting that the Libertarians can make it into the mainstream by attracting gamers. Root says that online poker players soured on the GOP in 2006, after the Republican Congress passed a bill restricting online poker. "There are 12 million poker enthusiasts in this country who had poker ripped away from them in 2006," said Root. "I'm a celebrity in their world. I can bring more gravitas to the [Libertarian Party] than it has ever had before, starting with those 12 million online poker players." Root said that he and Karl Rove—seated at Root's kitchen table one night in 2006—debated the fate of online poker. Root said he told Rove that banning online poker would demoralize the GOP. "Rove said, 'Wayne, that's ridiculous. Poker?'" recalled Root. "Karl Rove laughed, and the Republican revolution ended."

The feisty Root faced some tense moments. At one point he was asked to explain why he had written a $1,000 check for one of Sen. Joe Lieberman's campaigns. Root said the check had been cut as a favor to a business partner who also happened to be a bundler, collecting campaign donations from PACs and individuals for Lieberman. "I'm a businessman above all else," Root explained unapologetically. Later in the debate he complained that the moderator had "put me on the spot." The moderator responded, "That's the point."

But most media interest centered on how much the Barr candidacy could damage McCain. "I don't anticipate being a spoiler," Barr told a gaggle of reporters gathered around him after the debate. "I'm in this race to win. I know it's a long shot, but I'm a competitor, not a spoiler." When asked if McCain was trying to discourage Barr from running, or whether the Arizona senator had reached out to him at all, Barr said, "I don't know that McCain reaches out to anyone, and he certainly hasn't reached out to me. That's not what he's about."

Barr's campaign manager, Russell Verney, who also managed Ross Perot's 1992 presidential campaign, told NEWSWEEK that "those people claiming that [Barr] is going to be a spoiler should buy some cheese to go with that wine. We are not spoiling anything. Competition is the backbone of America. And no one can take votes from anyone else, because votes are not a birthright. Votes have to be earned."

As far as earned votes, it seems that a few may actually be inherited from Ron Paul. For Richard Howard, a registered Republican from outside of Annapolis, Md., Paul's failure to clinch the GOP nomination was terribly disappointing. "I was a Ron Paul supporter," explained Howard before last night's debate. "But he's running as a Republican, and he's not going to make it as a Republican, so that's why I'm here tonight: I am going to look at the Libertarian candidates."

Paul may not have run under the Libertarian name, but he still carried the party's hopes. After the debate, Jon Kraus, a member of Gravel's communications team, chuckled and shook his head. "You know," said Kraus, "you hear his name tossed around as though he were the de facto nominee. Like Ron Paul were the patron saint of Libertarianism." The problem is, it needs one.

© 2008