How to tell when you've wasted gobs of Libertarian money--and what to do about it

Clue number one would be if you've sent money to the Bob Barr campaign.

Clue number two would be if you've recently sent money to the LNC's mismanaged ballot access campaign (also known as the other part of the Bob Barr campaign).

At least you didn't fall for the dead Nigerian prince who left money in the International Bank of Southern Lagos.

Did you?

So you wasted money on Bob Barr up until the point that he:

Reneged on his position on DOMA

Led a PAC that gave money to the opponents of Libertarian candidates

Considered bailing out Freddie and Fannie

Spent thousands of your bucks installing air conditioning in his headquarters

Filed suit to get into the Saddleback forum

Tried to dump his own VP candidate

Badmouthed the man who wouldn't replace the VP candidate he was trying to dump

I could go on, but you get the picture.

What to do? What to do?

How about what Libertarians claim to be good at: think for yourself.

There are at least a solid dozen State and local Libertarian candidates around the country whose candidates are in dire need of funds, but who otherwise have the capability of making a substantial impact (maybe, in a couple of instances--actually threatening to--wait for it--win).

So if everybody who would have wasted money on Bob Barr wants to take the cause of Liberty seriously, why not....

Adopt a Libertarian candidate and send him or her at least $25 this month and next month.

Here are my favorites:

In Delaware's 4th State House District, fusion Libertarian/Republican (and contributor to this blog) Tyler Nixon is mounting a strong challenge against an incumbent Democrat who might best be described as a special interest whore. But to beat him, Tyler needs to be able to do at least one direct mailing. And you could help.

In the North Carolina gubernatorial race, Dr. Michael Munger has broken through the media embargo to score invites to three debates. Imagine what he could do with a little paid air time.

Also in the Tarheel State, Chris Cole is driving Liddy Dole and Kay Hagan nuts in the Senatorial race--without a damn penny to his campaign's name.

How about Allen Buckley in Georgia, who's officially in all the debates in the Senatorial race?

Or Michigan's Scotty Boman, who may have to suspend campaigning for lack of money?

Eric Schansberg in Indiana?

Jan MacKay in North Carolina?

Lillian Simmons in Texas?

Thomas Knapp in Missouri?

Jason Gatties in Michigan?

You can find a whole list of over 500 orphan Libertarian candidates available for adoption here.

I'm not flush, but so far this campaign season I've managed to scare up a couple hundred bucks in total for Munger, Boman, Buckley, Gatties, and Nixon. Maybe I should have put it all toward one of them, to try to get a bigger bang for my contributed buck.

But here's what you could do:

Send a few dollars to a candidate who shares your view of liberty, or to a candidate who won't use your contribution to air condition campaign headquarters.