Barkley likes odds of Ventura Senate run

The former governor has until July 15 to decide whether to enter the race and will probably wait until then.

By KEVIN DUCHSCHERE, Star Tribune

Last update: June 19, 2008 - 10:30 AM

Dean Barkley, one of former Gov. Jesse Ventura's closest political associates, said Wednesday that he thinks Ventura will enter the U.S. Senate race as a third-party candidate next month.

But Barkley emphasized that no one knows what the former governor will wind up doing.

And he said Ventura probably won't make a decision until right before the deadline for filing for office -- 5 p.m. on July 15.

But Barkley said that recent polls -- which showed Ventura with the support of a quarter of Minnesota voters in a hypothetical run against Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and DFLer Al Franken -- have reinforced their hunch that this could be a good year for a famous third-party candidate with office-holding experience.

In fact, both he and Ventura think the former governor would win, Barkley said.

"I think the public would like an alternative," he said. "The polls just show that [Coleman and Franken] have weaknesses that could be exploited by the right person."

No matter what Ventura does, that person won't be Barkley, who was appointed by Ventura to complete Paul Wellstone's term after the senator's death in 2002. Although he had said he would run if Ventura doesn't, Barkley was recently hired to run Metro Mobility transit and has ruled out joining the race.

As for Ventura, he's struggling between wanting to hang onto his comfortable lifestyle in Minnesota and Mexico, where he's become a surf hound, and his desire to shake up Congress and support U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, Barkley said.

He added that Terry Ventura says she won't stand in her husband's way if he wants to run.

"Half of him wants to [run] and the other half says, 'Don't do it, you idiot,'" Barkley said. "He knows his way of life is going to have to change."

One of the recent polls that showed support for Ventura also found that 60 percent of respondents said he shouldn't run for the Senate. Barkley acknowledged that he has some negatives.

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Ron Paul says campaign to 'shift gears': Wapo

Filed at 1:31 a.m. ET

HOUSTON (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul said Thursday night he is ending his campaign but will keep spreading his message by working to help elect libertarian-leaning Republicans to public office around the country.

''The campaign is going to shift gears. It's going to accelerate. It's going to get much bigger,'' Paul told The Associated Press in an interview before a rally where he was making the announcement. ''To me, it's a technical change.''

Paul formally announced the move -- his new ''Campaign for Liberty'' -- in a speech to supporters attending the Texas Republican Party state convention. He said he expected many at his Thursday night rally and other supporters from around the nation to attend an alternative mini-convention he will host Sept. 2 in Minnesota to coincide with the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

''Freedom is very popular. Not only is freedom popular, freedom works,'' Paul told supporters.

More here ..

The R3volution continues gaining momentum with a sister convention in Minneapolis at the same time as the Republican Convention in Sept.
With this he had to withdraw his candidacy from the Rep.Party presidential race. IT IS HOT!

http://www.justin.tv/ronpaul2008

"In the final analysis," I wrote in my new book The Revolution: A Manifesto,

"the last line of defense in support of freedom and the Constitution consists of the people themselves. If the people want to be free, if they want to lift themselves out from underneath a state apparatus that threatens their liberties, squanders their resources on needless wars, destroys the value of their dollar, and spews forth endless propaganda about how indispensable it is and how lost we would all be without it, there is no force that can stop them."

The time has come to act on these words. May future generations look back on our work and say that these were men and women who, in a moment of great crisis, stood up to the politicians, the opinion-molders, and the establishment, and saved their country.

Join us, and be a part of it.

For liberty,

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Four supporters of Plainfield tax protesters Ed and Elaine Brown were arrested yesterday and charged with helping the Browns "obstruct justice", in the words of the U.S. Marshal for New Hampshire.

The comments are must reads. They highlight all the aspects of the case which are falling under the radar.

read more | digg story