Bob Barr

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Robert Laurence "Bob" Barr, Jr. (born November 5, 1948) is the Libertarian Party candidate for President of the United States in the 2008 election. He is an American attorney and former member of the United States House of Representatives. He represented Georgia's 7th congressional district as a Republican from 1995 to 2003.

Barr attained national prominence as one of the leaders of the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Barr joined the Libertarian Party in 2006, and as of 2008 serves on its National Committee.

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[edit] Early life

Barr was born on November 5, 1948, in Iowa City, Iowa.[1] His parents served in the U.S. military, and he spent many years with them abroad; including Lima, Peru where he attended Colegio Franklin Delano Roosevelt, The American School of Lima, and Tehran, Iran where he graduated from Community High School in 1966.[1]

Barr returned to the U.S., attending the University of Southern California and joining the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity in 1967 (where as of 2008 he holds the position of Grand Histor).[2] Barr also joined the Young Democrats of America, much to his parents' chagrin, who threatened to cut off financial support if he continued his involvement.[3] Barr completed his B.A. from University of Southern California in 1970.[1]

Barr later earned his M.A. from George Washington University in 1972, and his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1977.[1] From 1970 to 1978, Barr was employed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).[1]

After leaving the CIA, Barr moved to Georgia, where he practiced law and became active in the Republican Party.[3] Barr made an unsuccessful bid for the Georgia House of Representatives in 1984.[3] In 1986, Barr was appointed by President Reagan[4] to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia -- a post Barr held until 1990.[1] From 1990 to 1991, Barr was president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation.[1]

[edit] Congressional career

Barr sought the Republican Party nomination for U.S. Senate in 1992, but lost the primary election to Paul Coverdell.[5] The primary was very close, with Barr losing by less than 1,600 votes in a runoff election.[5]

Barr was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 as a Republican, upsetting six-term Democrat Buddy Darden, to represent Georgia's 7th congressional district in the 104th United States Congress. Barr was one of 73 Republican freshmen ushered into Congress by that election.[6] The election became known as the "Republican Revolution" because it resulted in the first Republican House majority in 40 years -- since the 1955 adjournment of the 83rd Congress.[7]

Barr was later re-elected three times, serving from 1995 to 2003.[1] While in Congress, Barr served as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, as Vice-Chairman of the Government Reform Committee, and as a member of the Committee of Financial Services.[4]

Georgia's congressional districts were reorganized by the Democrat-controlled Georgia legislature ahead of the 2002 elections for the 108th Congress.[8] The majority of the new district 7 was composed of regions formerly associated with district 11, then represented by Republican John Linder. Much to the Democrats' delight, this redistricting led Barr to challenge Linder for district 7 representation.[9] This was pleasing to Georgia Democrats, including then governor Roy Barnes, because it meant the inevitable defeat of an incumbent Republican (i.e., either Barr or Linder).[9] Recognizing Barr's precarious situation, the Libertarian Party seized on the opportunity to oust one of the federal drug war's most vocal proponents (Barr), and ran TV ads criticizing Barr's opposition to medical marijuana.[10] Barr was soundly defeated by a 2-to-1 margin.[10] The extent to which the issue of medical marijuana shaped the election is unclear. Some have argued that Barr's huge loss simply reflected the nature of the new 7th district, which was primarly redrawn from Linder's old 11th district.[8] However, before the medical marijuana ads were aired,[10] the Linder campaign acknowledged the race as being tight;[11] and Pat Gartland, southeastern director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, saw the race as "too close to call".[9]

[edit] Controversy

Bob Barr reportedly spoke at Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), on June 4 and 5, 1998, in Charleston, South Carolina.[12] The CCC grew out of the White Citizens' Council a segregationist organization.

[edit] On illegal immigration

In an interview with radio talk show host Neal Boortz, Barr viewed illegal immigration primarily as a security issue. He would return only illegal immigrants who refused to undergo a background check.

"You set a mechanism internally to determine who is here. And if you catch folks that are here unlawfully, and do not submit themselves to a background check that those coming into this country are going to be required to do, then you send them back to their country."

"I’m not sure how you would go about rounding up millions of people and trying to deport them. The key here is security...."[13]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h
  2. ^ Bob L. Barr. Grand Council, Grand Histor. Tau Kappa Epsilon. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
  3. ^ a b c Gail Barr Affidavit to Hustler.Items 8 and 12 of this reference have obvious typos of year -- should read 1983 and 1984 respectively, not 1963 and 1964.
  4. ^ a b
  5. ^ a b New Georgia Encyclopedia: Paul Coverdell (1939-2000). Retrieved on 2008-04-18.
  6. ^ Amer, Mildred (2005-06-16). "Freshmen in the House of Representatives and Senate by Political Party: 1913-2005". CRS Report for Congress: 1-6. The Library of Congress. Retrieved on 2008-05-08.
  7. ^ Template:Cite news
  8. ^ a b usnews.com: Opinion: Lessons from the defeat of Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney in the Georgia primary (8/29/02). Retrieved on 2008-04-16.
  9. ^ a b c OnlineAthens: Opinions: Shipp: Barr vs. Linder: Great Republican train wreck 06/02/02. Retrieved on 2008-04-20.
  10. ^ a b c cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana Ads Play Role in Defeat of Barr. Retrieved on 2008-04-15.
  11. ^ Liberty - Targeting Bob Barr, August 2002. Retrieved on 2008-04-25.
  12. ^ Trent Lott and Bob Barr—Council of Conservative Citizens [1]
  13. ^ Barr and Boortz on illegal immigration [2]

[edit] External links

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