Please rate the candidate(s) of your choice according to the following areas, if you want to have a basis of conversation with me about this subject. If you want your basis of conversation to indicate that your idea on my perception of candidates is incorrect, but my view of political reality is fairly correct, then use the same multipliers for the importance level of each quality. If you want to indicate to me that my assessment of the candidate is correct, but that my assessment of political reality is incorrect, then use a different multiplier, but a similar weight. Obviously, if you think I'm delusional on both, then alter both --but this means we will have little to talk about. We will have almost no basis for comparison if your "greatest possible" number is not close to 125.

desirable qualities: (1 = least desirable, 10 = most desirable)
importance of the quality being measured to a desirable candidate: (and each category multiplied by 0 = least important, to multiplied by 1 = most important, with one category being multiplied up to 2) :

Wayne Root http://www.rootforamerica.com
1) Ability to get a relatively high vote total in comparison to all other available choices and past LP candidates(10) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (2) (this was the category I gave the importance of 2 to. It is vital that the LP get a high vote total this year, and every year in the future, before the mainstream attempt to effectively do away with elections is completed)
=20/20

2) Ability to understand basic libertarian principles (10) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (1)
=10/10

3) Ability to communicate libertarian principles quickly, in such a way that people who even slightly agree with individual freedom will most likely view those principles in a positive way(9) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (1)
=9/9

4) Ability to positively brand the LP for future elections(10) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (.8)
=8/8

5) Ability to generate positive mainstream media exposure for the Libertarian Party --both liberal and conservative MSM tending towards conformity and shallowness (10) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (1)
=10/10

6) Ability to understand theoretical, abstract, and highly-philosophical libertarian principles (ie: ideas about individual freedom that are controversial within the LP)(8) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (.6)
=4.8/6

7) Ability to market themselves to traditionally "liberal" or "leftist" demographics (8) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (.7) (although this category will be more important in future elections, after the first high libertarian vote total)
=5.6/7

9) Ability to market themselves to traditionally "conservative" or "rightist" demographics (10) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (.8) (although this category will be less important in the future if the Republicans ever again run someone who is fairly libertarian and more adept at Paul at getting high vote totals)
=8/8

10) Ability to market themselves to uncommitted, undeclared, nonpartisan, or independent voters
(10) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (.9)
=9/9

11) Ability to not be beaten down terribly by partisans in the mainstream media who fight DIRTY(10) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (1)
=10/10

12) Ability to understand strategy and adapt to strategical obstacles as they emerge during the campaign season (10) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (1)
=10/10

13) Ability to run a serious presidential campaign that covers the basics, without thinking too far out of the box (media attention, things like GOTV, demographic outreach, sign placement, door to door effort)(10) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (.9)
=9/9

14) Ability to run a serious presidential campaign that covers the basics, including thinking "outside of the box" (internet fundraising,viral video marketing, etc...) (10) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (1)
=10/10

So, out of a theoretical 150 possible points for someone who believes that all categories are equally and vitally important, I limited the candidates I am reviewing, (including the candidate that I support the most) to a total of 126 possible points. I ranked Root as 123.4 out of 126 possible points based on my assessment of which values are the most important.

Mary Ruwart http://www.votemary2008.com
1) Ability to get a relatively high vote total in comparison to all other available choices and past LP candidates (5) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (2) (this was the category I gave the importance of 2 to. It is vital that the LP get a high vote total this year, and every year in the future, before the mainstream attempt to effectively do away with elections is completed)
=10/20

2) Ability to understand basic libertarian principles (10) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (1)
=10/10

3) Ability to communicate libertarian principles quickly, in such a way that people who even slightly agree with individual freedom will most likely view those principles in a positive way(7) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (1)
=7/9

4) Ability to positively brand the LP for future elections(9) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (.8)
=7.2/8

5) Ability to generate positive mainstream media exposure for the Libertarian Party --both liberal and conservative MSM tending towards conformity and shallowness (8) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (1)
=8/10

6) Ability to understand theoretical, abstract, and highly-philosophical libertarian principles (ie: ideas about individual freedom that are controversial within the LP)(10) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (.6)
=6/6

7) Ability to market themselves to traditionally "liberal" or "leftist" demographics (10) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (.7) (although this category will be more important in future elections, after the first high libertarian vote total)
=7/7

9) Ability to market themselves to traditionally "conservative" or "rightist" demographics (8) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (.8) (although this category will be less important in the future if the Republicans ever again run someone who is fairly libertarian and more adept at Paul at getting high vote totals)
=6.4/8

10) Ability to market themselves to uncommitted, undeclared, nonpartisan, or independent voters
(10) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (.9)
=9/9

11) Ability to not be beaten down terribly by partisans in the mainstream media who fight DIRTY(5) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (1)
=5/10

12) Ability to understand strategy and adapt to strategical obstacles as they emerge during the campaign season (8) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (1)
=8/10

13) Ability to run a serious presidential campaign that covers the basics, without thinking too far out of the box (media attention, things like GOTV, demographic outreach, sign placement, door to door effort)(9) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (.9)
=8.1/9

14) Ability to run a serious presidential campaign that covers the basics, including thinking "outside of the box" (internet fundraising,viral video marketing, etc...) (10) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (1)
=10/10

So, out of a theoretical 150 possible points for someone who believes that all categories are equally and vitally important, I limited the candidates I am reviewing, (including the candidate that I support the most) to a total of 126 possible points. I ranked Ruwart as 101.7 out of 126 possible points based on my assessment of which values are the most important.

Bob Barr http://www.bobbarr.org
1) Ability to get a relatively high vote total in comparison to all other available choices and past LP candidates(10) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (2) (this was the category I gave the importance of 2 to. It is vital that the LP get a high vote total this year, and every year in the future, before the mainstream attempt to effectively do away with elections is completed)
=20/20

2) Ability to understand basic libertarian principles (2) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (1)
=2/10

3) Ability to communicate libertarian principles quickly, in such a way that people who even slightly agree with individual freedom will most likely view those principles in a positive way(7) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (1)
=7/9

4) Ability to positively brand the LP for future elections(2) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (.8)
=1.6/8

5) Ability to generate positive mainstream media exposure for the Libertarian Party --both liberal and conservative, MSM tending towards conformity and shallowness (2) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (1)
=2/10

6) Ability to understand theoretical, abstract, and highly-philosophical libertarian principles (ie: ideas about individual freedom that are controversial within the LP)(1) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (.6)
=.6/6

7) Ability to market themselves to traditionally "liberal" or "leftist" demographics (0) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (.7) (although this category will be more important in future elections, after the first high libertarian vote total)
=0/7

9) Ability to market themselves to traditionally "conservative" or "rightist" demographics (9) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (.8) (although this category will be less important in the future if the Republicans ever again run someone who is fairly libertarian and more adept at Paul at getting high vote totals)
=7.2/8

10) Ability to market themselves to uncommitted, undeclared, nonpartisan, or independent voters
(7) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (.9)
=6.3/9

11) Ability to not be beaten down terribly by partisans in the mainstream media who fight DIRTY(1) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (1)
=1/10

12) Ability to understand strategy and adapt to strategical obstacles as they emerge during the campaign season (9) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (1)
=9/10

13) Ability to run a serious presidential campaign that covers the basics, without thinking too far out of the box (media attention, things like GOTV, demographic outreach, sign placement, door to door effort)(9) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (.9)
=8.1/9

14) Ability to run a serious presidential campaign that covers the basics, including thinking "outside of the box" (internet fundraising,viral video marketing, etc...) (9) ...my estimate of the importance of this category (1)
=9/10

So, out of a theoretical 150 possible points for someone who believes that all categories are equally and vitally important, I limited the candidates I am reviewing, (including the candidate that I support the most) to a total of 126 possible points. I ranked Barr as 73.8 out of 126 possible points based on my assessment of which values are the most important.

None of the other candidates is much of a threat, but I might rank others according to my views when I have the time. Christine Smith is in the Badnarik "delusional to think that they will obtain more than 500,000 votes" category (unless the public is really ready to vote LP and would do so no matter who was nominated, which is always possible, thanks to Ron Paul!), but is otherwise a philosophically sound and presentable candidate (of course, noone will ever hear what she has to say unless they are interested in seeking out the truth for themselves on the internet. From the popularity of Obama, McCain, and ClintonII, you can see how few voters that actually is). Steve Kubby is much the same as Christine Smith, but also has the stigma/attraction of being a cannabis legalization activist (this would possibly actually help him get a relatively high LP vote total, but it would sorely limit what we could do after that, as well as making sure that our votes didn't do something "wild" or "break out" like Ron Paul's internet fundraising, even with a serious legalization campaign). Bob Barr should also be in this "typical LP ~500,000 votes" category, but is not, sadly, because most libertarians don't know how exactly bad he was while in congress (and still is), and they are desperate for someone they believe that the MSM will cover.

Phillies would get a few votes less than Smith, because he's a man, and a few votes less than Kubby because nothing memorable other than "physics professor" is associated with his name. Great guy, terrible candidate. (But at least he's libertarian.)

Jingozian is a quasi-leftist libertarian, and there are a lot of leftists out there. But libertarians are not leftists. For this same reason, Gravel should not be seriously considered (He still wants to socialize medicine). (But we should keep in mind that the Libertarian Party cannot ever win the whitehouse by royally and completely pissing off every leftist in the USA. For that reason alone, Barr is out --he has a track record of social intolerance in cruelness --both as a pro-drug-war prosecutor and a pro-drug-war legislator.)

Imperato is a loon. He might have money, but he's not a libertarian. He fits better in the "Reform party", because he's basically a populist "finger to the wind" Perot (He is seeking their nomination in addition to the LP nomination). Even his name is an anagram of "I am Perot". He claims to be a descendant of Emperor Nero. Geepers.

Milnes is a Green Party candidate who wants the LP to merge with the Green Party. I don't like that idea. The Green Party is a bunch of nihilist, uneducated socialist boobs. As such, they came up with 10 vague platform planks that are subject to interpretation of whoever is running. Bad. Very bad. Very unprincipled and stupid. Optimistically, a small percentage of the USA would be marxist idiots even if the LP elected someone as cool as Harry Browne to the presidency and a majority of the seats in congress, and we achieved a libertarian society. Let's not let them into the party before we even begin to seriously fight. Doing so would be like an anemic AIDS patient injecting himself with flu virus to boost his immune system (By way of this analogy, Root is like the robust vaccine for AIDS that would be developed in burgeoning capitalist economy). Things are bad now, let's not make ourselves totally irrelevant. The Greens can already vote Libertarian if they want to (and as they graduate from college/highschool and are forced to get jobs, this already happens on its own).

Did I leave anyone out? It's because they haven't declared, or don't deserve to be mentioned as viable candidates.

-Freedom Jury

"I'm voting for Wayne Root, the Libertarian Candidate for President of the United States, on May 25, 2008, and on November 4, 2008."
http://www.rootforamerica.com