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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) Republican Senate candidate Bill Cassidy finally got the tea party assist Monday that he sought in his bid to oust Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, drawing the endorsement of his former GOP competitor and rallying with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

Tea partyer Rob Maness is urging the more than 202,000 people who voted for him in last week's midterm election to cast ballots for Cassidy in the Dec. 6 runoff a coalition that could give Cassidy a decided edge over Landrieu.

"I'm very confident that you'll see as I do that he is a man of faith, who loves our country, loves Louisiana, loves his family and loves these United States," Maness said at a GOP "unity rally." A vote for anyone else, he added, "is a victory for Barack Obama and that, my friends, is not an option."

Paul described last week's election and the Republican gains made in Congress as a "repudiation of the president and his policies," calling Landrieu a rubber stamp for the president.

"It's time to bring her home," he said in a packed Huey's Bar, named after Louisiana's most famous Democratic politician Huey Long.

The twin endorsements came during the first full week of political battle between Cassidy and Landrieu, who aired an ad questioning Cassidy's fitness for office. The spot, launched Sunday during the New Orleans Saints football game, featured quick cuts from a May 31 speech in which Cassidy appears to stumble over words and repeat himself.

"We'd lose Mary Landrieu's clout for this?" the narrator says.

Questioned about the ad, Cassidy's campaign spokesman John Cummins steered again to the unpopular president, saying: "Mary Landrieu may prefer the speaking style of President Obama, but Dr. Cassidy is focused on working hard, knowing the issues and representing the people of Louisiana, not Barack Obama."

Even if Landrieu wins the runoff, she will lose her Senate energy committee chairmanship in January to a Republican. The GOP won at least seven seats, enough for the majority, last week in the midterm elections. The Alaska Senate race has not been called for either Democratic Sen. Mark Begich or Republican Dan Sullivan.

Landrieu and Cassidy, who were the top two vote-getters in Louisiana's all-candidate primary Tuesday, advanced to the runoff. But the GOP rout nationally has taken some of the urgency out of Landrieu's pitch.

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Rand Paul headlines GOP rally in La. Senate race

Election victory at all costs holds little appeal to people who oppose the policies of both main parties. It is also the height of arrogance for any side of politics to claim ownership over a particular set of votes, which is clearly implied when third-party candidates are said to have "taken" votes away from Republicans or Democrats. If these politicians want libertarians to vote for them, then they should be less hostile to libertarian values.

A new survey of likely voters in North Carolinaraisesthe prospect of yet another libertarian spoiler candidate.

The CNN/ORC Internationalpoll has Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) pulling 46 percent of votes and Republican challenger Thom Tillis 43 percent, with a 4 percent margin of error. However, the poll also has Libertarian candidate Sean Haugh polling at 7 percent of the vote. If this proves to be an accurate prediction of election results, it will undoubtedly lead to Sean Haugh being labelled a spoiler by whichever side ends election night with a concession speech.

Haugh credits his strong poll numbers to an increased awareness of the libertarian brand, a significant change from when he ran for Senate in 2002. Libertarian is a household word now, he told The Washington Post. Everybody knows what it means.

Sowho is Sean Haugh? According to thePosts July profile, Haugh is a 53-year-old pizza deliveryman who comes across as both folksy and erudite, funny and earnest.

Read more via Poll Predicts Libertarian Spoiler in North Carolina Senate Race Hit & Run : Reason.com.

From the national LP headquarters

Libertarians sue Kentucky public television for First Amendment violation

A federal constitutional lawsuit, filed today against Kentucky Educational Television in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, stems from its new exclusionary policy regarding public debates, eliminating Libertarian participation. The plaintiffs in the case are Libertarian David Pattersons campaign for U.S. Senate, the Libertarian Party of Kentucky, and the Libertarian National Committee..

Originally posted here:
September | 2014 | Libertarian Hippie

In a column written just before the election, prominent Harvard Law School Professor and former Obama administration official Cass Sunstein channels the great libertarian economist F.A. Hayeks classic critique of conservatism in his advice to the new GOP majority in Congress:

Instead of conservatism, Hayek argued for a principled commitment to liberty an approach that would sharply constrain government and take an essentially radical position, directed against popular prejudices, entrenched positions and firmly established privileges. Its fair to say that in the current period, Hayeks radical position would entail a strong commitment to free trade, a rejection of protectionism, decreased regulation, deep skepticism about occupational licensing (and other barriers to entry), a firm commitment to religious liberty, and less frequent appeals to patriotism as a substitute for freedom-protecting reforms

In his short essay, Hayek did not deliver a knockout punch against conservatism. But he did land some powerful blows, not least in his objection that conservatives cannot easily work with people whose values differ from their own.

In the coming period, however, Republicans will be under increasing pressure to define themselves affirmatively rather than by opposition. One of their chief goals should be to identify freedom-promoting initiatives that might attract support from people who cannot, by temperament or otherwise, be counted as conservative. They would do well to begin with a close reading of Hayek.

Sunsteins advice that the GOP pursue a radical Hayekian libertarian agenda may be in some tension with his recent critique of paranoid libertarianism, (which I commented on here). Still, I agree with him that Hayeks critique of conservatism remains relevant today. And I would be very happy if the new Republican-controlled Congress were to advance Hayekian reforms of expanding liberty and cutting back government regulation, while also eschewing appeals to nationalism.

Obviously, however, the GOP does not consist solely or even primarily of libertarians who feel the same way as I do. It has many other elements, including a still-strong social conservative contingent that party leaders must cater to in order to hold their coalition together. I am also skeptical about how much support a radical libertarian agenda (or even a moderate one) would attract from Sunsteins fellow liberal Democrats.

That said, I think it is possible to envision the GOP evolving in a more libertarian direction over the next few years. With the very important exception of immigration, the party emphasized libertarian ideas far more than social conservative ones in the fall election. Significantly, they did not even make much of an issue out of the rapidly growing trend towards acceptance of same-sex marriage and marijuana legalization.

Some Republicans have even begun to rethink the War on Drugs and the mass imprisonment it generates. The Tea Party the most dynamic part of the GOP in recent years has largely focused on fiscal and economic issues, and has a substantial libertarian component (though it also has many social conservatives in its ranks).

Meanwhile, younger Republicans are far more socially liberal than their elders. For example, a recent survey finds that 61% of 18-29 year old Republicans support same-sex marriage, and many also support marijuana legalization. Generational succession will likely give such views greater weight in the party over time. By contrast, young Republicans are generally no less suspicious of government spending and economic regulation than older ones. The GOP is still very far from being a libertarian party, and it may never fully become one. But it could well become significantly more libertarian over the next few years than it has been at any time in the recent past.

It is also possible that libertarian-leaning Republicans can cooperate with liberal Democrats on some issues, including cutting back on the War on Drugs, and NSA surveillance, among others. At the same time, past attempts to build a liberaltarian alliance have had only extremely limited success, in part because the gap between libertarians and the left on many issues is very large.

Read the original here:
Volokh Conspiracy: Cass Sunstein channels Hayek

The buzz in the room is almost deafening as about 30 Libertarian candidates and party supporters gather around the three flat-screen TVs inside the dimly lit Jalisco Cantina on Tuesday night.

Fk you, dude! Tasha Heath, co-founder of the Southern Nevada Watchdogs group, shouts above the rest as local news stations show Governor Brian Sandoval making his victory speech.

Im a liberty person, not a party person, she says as she explains how her dislike of the governor stems from his forcing taxes and Republican beliefs on us.

Many others in the room echo her sentiments as they angrily call out at the television.

Sitting at a table with friends and volunteers, Libertarian candidate for Congressional District 4, Steve Brown, is oblivious to the commotion as he tracks his opponents election results through his cellphone.

Hes behind, he says, comparing Democratic incumbent Steven Horsfords numbers to Republican candidate Cresent Hardys. Hes behind by about 2,000 votes.

For the past few months, Brown and his supporters have been campaigning in the neighborhoods of Congressional District 4, which includes the area of West Las Vegas, near Bonanza Road and Rancho Drive.

He says he joined the political race with the everyday American in mind, which is why he ran on the platform of legalizing marijuana, stopping the war on drugs and halting the taxation of the American people.

Brown, who works as both a licensed masonry contractor and a table games dealer at the Four Queens Hotel, considers politics a labor of love.

Although he and many of his fellow Libertarian candidates do not expect to win any office, they thrive on the idea of making themselves heard and taking votes away from the major contenders.

See original here:
Libertarians hopeful despite disappointing election results

8 Etudes: 24 Studies, Op. 31, "Lecons progressives": No. 19 in A Major
8 Etudes: 24 Studies, Op. 31, "Lecons progressives": No. 19 in A Major Norbert Kraft 1994 Naxos Released on: 1994-06-20 Artist: Norbert Kraft Composer: Fer...

By: Norbert Kraft - Topic

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8 Etudes: 24 Studies, Op. 31, "Lecons progressives": No. 19 in A Major - Video