Pubdate: Thu, 01 Aug 2002 Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA) Copyright: 2002 Cox Interactive Media. Contact: http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/28 Authors: Tom Baxter and Jim Galloway, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Note: The ad may be viewed at http://www.randforcongress.com/ Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Bob+Barr DOTH LINDER PROTEST TOO MUCH? John Linder called on the Libertarian Party on Wednesday to keep its TV ads out of his fight with Bob Barr. Libertarians say they'll do what they please, thank you very much. And Barr says Linder's protests are too little, much too late to carry any credibility. This is complicated, but it could matter a great deal, so pay attention: Libertarians are running a congressional candidate of their own, Carol Ann Rand, in the 7th Congressional District race. But she has nothing to do with the Aug. 20 primary. Even so, the national Libertarian Party has targeted Barr for his stand against legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes. (They've targeted U.S. Sen. Max Cleland, too.) Rand's campaign manager is Ron Crickenberger, the national political director of the Libertarian Party. He said this week the Rand campaign plans to air TV commercials during the final weeks of the primary, asking people to keep their distance from Barr. Wednesday, Linder's campaign issued a statement that included the following: "Thirty years of work on behalf of Georgia Republicans .... requires me to call on the Libertarians to call off their attempts to undermine the integrity of our primary with these planned advertisements. I publicly ask them now to cancel their plans to air advertisements aimed at Congressman Barr in this primary." Libertarians were unmoved. "At this point we have to consider our donors, so I don't anticipate pulling ads," Crickenberger said. His people are miffed that Georgia makes it so hard for a third-party candidate to get on the ballot. Barr was of the opinion that Linder's protests were a bit too pro forma. "Mr. Linder has known since May that the Libertarian Party was planning a negative ad campaign against Bob Barr for his opposition to drug legalization and yet, for almost 80 days, he not only failed to condemn it, he encouraged it, just as he's encouraging Democrats to vote in the Republican primary," said communications director Brian Walsh. This is so tangled, someone's got to be smoking something. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake