Libertarian presidential candidates debate in Denver

  Seven Libertarians debate in Denver: From left: former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr; former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel; Libertarian activists George Phillies, Michael Jingozian, Mary Ruwart, Steve Kubby, and Wayne Allyn Root.

Seven candidates for the Libertarian presidential nomination squared off at a Denver debate Saturday evening, the day before Libertarian National Convention delegates vote on what’s considered to be a wide-open race for the nomination.

Although the seven candidates come from a range of political backgrounds, all largely agreed Saturday  on a variety of issues ranging from opposing the Iraq War and government-run health care to supporting gun rights and ending the war on drugs.

The seven debaters were former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.); former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel (D-Alaska); 2000 Libertarian U.S. Senate nominee Mary Ruwart; Las Vegas oddsmaker Wayne Allyn Root; Libertarian activists George Phillies of Massachusetts and Michael Jingozian of Oregon; and former California gubernatorial candidate Steve Kubby.

The moderator was Fox News contributor James Pinkerton.

Libertarian National Convention delegates will vote on their party’s presidential nominee Sunday afternoon. Even after the debate, no one could predict with certainty how the race would turn out.

Within the 30-member Colorado delegation, “there is literally at least one supporter for every candidate,” said Colorado delegate Ken Wyble.

Barr, a front-runner for the nomination, used the debate to address significant grumblings among many Libertarians about his behavior as a Congressman, including co-authoring the Defense of Marriage Act and supporting the war on drugs.

Barr called for the repeal of part of DOMA requiring the federal government not recognize same-sex marriages, saying that provision has been “used as a hammer on individuals who seek to enter this country and or in this country to deny them rights that they ought to have.”

However, Barr later clarified that he still supports the first part of DOMA, which prevents other states from recognizing gay marriages performed in other states.

As for the war on drugs, Barr said, “Now, from the outside, looking at it from the Libertarians, it does not work.”

Former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel, agreed, saying prompting Kubby, a longtime medical marijuana activist, to quip, “I’m getting a major buzz right now.”

“I’ve worked so hard, 10 years,” Kubby said, “and never in my wildest dreams could I have ever imagined that I’d be on stage with a former senator, former congressman and some Libertarian politicians all agreeing that the war on drugs needs to end and that medical marijuana needs to be legalized.”

The largest cheers from the audience of convention delegates came during the candidates’ discussion about the USA PATRIOT Act. All seven candidates agreed that the act curtailed civil liberties and should be abolished.

After Kubby noted Barr was “One of the signers, one of the supporters of the Patriot Act,” Barr shot back a couple minutes later.

Barr said he and a politically diverse coalition are working to “Drivie a strake through (the Patriot Act’s) heart, shoot it, burn it cut off its head, burn it again, and scatter its ashes in the four corners of the world.”

As president, Phillies, said, he would “appoint an army of special prosecutors so every one of those federal civil servants (involved with illegal wiretapping) is brought to trial, given a fair trial, and thrown in prison where they belong, along with all their collaborators.”

Kubby “I’m glad that Bob Barr’ in the party I’m glad he’s renounced the patriot act.

Asked about the war in Iraq, Root said, “The War on Terror -- how do you win it? Privatize it. Put it in the hands of business, capitalists

Gravel, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination,  took a shot at his former colleagues, saying both the Democratic and Republican parties would bring “more of the same: more war, more economic difficulties.”

Ruwart grouped herself with Republican presidential candidate (and former Libertarian presidential nominee) Ron Paul, saying she can win over Paul’s supporters as well as female voters hoping to vote for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Democrats, she said, have “dropped the ball -- A ball we can pick up and should pick up, because certainly the woman the Democrats have proposed at the top of the ticket cannot compare, I believe, to a principled Libertarian woman in that position.”

Asked about his proposed solution to the energy crisis, Jingozian answered, “I’m going to tell you something you’re probably not going to hear in a politician: I don’t know.” He explained as president, he would surround himself with knowledgeable advisers and is able to “ask the right questions to the right people” to find the solution to the energy problem.