I took the 16th Street Mall shuttle this evening to the Sheraton Denver Hotel (formerly the Adams Mark) to check in with the National Libertarian Convention. The big hall was empty except for a guy working at his laptop on the front stage. He turned out to be the National Secretary, Bob Sullentrup, who was kind enough to pause in his toil of writing the minutes to speak with me about the day’s events. Bob Barr was nominated for president on the sixth ballot this afternoon, finally besting Mary Ruwart, who was nominated vice president.
On the way out of the hotel I spoke with two delegates and a party member. My Twitter friend Rick Wolff, a Libertarian delegate from New York in 1992, was following along via the live Qik feed, providing a running chat commentary that I could see on the screen of the Nokia N95.
As an early and strong supporter of Barack Obama, I am pretty far from the Libertarian outlook. But I admired the clarity and passion of the Libertarians I spoke with tonight. It’s refreshing to step away from the Clinton-Obama horse race into a world where ideas matter more than winning.
I plan to return to the Convention tomorrow morning for some audio interviews for Wednesday’s Audio Pod Chronicles.