The onetime lawmaker from Georgia says he wants to end out-of-control government spending. Some political analysts see his campaign as a threat to John McCain.
Bob Barr, a onetime Republican congressman from Georgia, on Monday announced his plan to run for president as a Libertarian, promising to rein in federal spending and limit military involvement abroad.
“The government has run amok fiscally,” Barr said at a news conference. During the first quarter of this year, he said, the private sector lost millions of jobs while the federal government was “hiring with enthusiasm.”
Barr, who left the Republican Party two years ago, is expected to win the Libertarian Party’s nomination during its convention this month in Denver.
On Monday, he said presumed Republican nominee John McCain was not a true conservative.