Former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr is the Libertarian candidate for president.

Former Georgia Rep. Bob Barr was chosen today as the Libertarian Party’s candidate for president. The former Republican won in the sixth ballot round at the Libertarian Party convention in Denver, beating out research scientist Mary Ruwart.

Barr was elected to the U.S. House as a Republican in 1994 and represented a conservative district of the Atlanta suburbs for four terms. In 2006 he left the Republican Party to become a registered Libertarian, and last month he formed a presidential exploratory committee. The Washington Post speculated last week that Barr could act as the “new Nader,” drawing votes from the conservative base of the Republican Party away from John McCain in the general election. Libertarian candidates in the last two elections drew less than 400,000 votes each.

History & Platform
Barr was born in Iowa and attended USC, George Washington and Georgetown Universities. He worked for the CIA from 1971 to 1978. While he was in Congress, he was regarded as one of its most conservative members; in 2002 he was described by the Athens Banner-Herald as “the idol of the gun-toting, abortion-fighting, IRS-hating hard right wing of American politics.”
- Consistent with the Libertarian platform, Barr believes in small government and minimal government intrusion. He supports cutting federal spending significantly and adopting a “consumption tax,” like a national sales tax, to replace the IRS and all federal income taxes (essentially overturning the 16th Amendment).
- Though he has been dubbed an “anti-drug warrior” because of his support for the War on Drugs, Barr flipped positions last year and began lobbying for the legalization of marijuana. He has said that he’s not pro-drug, just anti-government intrusion.
- He was the main author and sponsor of the Defense of Marriage Act, which states that same-sex marriages cannot be federally recognized and that states don’t have to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.
- Barr led the charge to get President Bill Clinton impeached both before and after the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke.*
- He sat on the Board of Directors for the National Rifle Association from 2001 to 2007.
- He has been outwardly critical of the Bush administration. In 2007 he helped form a group called the America Freedom Agenda in order to bring to attention the “abuses and losses of our fundamental, constitutionally guaranteed liberties since 9/11.”
- He favors a withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

Fun fact
Barr appeared in the movie “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” He met with Borat’s character in the U.S. Capitol, where he was given cheese that was (allegedly) made from the breast milk of Borat’s wife. Watch the bit here.

*This article originally stated that Bob Barr had led the charge only after the scandal broke. Thanks to Lance Brown for pointing out the error.