To any members who may have attempted to vote in the secretarial poll between about 3:15 and 3:50 Eastern Time: Due to a time zone misunderstanding, the poll was shut down an hour early. It is open now and will be open until 4:14 Eastern Time. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Regards,
Tom Knapp
Semi-Competent Web Administrator

Fellow libertarians,

I initially planned to announce my 2012 candidacy for the presidency of the United States on April 6th, 2009, from the steps of the Old St. Louis Courthouse (history buffs shouldn't have too much trouble figuring out why), and I still intend to conduct a campaign event of some kind at that time and in that place.

I see, however, that others are already lining up with formal announcements or at least clear indications of their own intent ... and when a fight's brewing, I prefer to get in early.

As the founder and 2008 national vice-presidential nominee of the Boston Tea Party, that party is naturally on my mind a lot, especially as it wraps up its second biennial national convention and nears its first presidential election. And, also naturally, I find myself saying various things about it to various people (including, as of a few minutes ago, a reporter for the Associated Press).

Some of the points I'm trying to make keep coming up, so they seem worth writing down in one place ... like maybe here.

Brett: No, no, I just want you to know... I just want you to know how sorry we are that things got so f___ed up with us and Mr. Wallace. We got into this thing with the best intentions and I never ...

Jules: [Jules shoots the man on the couch] I'm sorry, did I break your concentration? I didn't mean to do that. Please, continue, you were saying something about best intentions. What's the matter? Oh, you were finished. Well then, allow me to retort.

Dear fellow party members,

Restore the Republic Radio invited me to participate in an "Internet radio" debate last night, with the Constitution Party's Darrell Castle, the Libertarian Party's Wayne Allyn Root, and perhaps other candidates. I accepted that invitation.

Unfortunately, the event didn't happen, and for some reason the folks at RTRR and myself were unable to communicate with each other to establish this until literally two minutes before it was scheduled to start.

Dear fellow libertarians,

I can't express how proud I am of what we've accomplished together over the last few months, or how grateful I am to all of you, and especially to Charles Jay, our presidential candidate and Jim Davidson, the chair who put this party back together and got it rolling down the tracks again.

YOU, however, can express YOUR pride and gratitude with a click -- followed, of course, by your credit card number and a contribution to Charles's presidential campaign.

So, who do I favor over all? The candidates of the Boston Tea Party.

That's Dr. Walter Block, writing at LewRockwell.Com today.

As a big fan of Dr. Block's work, I'm flattered and offer sincere thanks on the part of myself, BTP presidential nominee Charles Jay, and our "favorite son" VP candidates.

No, wait. I think I read somewhere that there's a better way to do this. Yes, I remember now:

- I'll send Dr. Block a private note indicating that I'll publicly accept and acknowledge his endorsement at a later, specified, time and place.

- At the last minute, I'll call Dr. Block up and inform him that I've changed my mind -- "it's just not worth it," as he does mention others as well as the BTP's candidates. If he wants further explanation, I'll tell him to go f**k himself.

- Then I'll go to work trashing Dr. Block, claiming that I'm too important to be seen with him and others whom he thinks are worthwhile, that nobody's going to notice any of this anyway, and that he's a small man who's all about himself.

That ought to get the Walter Block Fan voting bloc in my pocket! After all, that's how those "serious" guys over at Bobby Barr's campaign do it, right?

Or maybe not. Maybe I'm just better off gracefully accepting the good wishes of a respected libertarian thinker. I think I'll just do that. Yeah.

Thanks again, Dr. Block.

Dear fellow Boston Tea Party members,

Later today, I'll be emailing each of you with a letter from Charles Jay, our party's presidential candidate. As is not unusual with such letters, this one requests donations for the presidential campaign. Some things have developed since the letter was written that I'd like to share with you first.

- Last weekend, Charles wrote the check to put our Tennessee ballot access drive in motion! It's a "small" drive -- only 275 signatures -- but in reality we'll need 550-600 signatures to ensure we get over the validity bar, and the petitioners will be helping round up elector statements, etc. as well. Up-front cost from funds personally raised by Charles: $1200. That's money spent that we need to replenish to keep the campaign in "forward motion" mode.

Speaking of electors, if you are a Tennessee BTP member and are willing to serve as one, drop me a line. As the name implies, if Charles and I carry the state, you'll cast votes for us in the Electoral College (hey, think positive!).

Yes, I said "Charles and I." With the ballot deadline coming up and no "favorite son or daughter" stepping forward to serve (as I've been encouraging in every state), I'll be privileged to serve as our VP candidate in the state of my birth. I'm hoping to make at least one campaign visit to the state this fall.

- Alabama looked like a long shot ...

Voter: Really, I’m a Libertarian at heart.
David Bergland: Well, when it reaches your balls, give me a call.

That's from a post at Positive Liberty by Jim Babka of Downsize DC. Best. LP. Quote. Ever.

Good morning, Boston Tea Partiers!

I wanted to sleep on it before addressing my sincere thanks to all of you for honoring me with our party's 2008 vice-presidential nomination. The matter seems to me to be a bit more solemn than would allow for pre-written or "canned" material. So, let me open with that thank you. Thank you!

Thanks also to all of the other candidates who stood for nomination to this ticket: Robert Milnes, Todd Andrew Barnett and Chris Bennett and of course our presidential nominee, Charles Jay.

In the days leading up to our nominating convention I spoke with our nominee, Charles Jay, a number of times. We discussed the opportunities this election represents for the party and how best to exploit them. As the vice-presidential nominee, I intend to assist Charles as best possible and to follow his lead in bringing the Boston Tea Party's message of freedom to America.