Related articles:

Clinton scolds McCain for opposing farm bill McCain campaign coordinating with White House, adviser says

Other articles by Steven Thomma:

Under their skins, both parties like big gov't Obama finding his way around halls of power Obama vows stimulus 'jolt,' names economic-policy team The voters who carried Obama Contest will be more mud-caked, divisive Clinton campaign hanging on today's vote Ohio, Texas crucial in Clinton's pursuit of Dem nomination Christian conservative support splintered for GOP presidential field GOP hopefuls' conservatism challenged Dem presidential hopefuls present unified front

Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Health Care
Sierra Tucson
Eating Disorders Program Coordinator General
A1 Communications
Cable Techs

WASHINGTON — As a Republican congressman who helped impeach President Bill Clinton in 1998, Bob Barr irritated the hell out of Democrats.

Now as a Libertarian seeking to run for president on his new party's ticket, Barr could balance things out. He threatens to hurt the Republicans by siphoning off conservative support from Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Barr, 59, formally launched his campaign Monday for the Libertarian Party presidential nomination with a vow to slash the size and power of the federal government, restore civil liberties curbed since 2001 and pull back U.S. troops from abroad, both in Iraq and at bases around the world.

He said he didn't consider how his candidacy might affect the major-party candidates, but he noted that several Republican friends had called to urge him not to launch the third-party run.

"We would prefer it if you don't run," Barr quoted them. "It would upset the apple cart."

And while he issued a vague criticism of Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the front-runner for the Democratic Party's nomination, Barr saved his most pointed criticism for the Republican Party he left in 2006, a president who he said abandoned fundamental conservative principles such as civil liberties, and McCain, whom he dismissed as anything but conservative.

"If Senator McCain . . . does not succeed in winning the presidency, it will not be because of Bob Barr, not because of Senator Obama," Barr said.

"It will be because Senator McCain and his party did not present a vision, an agenda, platform and a series of programs that actually resonated positively with the American people. It also may be because their candidate did not resonate with the American people."

Asked specifically why he objected to McCain's candidacy, Barr paused and said, "How long do we have?"

He said his first complaint was the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law, which conservatives see as an unconstitutional regulation of political speech. Another, Barr said, is that McCain doesn't go far enough in seeking to rein in the federal government.

He said that McCain's promise to stop pork-barrel spending was a fine start, but just a token.

"There really is not a great deal of substance there in terms of a commitment . . . to cutting the size of government," Barr said.

Barr is considered the front-runner for the Libertarian nomination at a convention, to be held in Denver on May 25. It also will include several rivals, among them former Democratic Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska.

If he wins the nod, he then will face the challenge of getting his name before voters; the party said it's now on the ballot in 28 states and is working on the rest.

Election