is the executive director of the libertarian party and not a party you hear a lot about how your party is the burn largest and fastest growing political worth in america what makes you different to the republicans and democrats and how come we are so little about the libertarians in the us media. the republicans in the democrats are basically big government they raise taxes increase government wage wars and get all all over the backs of businesses which hurts our job market the libertarian party fields candidates who are much who are for much smaller government for downsizing big government for staying out of foreign entanglements for lower taxes less regulation much less government. other republicans and democrats all going thread months arguing over laws someone's not even. years how different are the two parties in reality in terms of domestic and foreign policy if we focus in on. the democrat republican politicians are virtually the same ones wearing a blue jersey ones wearing a red jersey they're like a football team both playing the same game their rhetoric tries to draw distinct

in that candidate and the libertarian party is expected to field candidates as well former governor gary johnson of the state of new mexico recently announced his bid for the libertarian. a nation we have legal rights in a host of other candidates also vying for the nomination for the libertarian party will present a stark alternative to president obama's big government policy is. going to last question what are your predictions for the next twelve months of american politics. well you know i don't like to go too far on this question because alternately we need to give voters a choice and let them be the ones who decide and polls are often wrong and predictions are often wrong but that said i think it's fair to say that something very different is happening in america this year the poor economy is getting people more and more frustrated the endless entanglements and foreign wars that never panned out to be what they are they claim to be. and the fact that democrats and republicans have reached repeatedly failed to do anything to write the economy or to stop the encroachment on our person

i happen to think the biggest growing segment of the republican party have those that are libertarian almost said it yourself, which is you're looking at a growing segment of the republican party. don't you, by the very notion of running as a libertarian, deny republicans votes and, therefore, conceivably handing the victory to president obama? >> no, i actually see it the other way around. new mexico's a state that's 2-1 democrat. i think -- i think more votes are going to come from democrats who will be disenfranchised over gay marriage equality, over the knack we have so much warfare going on in this country, that we wages a war against ourselves when it comes to drugs. legalized marijuana, no, i see this as drawing perhaps more votes from democrats than republicans. but worst case, best case, it's going to draw from both parties the biggest growing segment of american politics declines state and independence. this is going to draw a big segment of that. by draw big segment of it, it is about the message, it's about the agenda, and i don't see it being represented beyond the primar

some members of the libertarian parties are seeking it as well. jonah goldberg is with us. uld a signature, third party candidate have on this presidential race what happens in the way that ralph nader played argue ooh lee the spoiler, drawing away votes from al gore and giving george w bush votes. >> i think that is the right question. all due respect to gary johnson this is the equivalent of lickenstein declaring war on the united states. he's not a very good candidate. someone like ron paul would be a different story. a lot of people don't know about ron paul in the general election right. the polling right now says that ron paul could probably cost whoever the republican nominee was the election by taking more antiobama votes away from the nominee. gregg: he's still running for the republican nomination, he's leading in iowa with six days to go, and the libertarian party will nominate as i understand it may 5th. let me quote today's "wall street journal." mr. paul who ran for president as a libertarian in 1988 has said he has no plans to pursue a third-party bid but he h

announced he is dropping out of the republican race and running as a third party candidate for the libertarian party. in washington, jennifer davis, fox news. >>> an investigation is croon going between a semi-truck and a bus. the crash sent the bus driver to the hospital with minor injuries. no passenger was on the bus and no other injuries were reported. there was extensive damage to the bus and the truck and it's unclear what led to the crash. >>> vta and other transit area agencies have special holiday programs. they will be free. valley transportation agency, or v t.a., caltrain, golden death buses and ferries are on regular saturday schedule. >>> b.a.r.t. is offering special new year's service as well. trains are going to run three hours longer than they usually do overnight. service will continue until 3:00 a.m. on january 1 , new year's day during those extended hours, the trains will run on their normall interval >>> and can you go to ktvu.com for more information on new year's schedule for all bay area transit agencies. the information is in web links which can be found near the top of the

best of luck i hope he does well and i would love to see many libertarian options on the ballot in two thousand and eight the boston tea party had its first presidential nominee charles j. he was on the ballot in three states was a certified write in several more and i believe he was actually more libertarian than the libertarian party nominee bob barr and beyond ron paul from your perspective what do you make of the presidential campaign so far well. this is just my opinion the only other good to be candid it within the two major parties is dorsey richardson and he's opposing barack obama in the democratic party primaries. thank you so much for weighing in on this that was the chair of the boston tea party darrell perry. just to have the nato and u.s. mission in libya is over but the country is facing lots of changes and struggling to determine who's really in charge party is on the ground in libya when we come back. to the. people calling what you said for free and fair elections. again we're still reporting from the. as you can hear behind me loud explosions. i don't. know you got it. thank you there's always the red you

ron paul first ran for president back in 1988 as a libertarian party candidate. years ago as a republican challenger. now, however, paul believes his time may have come. >> pelley: three weeks to the caucus. thank you, dean. the new iraq. where a man accused of running a death squad is now a member of where a man accused of running a death squad is now a member of thparliament. that's ahead. in stuffing and more, the secret is swanson. this was the gulf's best tourism season in years. all because so many people wanted to visit us... in louisiana. they came to see us in florida... nice try, they came to hang out with us in alabama... once folks heard mississippi had the welcome sign out, they couldn't wait to get here. this year was great but next year's gonna be even better. and anyone who knows the gulf knows that winter is primetime fun time. the sun's out and the water's beautiful. you can go deep sea fishing for amberjack, grouper and mackerel. our golf courses are open. our bed and breakfast have special rates. and migrating waterfowl from all over make this

>> i can tell you i'm contemplating leaving the republican party for the libertarian party. the notion is i think most of america is fiscally conservative and socially liberal. that is painting with a broad brush. the notion of balancing the federal budget now. the noton of reducing welfare and warfare both. biggest growing segment of american politics is independents and the declining state. i'm holding a press conference about potentially running as a libertarian where i would be on the ballot. by the way, that is no done deal. that is the contest, there are eight candidates running for the libertarian nomination. if i were to get that nomination i would be on the ballot in all 50 states during the general election which keeps the message alive and message again gets back to getting our fiscal house in in order. i'm proposing enacting a fair tax which reboots the american economy for the next hundred years. really reducing spending more than anything. less government is better government. best government is government that empowers you and i to make choices that only and i

party. what about throwing your hat in the libertarian ring.n that happen in many different elections. does that change things at all? >> i don't think that matters. i don't think people are going to waste their vote -- they never have. ross perot being the only exception on a third candidate. i don't see a lot of voters, except perhaps cult voters, maybe have ron paul were to run an independent candidacy or something like that i don't see the people throwing away a vote. julie: i think ron paul that would be an interesting turn out. >> yes he has a following. none of these people have ever won a state, therefore they haven't one any electoral votes. julie: the retirement of ben nelson, by retiring did nelson do republicans a favor by deciding not to seek a third term? >> he did. republicans stand a pretty good chance of taking the senate. i've got to say they stood a pretty good chance before nelson said he was going to retire. remember this guy, this is the corn husban husker kick back guy. he took a terrible beating out there. that had to do

instead he will seek the libertarian party nomination.he beaten path where he has been the last 11 months there, shep. >> shepard: no question. carl cammeron live for us tonight. no criminal charges for more than two dozen arizona lawmakers who got free tickets or trips to the fiesta bowl. no evidence to prove it was illegal. pushing to ban gifts for lawmakers. 28 current and former arizona officials were linked to this investigation. the former state senate president topped the list after reportedly getting $39,000 worth of tickets, trips, and other freebies. the fiesta bowl gets to keep the championship game but had to pay a 1-million-dollar fine in connection with this scandal. another cyber attack on the united states from china. hearings there got access to a major organization and millions of americans' personal information. live in d.c. plus a champion boxer charged with beating up his ex-girlfriend and threatening the kids. now he finds out how much time he'll spend in jail. we're approaching the bottom of the hour and the top of

with the process thus far is leading him to dump the republican party and instead run for the libertarian party'sresidential nomination instead. in terms of dissatisfaction, though, with the available options in the republican primary so far, there was also this news today about sarah palin, governor palin once said on an alaska radio show that it would take a lot. it would take a huge, natural disaster, in fact, to get her to jump into the race for president. remember this? >> are you sure that we're not going to hear tomorrow that sarah palin decided, you know what, i'm going to run for president of the united states?ç >> you know, that would take an earthquake the size of the '64 great quake in, you know, the personal life and local political life to change that up. so i don't anticipate it. >> all right. if, in fact, there's a 10.3 earthquake somewhere on the globe today, you have to promise me you'll call this show first and tell us you've decided to run for president. >> i will. it's kind of morbid thinking, but yeah, 10.3. that's the marker. >> all right. very good. >> 10.3, for the record

mexico governor gary johnson is dropping his republican bid for president and will seek the libertarian party's nomination instead. johnson barely registered in republican polls and said he's grown frustrated with the lack of attention. >>> reuters is reporting that north korea will adopt an unusual power-sharing arrangement in the wake of kim jong-il's death. his son, kim jong-un, will share power with his uncle in conjunction with the north korean military. >>> in cairo, thousands of women took to the streets to protect the egyptian military in the largest female demonstration in that country's modern history. the rare display of anger erupted in response to images of soldiers stripping and beating female protesters. >>> another showdown on capitol hill with republicans in the house refusing to sign off on a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut, backed by the white house and a bipartisan vote in the senate, 89 votes in the senate. democrats are demanding that republicans get on board before taxes go up on 160 million americans on january 1st. republican house leaders are also catching h

that resonates with most americans i think the fastest growing segment of the republican party is the libertarian wing of the republican party. but i don't know if ron paul is going to be successful and i'll tell you a lot being excluded from sixteen out of eighteen of these debates has really been a soul fulfilling prophecy for me and that self-fulfilling prophecy basically is i'm not even running so you're saying that you've completely you've dropped out of the race at this point or you also mention before the you might consider running as a third party candidate a libertarian candidate you know i'm looking at running as a libertarian no i'm so i'm remaining as a republican. time is drawing near but it's the self-fulfilling prophecy part of it is that. supporters that say hey gary like you like what you've got to say you know i haven't seen you in any of the debates and i'm looking at a poll right now where your name's not even in the poll that's been the self-fulfilling prophecy is look at mitt in the debates because i haven't been in the polls that determine who gets in the debates which by a

the libertarian party already represents the best positions from the corrupt old parties. guest: more choice is better. host: next call, triangle, virginia. joyce, a democrat there. caller: mr. byrd, you're presenting your organization as a grassroots organization this morning, however, i saw you and another gentleman on an interview on a previous earlier show and when asked about your funding, the other gentleman said you all had about $150 million that came from -- 15 million that came from about 20 millionaires. why this crepe and i? i will take my answer offline. guest: ok. i will put the materials. we have about 50 people who give in about $20 million, a budget for americans elect is $35 million and we stay focused on two things, getting on the ballot in all 50 states and creating the first non-partisan nominating process which will culminate in june of this year. we think it's important for people to american at this process their own pace. you will people who are joining peter ackerman but it's important in this environment for people to have the opportunity to expr

that they've been getting and they won't have made any inroads into the republican party i mean the way that the libertarians should be going about this is by taking over local republican parties and making it so that it's oriented not towards a candidate i mean not just towards ron paul but towards the policies that they advocate and if they can achieve this on a on a on a local level if they genuinely believe in federalism and they want to see the states have more power they need to empower those states to actually take on these policy ideas and i don't know if so then in that case let's talk about the difference between you want to talk about going local do you think there's a difference between some of the tea party activists and libertarians you might see in other parts of the u.s. forces i guess you could say the the think tank the libertarians that there are seventy have here in washington d.c. that are at reason that are at the cato institute that feel like there might be some divide there there might be a bit of a divide but i do think that the washington d.c. libertarian think tank said would do we

one, can he widen his appeal among mainstream republicans and not just the closet libertarians inside the party? and two, does he have the infrastructure or is this a howard dean ruse from 2004 to win these caucuses and catapult him to new hampshire? at the core of ron paul's strength here in iowa, devoted followers like these who came from all over the country to help out in perry, iowa. joe stone made some 200 calls last night for the campaign and drove more than four hours from his minneapolis home today to catch a glimpse of his political hero. >> i want to see ron paul. i have never seen him and he's one of the only people i want to meet before i die. >> reporter: nick hofstetter of austin, texas, turns 18 next year, just in time to cast his first vote. he's volunteering now while visiting relatives in iowa. >> me and my friends do sign-making parties at my house a lot. >> the next president of the united states, ron paul! [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: with five days to go, the paul campaign is now measuring success by the sheer number of attacks from other candidates. >> ron paul w

>> then at noon gary johnson isn't having much luck as a republican so he's switching to the libertarian partyt 10:00 the official mourning period for north korea's kim jong il begins. >>> and if you're just joining us, everyone, this hour we begin in iowa where only six days remain before the presidential caucuses. time is getting shorter, and sometimes tempers, i should say, are getting shorter as well. joe johns is in des moines with more on what to expect. now both mitt romney and newt gingrich sharpend their attacks. we heard from romney. we heard from gingrich. what are the two men saying about each other only six days before the caucuses, joe? >> reporter: it's getting a little ugly, especially on newt's side. look, mitt romney spent a lot of money on ads attacking newt gingrich. he's also had the benefit of ads produced by a super political action committee that's producing, you know, ads for mitt romney and even though they're not supposed to be coordinating, the fact remains the same. meanwhile, the former speaker hasn't had the kind of money to fight back in the air wars and he's be

this was written under ron paul's name in 1987, right before he ran for president under libertarian partyanner. unlike this new letters, which he has been able to distance himself from, this book is written by ron paul and there are several passages in there, sort of inflammatory, that might hurt him. let me read a couple of passages in this book, freedom under siege. the first is about sexual harassment. he writes quote, employee writes are said to be valid when employers pressure employees into sexual activity. why don't they quit once the so-called harassment starts? another passage that i found was every year, new groups organize excuse me, organize to demand their rights. white people who organize and expect is same attention as other groups are condemned as dangerous bigots. caucuses can exist, but not a white caucus -- so again, ron paul's hard core libertarian views coming back to haunt him a little bit. these are not mainstream outside. a lot of p the book hits on his familiar themes of protecting gold standard, gun rights and protecting personal liberty. amid this whole newslett

what it what does the republican party do if ron paul wins and more broadly what are the republicans doing about the growing libertarian problem in their own party well i'm not convinced it's a libertarian problem if he if ron paul goes on to win the the republican nomination that means that he will have made his case to a much greater universe than the caucuses in iowa you remember the water moment but george h.w. bush came out of iowa with big mo and he wasn't president till eight years later so i mean the idea that you can you can win big in iowa and not become president what does it mean look. john mccain came in two and then came when what fourth and i was so i mean you have i would you know it's not necessarily a barometer but we do know is that the caucus states in the early primaries do give us an indication as to where republicans are a force candidates out but as these candidates move forward they'll have a good idea where they can perform in these future states i don't think libertarianism can be identified as some sort of problem you know you're having tea party members now and that have revolted somewhat i

unlikely third party candidate if in fact ron paul doesn't get the nomination, does he run on the libertarian partyket or another? i know it's unlikely, but what do you think? >> there are some republicans telling him right now, get out the race and run as a libertarian. look, i've seen the ad twice. i saw it in the middle of the night and again this morning. it's very effective because he used gingrich as the sound bite. and whether or not he understands it or not, like romney, he has contorted himself as well. >> i'm going to -- ron paul does not run again. i'm not saying he will. >> i don't think he will, but there are some folks who suspect. thanks. sounds like a dnc ad. >> i like it. >> thanks, guys. hillary clinton wraps up her historic overseas trip with a special message for president obama and a word of praise and caution for myanmar and the afghan woman who was raped and thrown behind bars receives freedom today. finally. what's going on? [ indistinct talking on radio ] [ tires screech ] [ crying ] [ applause ] [ laughs ] [ tires screech ] [ male announcer ] your life will have to flash b

i think there will be a third-party challenge this year, it will come from the libertarian wing of the republican party and help obama. >> i think you're seeing a howl of protest against all politics and all washington so certainly ron paul is emerging as an interesting candidate and we're seeing financial crisis across the world that will play into his hands. >> he says he's not running as a third party but you never know. helene? >> let's not forget that a weak third-party candidate in 2000 hurt al gore. i think any third-party candidate would hurt president obama. >> i think joe's right that if ron paul runs, it won't hurt obama but there could be 2/3-party candidates and you could imagine someone from americas elect which is a more centralist candidate. mike bloomberg is still out there. >> they have access in 50 states and someone will be handed that next june. i think that person will be more of a problem for barack obama. >> what a great roundtable. joe klein, gillian tett, helene cooper and john heilemann. chris is on a book tour this weekend for his kennedy biography. he'll be

president gary johnson not having much luck as a republican so he's switching to the libertarian party. >>> tonight at 10:00 the official mourning period for north korea's kim jong il begins. that's going to do it for me in washington d.c. thank you all for watching. natalie allen is next with more natalie allen is next with more "cnn newsroom." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> live in studio seven, i'm natalie allen. let's get you up to speak for wednesday, december 28th. if you're a republican running for president, iowa is the place to be today. the iowa caucuses juks six days away. the candidates are out in force as you can imagine. on the trail this hour, michele bachmann and newt gingrich. bachmann's 99 county bus tour is in creston iowa. she's competing for the social conservative vote. newt gingrich rallies his supporters in mason city. a recent poll shows gingrich, ron paul and mitt romney in a virtual tie for the lead. >>> what happened to newt gingrich nice guy? he vowed not to go negative in response to the other candidates' attack ads, but that didn't stop gingric

one, can e he widen his appeal among widestrem republicans and not just the closet libertarians in the party? and two, does he have the infrastructure or is this a howard dean ruse from 2004 to catapult him? at the core of ron paul's strength in iowa, devote followers like these. joe stone made some 200 calls last night for the campaign and drove four hours from his minneapolis home to catch a glimpse of his little bit kol hero. >> i have never seen him and he's one of the only people i want to meet before i die. >> reporter: nick hofstetter turns 18 next year in time oh cast his first vote. he's volunteering here while visiting relatives in iowa. >> me and my friends do sign-making party as lot. >> the next president of the united states, ron paul! >> reporter: five days ago the paul campaign is now measuring success by the sheer number of attacks from other candidates. >> ron paul would be dangerous as president of the united states. >> one of the people running for president thinks it is okay for nuclear to have a nuclear weapon. i don't. >> reporter: today paul continued to push back agg