We just finished with closing speeches and Jingozian's went off very well.  His campaign showed a video of the Anglevision's style of internet campaigning that had delegates in my area rapt.  He laid into the failure of the two-party system (the center of his campaign platform) again and again.

"They will lie to you, they'll tax you, they'll regulate you and track you and in four years they'll be back talking about change."

In and unusual move, after finishing his speech, Jingozian returned to the podium to introduce and nominate Mike Gravel for president. He exalted  Gravel's record of fiscal libertarianism, citing his leadership in the effort to create the Alaska pipline as a private venture. He also mentioned Gravel's 1971 filibuster that lead to the end of the draft and exposed the 'Pentagon Papers' detailing the U.S. government's deceptions about the Vietnam War.

This move was part of the Gravel/Jingozian ticket that has been in the works for a while.  Jingozian wants to run as VP with Gravel at the top of the ticket. He expects to announce this more formally after the voting for president is complete.

How well this will play is unclear. Gravel continues to seem like a hard fit for the party.

Gravel gave a meandering speech in which he continiously positioned himself as an outsider, using language such as "your platform, your party, your candidate," rather than "our party, our platform."

At times he appeared to be lecturing the party's anarchist streak, saying they were hyperfocused on "individual sovieriegnty" but reminding them that they still conformed to public meeting proceedures like Robert's Rules of Order and the rule of law. Much of Gravel's speech went flat with the delegates but was punctuated with moments of high spirits.

Still, Gravel clearly has a lot of support on the floor. Just how much is yet to be counted.

Most telling was a black cascade of 'boo!'s that erupted from the convention floor when a parade of Bob Barr supporters marched across the room. Is that anti-Barr sentiment enough to unify the fragmented and divided delegates behind one candidate? If so, will that candidate be Gravel, the soft-spoken Ruwart, or the firebrand Root?

Presidential candidates and vice Presidential candidates are voted on seperately through runoff ballots that require a majority. We expect several rounds of voting today to get there. Jingozian seems to think the instant runoff system doesn't always favor the front-runner.

It can go any which way, it seems.

 -text and video by Cornelius Swart

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW1exn0E_ec

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