DOTH LINDER PROTEST TOO MUCH?

John Linder called on the Libertarian Party on Wednesday to keep its
TV ads out of his fight with Bob Barr. Libertarians say they'll do
what they please, thank you very much. And Barr says Linder's protests
are too little, much too late to carry any credibility.

This is complicated, but it could matter a great deal, so pay
attention: Libertarians are running a congressional candidate of their
own, Carol Ann Rand, in the 7th Congressional District race. But she
has nothing to do with the Aug. 20 primary. Even so, the national
Libertarian Party has targeted Barr for his stand against legalizing
marijuana for medicinal purposes. (They've targeted U.S. Sen. Max
Cleland, too.)

Rand's campaign manager is Ron Crickenberger, the national political
director of the Libertarian Party. He said this week the Rand campaign
plans to air TV commercials during the final weeks of the primary,
asking people to keep their distance from Barr.

Wednesday, Linder's campaign issued a statement that included the
following: "Thirty years of work on behalf of Georgia Republicans ....
requires me to call on the Libertarians to call off their attempts to
undermine the integrity of our primary with these planned
advertisements. I publicly ask them now to cancel their plans to air
advertisements aimed at Congressman Barr in this primary."

Libertarians were unmoved. "At this point we have to consider our
donors, so I don't anticipate pulling ads," Crickenberger said. His
people are miffed that Georgia makes it so hard for a third-party
candidate to get on the ballot.

Barr was of the opinion that Linder's protests were a bit too pro
forma. "Mr. Linder has known since May that the Libertarian Party was
planning a negative ad campaign against Bob Barr for his opposition to
drug legalization and yet, for almost 80 days, he not only failed to
condemn it, he encouraged it, just as he's encouraging Democrats to
vote in the Republican primary," said communications director Brian
Walsh.

This is so tangled, someone's got to be smoking something.