Libertarian Party to hold 2004 convention over Memorial Day weekend in Atlanta

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) May 22, 2004 -- ===============================



NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY



2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100

Washington DC 20037

World Wide Web: http://www.LP.org



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For release: May 21, 2004



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For additional information:



George Getz, Communications Director

Phone: (202) 333-0008 ext. 222

E-mail: GeorgeGetz@HQ.LP.ORG

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Libertarian Party to hold 2004 convention over Memorial Day weekend in Atlanta





WASHINGTON, DC -- America's most successful third party will hold its 2004 presidential nominating convention over Memorial Day weekend in Atlanta.

More than 800 delegates from around the nation will pack the Marriott Marquis hotel from May 27 to 31, where -- amid balloons, noisy demonstrations and floor speeches -- they will select a presidential candidate to represent the Libertarian Party.



"If you're fed up with the tax-and-spend Democrats and the borrow-and-spend Republicans, this convention is for you," said Geoffrey Neale, the party's national chair. "Only one presidential candidate on the 2004 ballot will offer voters a genuine small-government alternative, and it's the Libertarian."



The reasons that many political analysts consider the Libertarians the most successful third party in decades includes:

NUMBER OF OFFICEHOLDERS: Currently nearly 600 Libertarians hold office nationwide, which is more than all other third parties combined.



NUMBER OF VOTERS: 3.4 million Americans cast at least one Libertarian vote on Election Day, 2002. Libertarian candidates for the U.S. House have now earned 1 million votes for two election cycles in a row, making it the only party in history other than the Republicans and Democrats to do so.



BALLOT ACCESS: The Libertarians are the only third party to put a presidential candidate on all 50 state ballots during the past three presidential elections, and the party is working toward the same goal in 2004.

NATIONAL IMPACT: Libertarian candidates have been credited with controlling the outcome of several gubernatorial and Senatorial elections in the past two years.



The party's presidential nominee will be chosen on Sunday, May 30. The candidates actively battling for the nomination are:

Gary Nolan, lifelong syndicated talk radio host who publicly resigned from the Republican Party in 1999 because of their "bloated budgets and refusal to cut spending" and joined the Libertarian Party; Aaron Russo, the high-octane Hollywood producer-turned political activist who was the driving force behind The Rose and Trading Places; and Michael Badnarik, whose popular classes on the Constitution are "lighting the fires of liberty, one heart at a time."



Delegates will also gather to make changes to the party's Platform, elect a new national chair and listen to an interesting line-up of high-profile speakers.



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