Stealth protest? I know from experience that talking to reporters as a candidate can be tricky (I still turn red thinking about how a reporter played up my 'ambivalence' about being at the State Fair), but by the time you make it to state chair of your party with a long history of activism behind you, you ought to have gotten beyond something as silly as saying that you and other candidates are trying to make a protest statement but that you don't want to 'out' your fellow Libertarians because they might be subjected to a 'witch hunt'. Hello? The very purpose of (most) protesting is to provoke a 'witch hunt', not to remain anonymous!

But that's just what John Babiarz, Chair of the New Hampshire LP, seemed to be saying in this interview.

Babiarz said he and other Libertarians are running as Republicans and Democrats this year to protest what they consider biased ballot laws.

OK, that's understandable. Here in North Carolina, the ballot access restrictions are even worse than in NH, and I certainly think that running openly as a Dem or Rep might (might) be a valid strategy to shine a spotlight on the ridiculous disparity in ballot access between 'major party' and 'minor party' or 'independent' candidates. Especially interesting is the hint of a coordinated program to get a whole slate of Libertarians running in the 'big parties'.

John Babiarz, chairman of the state Libertarian Party, is running as a Democrat for a seat in the House of Representatives. His wife, Rosalie Babiarz, has filed as a Republican candidate for the District 5 state Senate seat.

It's be cute: you could have a press conference where Libertarians took turns flipping coins to see which party they would claim for the purpose of running for office. He makes a bold statement to the effect that he and others are deliberately flouting party lines to make a point:

Whatever he's running as, Babiarz says he remains a Libertarian at heart, and his candidacy is a calculated effort to help his own kind by forcing a rewrite of the state's election laws. He's hoping the major parties will feel threatened enough to demand a change themselves. He claims up to two dozen other Libertarians are joining him by running as Democrats or Republicans in this year's elections.

"We're actually pushing the parties to change. They need to deal with it, or lose their brand identity. If they don't change, we'll go into the parties and hijack them," he explained.

But then Babiarz fluffs it by supporting the assertions of the Democratic Party Chair that he was trying to 'fool' voters:

But Babiarz declined to name them, saying he wanted to avoid a "witch hunt" aimed at blowing the Libertarians' cover.

Here's the thing: if you're going to use a strategy that boasts its bold in-your-faceness, you can't hedge by talking about 'blowing your cover'. The essence of the strategy he outlined is that there is no cover.

Sigh.  ¶ 11:53 AM