Mike Gravel

For the first time in its history, the Maryland Libertarian Party will run a full slate of congressional candidates this fall. Gary Hoover was nominated in the 6th District last night to fill out the ticket.

"We're happy to have him," Maryland Libertarian Party Chairman Bob Johnston told PolitickerMD.com about Hoover. "He is really blunt and to the point."

On his campaign website, http://www.hoover4congress08.com/, Hoover describes how he was a Democrat for 32 years but left the party because "Democrats no longer hold the same values that I do." He had similar statements about the Republican Party.

Among the issues that he considers important, Hoover described the need to lower the deficit, reform Social Security and Medicare, and explained his desire to see the war in Iraq end.

Looking For A Nominee In The Sixth

Seven members of the Libertarian Party will run for the U.S. House of Representatives on the ballot this November, claiming a record for the most candidates of a single Maryland third party for federal office in at least the last 30 years.

Libertarian candidates will stand in every congressional district except that of Rep. Roscoe Bartlett in the Sixth, where they are still working to recruit a candidate. They are Dr. Richard Davis (MD-01), former state Chairman Lorenzo Gaztanaga (MD-02), Sebastian Sassi (MD-03), Thibeaux Lincecum (MD-04), Darlene Nicholas (MD-05), Ronald Owens-Bey (MD-07) and Ben Parker (MD-08).

"This is the most amount of candidates for federal office in a single election ever run by the Maryland Libertarian Party," Gaztanaga claimed. "Further, it is the most amount of candidates run for federal office by a non-establishment party in Maryland in the last 30 years."

Joining their colleagues on the February 12th Maryland ballot, Democratic presidential contestants U.S. Senator Joe Biden, Governor Bill Richardson, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, and former Senator Mike Gravel have now filed their certificates of candidacy.

Now also on the Republican side are former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Senator Fred Thompson, Congressmen Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo.

Forerunner: Allan Lichtman holds a symbolic pebble in a 2006 U.S. Senate campaign ad.Before there was Mike Gravel's odd, rock-throwing campaign spot, there was Allan Lichtman's.