Barr plugs pull to parties' conservatives

WASHINGTON, June 19 (UPI) -- Libertarian Party U.S. presidential candidate Bob Barr predicted he will lure conservative Republican and blue-collar Democratic voters in key states.

Barr, a former Republican U.S. House of Representatives member from Georgia, criticized Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for his support of the Iraq war, his energy policies and his methods for reducing government spending, The Washington Post reported.

No Libertarian Party candidate has won more than 1 million votes in a presidential general election, the Post said. Barr, however, said he thinks he can cross that threshold with strong showings in the West, Southwest, along with several states in the South and the Northeast.

"These are states with a lot of Second Amendment enthusiasts and blue-collar Democrats who are much more likely to adopt a Bob Barr message of strong support for civil liberties, smaller government and so forth," he said on WashingtonPost.com's "PostTalk" program.