As you probably know by now, the highly anticipated list of stories from Schulte’s stay at my apartment never came, because there really wasn’t much interesting happening.

One thing did take place that was mildly interesting was that we had a visitor on Wednesday night. One of the Libertarian candidates for president, the one I’m likely to vote for, was staying in Concord, MA before heading to College Convention 2004 up in Manchester. I’m on his e-mail list, and received word that rather than donating money to the party, if someone could house the campaign manager for a night that would effectively be equivalent to donating what a hotel room would otherwise cost.

I volunteered, noting in my e-mail that Schulte was staying with me and things might be a little tight. I didn’t hear back, so I figured I wasn’t selected as the best option. Then, the day before they were scheduled to be here I receive an e-mail from the campaign manager telling me that thier other option fell through, and he’d like to take me up on my offer. I gave him directions to my apartment and set up an inflatable air mattress.

On Wednesday night, out the window I see a red SUV pull up, and someone get out and head to my door. I also recognize Gary Nolan (the candidate himself) is actually driving the car. The campaign manager comes in, I’m surprised how young he is (a year younger than me). A minute later I get a call on my phone, and sure enough it’s Gary Nolan on the other end, asking to speak to the guy (and, I presumed, making sure he didn’t just drop him off at the home of a homicidal maniac).

We talked for a bit and then called it a night. Schulte wasn’t there (he came home late) otherwise I’m sure he would have made some “hilarious” remarks. The next morning I drove the guy to the hotel where Gary Nolan had stayed.

On the way, I asked him about the common problem where a lot of people vote for one of the two major parties because they feel they’d be throwing away their vote otherwise. Knowing that most Libertarians often end up voting Republican he explained to me what the strategy was for this in the upcoming election. Basically it goes like this: when Clinton was in office, government spending increased significantly LESS than under the current administration (even if you account for spending on the war). The reason this took place is because there was some deadlock between the president and congress. One party did not control everything. Now, the Republicans control the congress as well as the presidency, so many bills/plans/policies/programs get passed without as much difficulty.

The solution? Vote Libertarian. Even if doing so ends up costing the Republicans the election, it will at worst create a split government like we used to have, and fewer hair-brained spending programs will get passed.