I disagree wholeheartedly with the headline of this article. 

This was no concession speech - it was a VICTORY SPEECH!

We went there not to make Ernie National Chairman - far from it!  Sure, it would have been nice to see him win, but we all knew coming out of the gate that we were taking on a "well-entrenched Good Ol' Boy" system as secure in it's grip on power over the Party as the R's and D's.  But that wasn't the goal.

The goal was to secure the spokesmanship of libertarianism from the bastardization and cooption in the lamestream media by the likes of Wayne Allyn Root.

Goal accomplished.  (YAY!)

First round of voting - Wayne got 200 and Ernie got 82.  It took just over 240 to make a majority.  Had Ernie not been in the race, W.A.R. could very likely have garnished enough to win in the first round and become the new 'face' of the Party, and most likely have triggered a 'mass exodus' of those who take their ideals to heart.

As it was I'm not proud of the fact that the New Chaiman, Mark Hinkle, was elected with the same manner of machinations that made Bob Barr our Presidential Candidate when John J. Myers dropped out after the first round and threw his weight behind Hinkle, but as I am told over and over again when pointing this fact out to supposed 'principled libertarians' that "Oh well, THAT'S POLITICS".  This the exact reason that, when nominated for National Committee Member-At-Large, the first words out of my mouth after gaining the podium were "I want to make one thing perfectly clear right up front - I LOATHE POLITICS."

And I ment it.