http://freebeacon.com/culture/want-vote-libertarian/So You Want to Vote Libertarian?
Feature: One of these 11 people will be your candidate
BY: Matthew Walther
May 11, 2016 12:30 pm
Biloxi, Miss.—Now that Donald Trump has all but secured the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, those in the party who oppose him are in a bind. Some have decided to hold their noses and endorse. Others have gone in for Hillary Clinton. Some have floated the idea of supporting an independent Republican ticket headed by a respected figure such as Mitt Romney.
There is also, of course, the Libertarian Party option, which is beginning to look attractive to some Republicans who disagree with Trump’s don’t-touch position on Social Security and Medicare and his immigration restrictionism. Search traffic for its candidates has surged recently, as have registrations with the party that ran Ron Paul against George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis in 1988.
As it happens, I was able to get up close and personal with virtually the entire Libertarian presidential field back in February, when I attended the party’s first official debate ahead of the cycle in Biloxi, Mississippi, at the Beau Rivage.
The Beau Rivage is an oceanfront resort and casino with no view of the ocean. On my last night there I walked outside and followed the sidewalk in both directions to find the water. The closest I came was a sign that said “No Beach Access,” and when I asked at the front desk whether there was any way to see the ocean from the hotel grounds, the receptionist looked baffled.
The Beau Rivage is the tallest building in the state of Mississippi. It features 72,000 square feet of gaming space, just under half the size of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. It has six restaurants, four bars, a spa offering packages such as the Southern Gentleman’s Relaxation Retreat (how about a “Bourbon Bubbler MAN-icure”?), a shopping center, a convention area with three ballrooms, and a concert hall where you can see Hall and Oates perform their greatest hits. You are allowed to smoke almost anywhere except in the guest rooms and suites and in the convention center. At the buffet restaurant just past the lobby—called, simply, The Buffet—people fill fruit basket-sized bowls with steamed crawfish. One of the gaming machines on the casino floor plays “Wagon Wheel” really loudly on an infinite loop.
The Beau Rivage is tacky. Everything about it is in bad taste. It was sad and demoralizing in a way that made me pity everyone there. It was also, I think, the perfect venue for the debate featuring 11 candidates seeking the 2016 presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party held in the Camellia Ballroom on February 27.
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