The Pennsylvania party has always been one of the LP's largest state parties. Today there are a little over a hundred people in attendance at the panel, and they are enthusiastic about the ideas expressed by the candidates.

In the evening, Nadine Strossen of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) gives an excellent speech at the banquet. Part of her talk focuses on the way the Drug War has been used as an excuse to trash the Bill of Rights.

Greta Slovensky is 32 years old. She started to experience slurred speech, body tremors, and distorted eyesight in 1990. Her motor skills were impaired. She started drooling. Over the next two years, she stumbled and fell often, had severe headaches, felt dizzy, and had trouble speaking. Finally she was diagnosed with Wilson's Disease. By the time she was treated, she could no longer talk, was informed that her vocal chords were paralyzed, and put on a feeding tube. The drugs that she was given for treatment were ineffective and had serious side effects. She had not been able to talk for two years, when she started smoking cannabis. Her speech returned after seven days, and her symptoms are improving. The tremors are almost gone. Her walking is stabilized. The Republicrats want to take away her medicine and put her in prison. Stop torturing the sick. Vote Libertarian on November 2.

Needless to say, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

I'm up at 5:15 to go into Philadelphia for a 7am radio show. A couple of weeks ago I was on WIP with Peter Solomon by phone. Every time he took a call from a listener, I was disconnected. So he has invited me to join him in the studio while I'm in Philadelphia. The show goes well. The callers are about evenly divided between supporters and critics. No matter how much I hate to get up early in the morning, I don't have trouble with early shows.

But later I receive an e-mail from Rick Adams, saying: "I heard Mr. Browne on the Ronn Owens show today and was quite pleased with his fresh view on our country's problems. Real problems like ridiculous taxation laws and imprisoning any American who doesn't agree with the government's view of narcotic consumption. I can only hope more people are upset enough to REALLY use their vote to voice our outrage at the way things are getting. It might not happen right away but I will no longer throw my vote away on either head of the beast. Keep up the good work! People are listening!" So you never know.

My interview with Scott Deacle of the Danville (Virginia) Register and Bee (mentioned in the Campaign Journal for March 28) is published. He provides a good overview of what we're for and how we hope to continue growing and be far more visible this year.

Today's first interview is with Dark Starr on WCCO in Minneapolis. He's a Republican, and he says he's concerned that Libertarians wouldn't do anything to promote free enterprise. I never do figure out what he means by that. He asks whether I would step aside for Alan Keyes, and I say no. Although there is much to admire about Keyes, he isn't a Libertarian, he has no proposals to reduce government, and we won't restore America as a free country until we have a Libertarian President.

I have a phone interview with Steve Lund, a reporter for the Kenosha News in Wisconsin. He is very friendly. He asks whether the thriving economy makes it difficult to get people interested in a radical overhaul of the system. I point out that heavy regulation caused the economy to slow down in the 1970s and since then it hasn't really accelerated to a level comparable to the 1950s and 1960s. The median family income (the income of a family right in the middle of all American families) has barely grown over the past 30 years. I fax him some material from my forthcoming book.

A scheduled interview with Jim McCarthy of the Brunswick (Maine) Times-Record is postponed to a later date. This allows me to sleep until 1:30pm. (I seem to mention sleep a lot, don't I?)

My first actual interview is an hour with Mike Richards on KPRC in Houston. He's a "good ol' boy" type who obviously doesn't think highly of government. We have an excellent conversation. Only two calls come in but he asks many intelligent questions.

Near the end, in response to a question, I rhapsodize again on the greater harmony that will exist in a Libertarian America: "Gays no longer will fear Christians, and Christians will no longer fear Gays. Blacks won't be so afraid of whites and whites won't be so afraid of blacks. Rich and poor will no longer be so hostile to each other. This is because the government will be so small that no one can use it to impose his values on others. Today everyone's afraid some other group will get control of the government and impose alien values. In a Libertarian America that can't happen, and so people can relax and enjoy each other without fear." The host says, "I really like that."

Then there's a phone interview with Jim Ragsdale of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. It's scheduled for 20 minutes, but we talk for about 35. He's very friendly, interested in libertarian ideas, and takes seriously my hope that we'll be more visible this year.

Today's first interview is an hour with Roger Parent on WBET in Brockton, Massachusetts. In introducing me he says, "I'm more libertarian than anything." And later he says, "I agree with you 100%." Needless to say, I get the opportunity to say anything I want.

Next is an interview with John Day of the Bangor (Maine) Daily News. It's supposed to be 20 minutes, but I have to end the interview after 30 minutes because of my schedule. Mr. Day is very interested, he has studied the website, and wants to know how we hope to get attention. He says that occasionally lightning strikes and someone like Jesse Ventura catches the attention of the public. He finishes by wishing me good luck.

Lastly, I'm on for five minutes with Joe Palan, a reporter on WMNN in Minneapolis. He is very friendly and gives me a surprising amount of time to voice my main concerns during the five minutes.

One such candidate is John Graziano, running for Congress, who said "the government safety net could turn into a shroud." The article also mentioned that he "attacked school officials over reacting with stiff penalties for kids bringing safety scissors or pen knives to class. ‘This is not zero tolerance,' he said. ‘This is infinite absurdity.'"

I wish I'd been there. It sounds as though the Nebraska party is alive and well.

At 7:30am, I'm on the phone with Jeff Weinstein, broadcasting from Lewiston on three Maine stations. He is a Libertarian, and is very supportive on all counts. He says he was so impressed with our 30-minute campaign videocassette that he has broadcast the audio portion on his show. He jokes that the only bad part was when the host in the video said, "Call the telephone number on your screen."

Later in the morning I'm at the airport, checking in for the flight to Portland, Maine, via a connection in Detroit. My flight is going to be late and it's obvious that I'll miss my connection in Detroit. So the Northwest Airlines agent arranges for me to take a Delta flight to Portland through Atlanta. At the Delta ticket counter, I try to get an exit row so I'll have some legroom, but no exit seats are available. The Delta agent decides to put me in first class instead, and I have the opportunity to relax, sleep, and stretch my legs throughout the flight.

I arrive in Portland in time to speak at the evening banquet for the Maine LP state convention. It is an enthusiastic audience of Maine Libertarians and outsiders who have come to hear what Libertarians offer. There are so many good people in the Maine LP, beginning with state chair Mark Cenci, and their efforts are paying off.

Ben Barth introduces my speech. He says that seeing the Libertarian national convention in 1996 caused him to change his life and become more of a self-supporting, responsible citizen. He also tells about his daughter Hannah, who represented me in 1996 in her middle-school class debate of presidential candidates. She presented my message of personal freedom so well that she got 61% of the vote. I am considering withdrawing from the race this year and having her run instead.

My speech is well received. Afterward, Michael Cloud asks people to stand if they are at their first Libertarian event, and well over half do so. He asks some of them to tell the audience what they think of what they've heard, and the responses are all enthusiastic.

When the banquet is over, Michael, Carla Howell (U.S. Senate candidate in Massachusetts), and I drive to Boston, where I stay overnight.

In the morning, I fly to Minneapolis to be the noon banquet speaker at the Minnesota LP state convention. The audience numbers around a hundred. This is the third state convention I've attended here, and each time the attendance seems to double each time. Charles Test and so many Minnesotans have done an excellent job building the party.

The audience is very enthusiastic, and I'm hoping for good things there this year.

What a day. A full schedule of interviews. Matthew Gress, our Minnesota Volunteer Coordinator, escorts me through the day.

It all begins at 8:30 with Ann Marie Ronning on WLTE-FM. We tape an interview for broadcast either this weekend or the weekend after. Before beginning, she explains that she almost never discusses politics on the show but decided to make an exception in this case. The interview is supposed to be a half-hour, but midway through she asks whether I can extend it to an hour. She is intrigued by the Libertarian message, even though she doesn't immediately accept it all. Once again, we are reaching an audience of non-political people who probably haven't even been voting.

The problem is that there's no way to test how worthwhile it is to devote resources to such an audience. Are these people responding favorably? And if so, will they be enthusiastic enough to actually go to the polls in November? Here again, we must be well-enough financed that we can reach them through advertising again and again over the next seven months. Otherwise, even if they remember me, they will come to feel that I don't have enough support to warrant their bothering to vote for me.

Next comes a phone interview with Joe Hallett at the Columbus (Ohio) Post Dispatch, the only non-Minnesota interview of the day. He is very friendly, and the half-hour discussion focuses on the difficulty we face in breaking through to national attention. I tell him there's no way to know when we'll have the resources to reach enough people to break into the polls and have an impact on the election, but that I hope it will happen this year.

Then another phone interview. This one is a short discussion with Steve Murphy, a news announcer at WCCO in Minneapolis, who tapes some comments to insert in the day's newscasts. Some of the soundbites concern the good growth of the Minnesota LP.

From there, we head to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, only to discover that a scheduled interview had been cancelled. But I get a message from the campaign office that Al Malmberg of WCCO wants to do a quick interview. So we head for WCCO and Al and I tape about ten minutes of conversation, to be broadcast when today's baseball game ends. I've been on by phone with Al several times and he's always been very good to me. It's a pleasure to meet him in person.

The biggest event of the day is an hour on KSTP with Jason Lewis, the city's biggest talk-show host. He's a libertarian Republican, and I've been on with him before a couple of times. Ironically, I think this turns out to be the weakest interview of the day, but it still is a good one. The weakness (if I'm even correct about that) isn't Jason's fault; he is very respectful and gives me plenty of opportunity to talk. Perhaps my reaction stems from the other broadcast interviews going so well that this one seems to be a slight letdown.

As we leave the studio, I get a call from the campaign office; Ahndi Fridell called to say that something is wrong with the tape from our interview and we have to redo it. Horrors! This was the one interview I wanted most to preserve. We drive back to KFAI and redo the interview. She uses the same list of questions as before, and my answers seem (to me) articulate and compelling. But somehow the follow-up questions don't take us into the same new areas where I felt so brilliant before. She says she still hopes someone will rescue the material on the earlier digital tape, and will send it to me if that happens.

As though to put the icing on a particularly productive day, I see an article by Melissa Levy in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, reporting on my speech yesterday at the state convention. The headline is, "The less government, the better, Libertarian says." Wonder of wonders, the entire article (15 paragraphs) relates the main points of my speech, starting with, "If Harry Browne were elected President, the Libertarian Party candidate said one of the first things he'd do is order a box of pens to veto bills from Congress." It goes on from there to talk about my principal issues, other parties wanting to run your life, pardoning non-violent drug offenders, pointing out how much better off you'd be without the income tax, and so on. Easily the best press coverage so far in the campaign.

No interviews today, as I get my first day off in a couple of weeks. Pamela and I run some errands, eat out, and rent a couple of videos to watch. But before going to sleep, I slip into my office and check my email.

I have one interview before catching a plane to Boston. It is 35 minutes with Doug Guetzloe on WWNZ in Orlando, Florida. He describes himself as a libertarian Republican, and it's obvious that he has "libertarian tendencies." He also has invited two local county LP chairmen to join the conversation near the end. (Unfortunately, I couldn't hear their names.)

One caller asks whether the Libertarian Party is comprised mostly of former Republicans. I respond that there is no statistical evidence on this, but that my own informal experience indicates that we seem to draw about equally from Republicans, Democrats, and people who haven't been voting at all. Many people I meet in the party tell me they didn't vote for many years until they encountered the Libertarians. I also am receiving a good deal of email from people who say they intend to vote for the first time this year because they've heard about our campaign.

What a day planned for today. Between our P.R. firm Newman Communications, Press Secretary Jim Babka, and Elaine Berchin of the Massachusetts LP, I have ten interviews scheduled.

Muni Savyon picks me up at the hotel and escorts me for the morning. We're joined by John Moran of Newman Communications, our P.R. firm. We begin at WZLX-FM with Ann Cody, taping a 20-minute interview that will be broadcast Sunday on a public affairs show. She is very friendly and respectful, and gives me the opportunity the make all the points that are important to me.

Next we head for WBUR at Boston University for an interview with Bruce Gellerman. The place is teeming with police and Secret Service personnel. I say, "I didn't order this protection." But, of course, it isn't for me; it's for President Clinton's trade representative (whose name I can't spell or pronounce) who the President thinks is threatened by people protesting the World Trade Organization. My interview is taped and lasts about 10 minutes. The host is skeptical of my positions, but provides a very nice, respectful introduction.

At the Boston Globe, I am interviewed by Bob Turner, who is the Chief Editorial Writer, and Don MacGillis, also an editorial writer. They are very nice to me, ask a lot of questions, and seem genuinely interested in what I have to say. They know I have an uphill battle and they are quite sympathetic. The general impression I come away with is that they take me very seriously.

On the way out of the building, Bob Turner takes me by the office of Jeff Jacoby, the conservative-libertarian syndicated columnist. I've read and enjoyed many of his articles. He says he had intended to sit in on the interview, but was prevented by a looming deadline. He asks that I let him know before my next trip to Boston, so that he can follow me around for the day and do an article on my campaigning.

We head next to the Boston Herald, where Libertarian entrepreneur Bob Willis joins us. We have lunch in the Herald cafeteria. Muni heads back to his own work and Bob takes over as my escort.

(Woodlief's article appears the following Sunday, and it's mostly about Pat Buchanan. The part about me is pretty condescending.)

The Herald recently published a very helpful article about Carla Howell, the Libertarian candidate running against Teddy Kennedy. In fact, she has received a wealth of good publicity and is being taken very seriously by the press. It's even possible that the Republican candidate won't obtain sufficient signatures to get on the ballot by the deadline in May.

He focuses largely on the troubles a third party must face trying to break through the stranglehold the Republicans and Democrats have on the electoral process. Despite his determination to concentrate on the strategy and mechanics of the campaign, I continually recite that we're the only party offering to free you to live your life as you see fit (and related points), so I'll be amazed if the final cut doesn't include some of our message.

He asks if we will succeed. I tell him I can't predict the future, but that it seems to me very possible that we'll elect a Libertarian President by 2008.

Bob Willis, Dave Rizzo, and I have dinner and talk about the challenge facing Dave in his race for state representative. We have a little more time than expected, because my appearance on New England Cable News has been preempted by coverage of the Elian Gonzales case.

The final show of the day is with David Brudnoy on WBZ. David is one of New England's most popular talk-show hosts. He's an old friend; my first interview with him may have been as much as 20 years ago. He has had AIDS for a number of years, and when he found that out he vowed to beat it. This evening I'm happy to see that he looks healthier than he did when I saw him four years ago. He is a strong, amazing individual.

Today is the Massachusetts LP's state convention. The party is certainly in great shape. Elias Israel is doing a wonderful job as State Chair, assisted by people like Elaine Berchin, who has established excellent relations with the media, Muni Savyon, who has been recruiting candidates, Dave Rizzo, Bob Willis, and many, many other determined people.

There are several press people in attendance. And I have two interviews before speaking. The first is with Thomas Grillo of the Boston Globe. He is very friendly and wishes me luck at the end of the interview.

Lovelace says he has all he needs and asks whether there's anything else I'd like to say. I ask whether he'll be around for my speech and he says no; so I say, in effect, let's talk about your freedom. We talk for another 15 minutes and he takes another few pages of notes as I pour it on about the way we want to give you control over your life and set you free.

Jim Sullivan is the convention emcee, and he provides a very flattering introduction for me. It is as energizing for me as for the audience to give a speech in this setting. To see 150-200 good-looking, enthusiastic people here reminds me that we have the talent, the skills, and the determination to bring about liberty in our lifetimes.

Today I have six scheduled interviews plus a meeting.

I wake up at 6:30 for a 5-minute phone interview, only to be told that the interview is postponed until tomorrow, as interest in the stock market has preempted me.

At 8:15, BetteRose Smith, the Colorado LP Chair, picks me up to take me to today's media events. The first is with Gary Tessler at KWAB. It is meant to be 20 minutes, but it lasts for about 40 minutes. We get along very well. He is a liberal and disagrees with a lot of what I say (except for my stand on the Drug War), but he gives me plenty of opportunity to state my views.

I was scheduled to meet with Sue O'Brien of the Denver Post editorial board, and then have a phone interview with Jeff Miller on the Morning Call radio show. But both have been cancelled and will have to be rescheduled. Normally, about one interview in ten gets cancelled. But today it is three out of six, and last Friday two out of ten interviews were cancelled.

After lunch, I have an interview with Linda Seebach at the Rocky Mountain News, one of Denver's two daily newspapers. She is very friendly and very familiar with libertarian ideas and the Libertarian Party. In fact, when the Drug War comes up, she mentions that it's one of the very few issues on which she doesn't agree with Libertarians. I don't know whether she's planning to write an article about me now, or just wants to know what's happening with the campaign. However, she says she will want to do a column on our FEC protest if we decide to go ahead with that. The interview lasts an hour and 15 minutes.

The final interview is with Jim Bryan at KNUS. He is a staunch Republican. On the way to the interview, we hear him doing a phone interview with Jim Nicholson, the Republican National Chairman. With the Columbine anniversary this week, Nicholson echoes the NRA line that there should be no new gun legislation; instead, the Clinton administration should do a better job of enforcing the 20,000 gun laws on the books.

During my hour on the show, I remind the host of what Nicholson said and ask him whether he thinks those 20,000 laws are all good laws. He says no, and has to agree that the Republican/NRA strategy doesn't make much sense. (I also thank him for having Nicholson as my warm-up act.)

Bryan is very complimentary of my handling of the issues, and he says I would make a good Republican. I tell him that I have almost nothing in common with Republican politicians. The Republicans want to keep Social Security going; I want to free you from it. The Republicans want to rearrange the tax burden; I want to reduce your tax burden dramatically. The Republicans want to manage health care better; I want to get the government completely out of it. The Republicans want to take over private schools (by managing them through vouchers) and "faith-based" organizations (by giving them welfare money); I want to get the federal government completely out of education and welfare. The Republicans like to make government bigger and bigger, and run your life better; I want to get government out of your life and let you run it yourself.

As with so many conservative Republican talk-show hosts, he says he agrees with 90% of what I say, but not on the Drug War. And, like so many hosts, he says we Libertarians would be more successful if we'd drop that issue. I point out that we couldn't be believed if we pointed out that the government that makes such a mess in so many areas is somehow going to succeed in stamping out drugs. And, while our stand on drugs was relatively unpopular five years ago, the tide has been turning rapidly in our direction.

At the conclusion of the show, Jim Bryan invites me back for a two-hour interview, so we can discuss the issues in more depth.

Despite the cancellations, the day's events have been very helpful.

The day begins at 6:35 with the phone interview that was postponed from yesterday. It is with April Zesbaugh and Kim Kobel on a news broadcast on KOA in Denver. It is meant to be only five minutes, but it lasts about ten. They give me plenty of opportunity to talk, and at the end of the interview one of them says something to the effect of, "There it is folks; this year you'll have a third choice instead of just the same old Democrats and Republicans." Ah, but I neglected to mention the website and phone number.

Later in the morning I catch a flight to Nashville and Home Sweet Home. Pamela and our dog Schnoodle meet me at the airport. (He is named Schnoodle because, when we got him from the Humane Society, he appeared to be a cross between a Schnauzer and a Poodle; but we later discovered he's a Portuguese Water Dog, a rare breed.)

Then it's a few minutes on the phone with Kelly Beaucar of ConservativeHQ.com. she's already written about me at least twice, but now wants my opinion on the controversy over the Republican Congress' desire to appoint Bradley Smith to the Federal Election Commission. Smith supports doing away with campaign contribution and spending limits (although he wants to retain reporting). She says that some of the Democrats have been comparing him to Slobodan Milosevic or David Duke. I say that this is typical when someone in government has such enormous power: the stakes are so high that people will go to any lengths to make sure that power is controlled by a political ally. The answer, of course, is to take that power away from the politicians. She includes some of my quotes in the article that appears the following day.

Every one of the half-dozen callers is positive and supportive.

Good news! Today the Portland Oregonian releases a state-wide poll, showing the following preferences among Oregon voters:

George W. Bush, Republican, 40%
Albert J. Gore, Democrat, 27%
Ralph Nader, Green, 7%
Harry Browne, Libertarian, 2%
Patrick Buchanan, Reform, 2%

Votes for me had to come from some combination of (1) national coverage of the campaign (national TV appearances like Fox News TV or national radio shows), (2) the work of our volunteer organization, and (3) growing positive name recognition for the word Libertarian.

And then another piece of good news. The Zogby poll releases the results of an April 20 national presidential poll. I'm included for the first time:

Bush, Republican, 42.5%
Gore, Democrat, 36.0%
Buchanan, Reform, 4.4%
Nader, Green, 4.0%
Browne, Libertarian, 0.8%
Hagelin, Natural Law, 0.2%
No answer, 12.1%

The third parties combined receive 9.4% of the 87.9% who had a preference. This is larger than the margin of difference between Bush and Gore. That should encourage the polling companies to continue listing the main third-party candidates, as their votes may have an impact on the outcome of the election.

My first interview today is for an hour starting at 9am with Michael Graham on WSC in Charleston, South Carolina. Not surprisingly, he wants my opinion on the Gonzales kidnapping. I say the kidnapping may have been a good thing, because it showed people the naked power of the government, but without anyone getting hurt physically. There is no question that the kidnapping was unconstitutional, unwarranted, and not even in keeping with the current court order.

I have one interview today. It is with Jeff Miller, the Washington correspondent for the Allentown (PA) Morning Call. He is very friendly, and admits he doesn't know much about Libertarians. We talk for 30-40 minutes. He says he thinks every candidate should be heard, but he appreciates the fact that I don't demand that the press cover us when we might not have an impact on the outcome of the election.

I receive some emails asking why I haven't spoken out on the Elian Gonzales kidnapping.

We aren't issuing regular press releases now. However, shortly we will begin a steady stream of press releases, op-ed articles, and talking points for letters to editors to be distributed to our volunteers.

Only one interview today. It is an hour in the evening with Stan Solomon, broadcasting from WZL in Indianapolis, with coverage on several satellite stations, short wave, and the Internet. I was on once with him in the last campaign and once in 1998. He is very supportive of my positions, but he worries that a Libertarian vote will get Al Gore elected and perpetuate what he believes is the most immoral administration in history.

I'm feeling very articulate this evening. It makes me wish I'd had several interviews. But then I always want more. Just call me Oliver Twist.

I arise at 5am (ugh!) to catch a plane to LaGuardia airport. I check into a hotel by the airport, and later catch a taxi to the New York LP convention in Yonkers. (The hotel in Yonkers was sold out at the time the reservation was made.)

I arrive in time to hear an excellent speech by Steve Landsburg, a columnist for Slate.com (Microsoft's online magazine). He explains that children learn to follow rules in playing with each other that are diametrically opposite to the subsidies, special privileges, and force that adults employ through government.

During the banquet I give my speech, and I'm followed by John Clifton, the Libertarian candidate running against Rudolf Giuliani and Hillary Clinton.

I finally arrive home, about three hours late, and Pamela and I take the rest of the day off.