Just one interview today. It is with reporter Paul Rasmussen at WOKV in Jacksonville, Florida. We tape some soundbites he can use during newscasts next week, calling attention to my appearance there next week.

Once again my laptop computer won't start. The computer is only about nine months old, but it has given me a world of trouble. I won't mention the brand because the company has tried to treat me well, and people I know have found computers from this company to be quite reliable. I talk again with the computer company, and we agree that it will make one final attempt to get the computer working properly and reliably.

Today we receive an email from Peter Meister of Elk Grove Village, Illinois. He wrote a letter to C-SPAN saying: 

You are the most open-minded network on TV, and as a Libertarian, I greatly appreciate your coverage of Libertarian events and candidates. Last week I saw you broadcast campaign speeches by Ralph Nader and John Hagelin. I would like to make you aware of Harry Browne's campaign schedule and to ask you to cover some of his upcoming events. Additional scheduling can be found at his website. Thanks again. You are a great service to democracy, and we really need you.

He says, "This e-mail led to me getting a call from C-SPAN. Anita Siegfried called to ask me if I knew who to contact to get updated information on Harry's schedule, as she is assigned to follow his campaign. I called her and gave her [Press Secretary] Jim Babka's phone number from the web page. I also left Jim a voice mail message with Anita's phone number."

It is amazing what Libertarian volunteers acting on their own initiative can achieve.

Just one interview today. It is with Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch, the organization that initiates court cases to try to keep the federal government in line. Larry has his own weekly radio show. Judicial Watch is sponsoring a presidential debate on October 20. Six candidates have been invited. Al Gore, Pat Buchanan, Howard Phillips, and I have already accepted. George Bush and Ralph Nader have not responded. C-SPAN plans to cover the debate, and other networks probably also will cover it if George Bush agrees to attend.

Larry starts the interview by referring to the debate. The ostensible topic will be rooting out corruption in government. I say that corruption is a natural byproduct of size and power. The problem isn't the abuse of power; it is the power to abuse. Our task isn't to bring about "clean government" or "good government," but to reduce government to the absolute minimum possible. So long as the politicians have the power to reward their friends and punish their enemies, corruption is inevitable. (P.J. O'Rourke once said that when the legislature makes the rules for buying and selling, the first things to be bought and sold will be the legislators.)

Tomorrow Pamela and I will head for Florida for a week of events there.

Pamela and I fly to Miami for a personal appearance, arriving at the Fort Lauderdale airport to save money flying Southwest Airlines. Steve and Michael Cloud are at the airport when we arrive. A campaign supporter has provided a limousine to take us to the Miami hotel.

And, of course, I use the opportunity to list the various proposals the public won't hear if the debate is limited to just Bush and Gore. The audience won't know there's a candidate who wants to free them from the income and Social Security taxes, end the insane War on Drugs, get government out of their lives, and set them free to live their lives as they see fit.

Today Milton Friedman, the famous economist, was interviewed on C-SPAN-2. He said, "I am not a conservative, I am a libertarian. I am not a member of the Libertarian Party. But I am a libertarian. I am a libertarian with a small l and a Republican with a capital R. I am a member of the Republican Party but I am not a conservative."

About three years ago I had the chance to spend a few minutes with Mr. and Mrs. Friedman. He was very gracious to me, complimenting me on articles of mine that he'd read. I asked him whether he would actively support the Libertarian Party if it became big enough to be a competitor, and he said it was a possibility.

Today WorldNetDaily, a large online publication, runs my article "The Supreme Court Scam."

Hannity & Colmes have taken today off from their Fox News Channel TV show. The network reruns the broadcast from last week that included my interview.

After the interview the limousine drives us to West Palm Beach for tonight's event. Since my computer isn't working, I borrow a computer from Steve, who borrowed it from Perry Willis, and try to catch up on the Campaign Journal during the drive.

We continue driving to West Palm Beach for tonight's event. Jamie Holmes of WPTV, the NBC-TV affiliate, is there to interview me before the event. (The interview appears on the 10 o'clock news; I don't see it but Michael says Jamie provides a flattering portrait of me and the LP, and my best lines from the interview are included.)

There are 75 people at the event, about 60% of whom are at their first Libertarian meeting. Fund-raising is sub-par, but the audience is very enthusiastic. Afterward Adam Weisholtz interviews me for an article in the student newspaper at the law school of Nova Southeastern University.

The morning starts with a 15-minute radio interview with David Stein on the Talk America Radio Network. He's a comedian and we do some joking. But when I talk about repealing the income tax and freeing people from Social Security, he gets serious and says he's starting to like what he hears.

During the drive, I'm happy once again to be on the air with Armstrong Williams. He's a black conservative Republican who probably agrees with us on about 80% of the issues. He's adopted the Republican Party as his only hope, but he keeps inviting me back to his show. He finds little with which to disagree with me, and is always very complimentary.

Today he mentions that Joseph Lieberman said there's a role for religion in public life, and that this provoked outrage from the Anti-Defamation League. He asks me what I think. I say that I wish Lieberman had said there is a role for the Constitution in public life. I would rather have in office an atheist who adheres strictly to the Constitution than a conspicuous Christian like Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton who pays no attention to the Constitution. I ask, "Don't you agree?" And he says, "Well, I'll have to get back to you on that one."

When we arrive at the Orlando hotel, I have a 5-minute interview with Larry Spilman for the 60 stations of the Florida Radio Network. He tapes soundbites for news items. We talk briefly about the debates (on everyone's mind right now), and I get a chance to run through the issues and plug our remaining Florida events. However, I forget to steer listeners to the website.

The final interview is 20 minutes with Bob Rose on WDBO in Orlando. He apparently doesn't know much about libertarian ideas, but he received our press release on the poll results and called to arrange an impromptu interview. He quickly warms up to my proposals to limit the federal government to the Constitution, to repeal the income tax, to let people handle their own retirement, and to end the Drug War. He says, "How could anyone argue with this?"

During a commercial break, there's a "Rush Limbaugh moment" in which the pompous one delivers some of his unbiased, pro-Republican wisdom. This time he's touting the Bush tax-cut plan as being much fairer than Al Gore's because, among other things, several million lower-income taxpayers will no longer pay any tax at all.

During the show I keep hammering at the point that you won't get what you want by voting for the people who are making government bigger.

Jennifer Willis has joined us for a couple of days. And she, Pamela, Steve, Michael, and I drive to Tampa. Once there we head directly to WFLA-TV, channel 8, where I'm interviewed by Diane Pertmer. We do the interview standing up in the middle of the newsroom. People are talking loudly in the background and walking all around us, creating numerous distractions. This doesn't stop me from focusing on the task at hand, but I don't do as good a job as I should.

We check into the hotel and I have two half-hour phone interviews. The first is with Glenn Klein on WTAN in Tampa. He has already endorsed me and plans to be at the event tonight. we cover a variety of topics, and we plug the event.

From there we drive to WFTS, channel 28, for an interview with Brendan McLaughlin. This is similar to the earlier one at Channel 8. It is a 5-minute segment that probably will be played several times during the campaign. The first three minutes is taken by three standard questions, after which I have two minutes to say whatever I want. The first question is on school vouchers. I stumble on my words and I'm just about to ask whether we can restart the tape; but I realize he may say no, and my asking will be part of the interview. So I barrel ahead, and by the second question my delivery is smoothed out. The questions aren't very fundamental, but I manage to work in our proposals. And I devote the final two minutes to why it's important that you vote Libertarian.

Back at the hotel I call Michael Reagan's voice mail and leave a message congratulating him on the 9th anniversary of his syndicated radio show.

A computer technician arrives at the hotel and works on my laptop. He replaces the motherboard, power board, and processor. If I have any further trouble with the computer, I will give up on it.

There's one more interview before the evening's event. George Coryell arrives from the Tampa Tribune and we talk for an hour at the hotel. He's the paper's military affairs reporter, filling in for the political reporter who's on vacation. We talk at length about the task we Libertarians face in getting our message to the American people. I point out that we're the only party with compelling proposals, but we have to be able to transmit them to all Americans. We're not big enough, strong enough, and rich enough yet to be able to get the message to everyone. But continuing to grow at our current rate over the next two or three years might be enough to get us there.

There's a big crowd for tonight's appearance. About 175 people show up, and well over half are at their first Libertarian event. Also there is Glenn Klein, on whose show I appeared this afternoon. Two commercial TV stations plus a cable-access program have cameramen there. They tape portions of my speech and we have a brief, informal press conference outside the room immediately afterward. One of the cameramen lets me know how enthusiastic he is about the LP's progress.

The event goes very well. The fund-raising is satisfactory and the audience is very warm. Afterward the hotel employee working the cash bar in the back of the room tells me how much he enjoyed the speech. (The hotel employees frequently make their support known to me. And at our Woodland Hills event a couple of weeks ago, the woman working the bar at the event wound up wearing a "Browne for President" button.)

Today Justin Raimondo issued a gracious apology for his attack on me regarding my appearance on Politically Incorrect (mentioned in the Campaign Journal for August 25).

Pamela, Steve, Michael, and I catch a plane to Tallahassee (Jennifer is headed back to the campaign headquarters in Virginia). Our trip is a little over an hour on a prop plane; fortunately, the weather is calm and the flight is serene.

As of today, I'm 0.2% ahead of Pat Buchanan in the Rasmussen Poll. Of course, this will fluctuate in both directions. And when Buchanan gets his federal handout and starts advertising, he'll be more competition than he is now.

A little later I have an interview with Penny Herman for the entire 30-minute episode of The Women's Interactive Network. The conversation goes very well, covering everything I'd like to see discussed. The show will be aired next Wednesday.

(Later that night I see the interview on the air. It goes very well. The mix-up of days at the end provokes laughter from Mike and me, and it doesn't seem to be a fatal error. Immediately following the interview with me, Mike talks with Bill Cotterell, the political reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat. They discuss my campaign very favorably. They agree I should be getting better press coverage since I'm polling as well as Pat Buchanan, and they commend my integrity in not taking federal campaign funds.)

Whenever I get into a knock-down-dragged-out fight like this, I'm embarrassed. This is the first time it's happened in a long time, and I hope I haven't scared some people out of coming to the event tonight.

Three TV stations send camera crews, and we have an impromptu press conference in the foyer. One station is WTXL, the ABC affiliate, which later shows some footage of the event as the lead story on the 11 o'clock news. Another is WCTV, channel 6. And the third is WFSU, channel 47, the campus station at Florida State University.

Today there's a letter to the editor on WorldNetDaily, the large Internet publication, in which "David M." says in part, 

The following letter from Terje Norderhaug of Coronado appears in today's Los Angeles Times:

Re ‘As Politicians Demonize Pop Culture, Young Voters Tune Out,' Opinion, Sept. 3: Danny Goldberg wrote that condescension toward the pop culture that millions of Americans like knows no ideological boundaries, listing Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan as being as outspoken as Joseph Lieberman in condemning youth-oriented entertainment. However, Libertarians like presidential candidate Harry Browne promise to keep the government away from dictating what media content young voters and others can enjoy.

At 8:30am, I have a 10-minute interview with Lee Martin on WJGR in Jacksonville. It comes in the midst of a discussion he's having with studio guests about problems with the Florida Supreme Court. He asks for my opinion, I make some general observations about the arrogance of all Democratic and Republican politicians and judges in ignoring federal and state Constitutions, and point out that Libertarians want to restore the concept of government limited to its constitutional functions. I get the opportunity to plug tonight's event twice.

My next interview is with Andy Johnson on WJGR in Jacksonville. He, too, says he's much closer to the Libertarians than to Republicans and Democrats. However, he says he can't agree with us on the Drug War or immigration. We have a very interesting conversation. And at the end Ty Price, a local Libertarian, takes over for me.

Steve, Pamela, and I try to drive to a TV studio for an interview. But an intense rainstorm has tied traffic up for miles. There's no way we can get there within the hour. So we head back for the hotel. Not only has the storm killed a TV interview, but it probably cause a very poor turnout at tonight's event.

The interview concludes at about 6:15, so Pamela and I go on into the meeting room for tonight's 7:30 event. A dozen or so people have already arrived. The rain keeps pounding down, but the people keep coming. By 7:00 there must be 50-75 people in attendance. And when we begin the meeting at 7:30, there are 180 people. About 60% of those identify themselves as attending their first Libertarian event. Among them is Lee Martin, with whom I had an interview this morning.

Matthew L. Pinzur of the Florida Times-Union newspaper is there. (His article will appear tomorrow. It is unbiased and describes the big turnout. It concludes by quoting me: "'If you want smaller government, all the rest are details,' he said. ‘The first step to take is to stop supporting people who make government larger.'")

The fund-raising is much more productive than any previous night on the Florida trip, and it pulls the daily average for the week up to a respectable figure.

Today WorldNetDaily reran my article "The Supreme Court Scam."

We head home today. Our flight is at 7:50am, so Pamela and I get up at 5:30. We ride to the airport with Michael. Steve arose at 4:00 because his flight was scheduled to depart at 6:30. But when we get to the airport we learn his flight has been delayed, he's still there, and he'll probably miss his connection and arrive home several hours later than expected. As he has only 2½ days at home as it is, the loss of even a few hours is unfortunate.

We're very lucky to have Steve with us. As the Road Manager, he makes life much, much easier for me. He handles all the details, drives the car, juggles the supplies, communicates with our appointments, and a great deal more. Plus he is excellent company. Since we're spending much of this year together, that's a great relief.

Our flight leaves on schedule, so Pamela and I get home by noon. I will work the rest of the day, take tomorrow off, and then go back to the campaign on Monday.

A lot of interviews today. The first is 30 minutes with Louie Free at WASN in Youngstown, Ohio, covering Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and other nearby cities. He is very supportive, saying, "I've been an advocate of libertarian ideas for 45 years." The interview goes very well, and he says he wants me back for a longer conversation.

Then it's a one-hour online chat session at WashingtonPost.com. As I'm a fast typist, I'm able to get through 41 questions in the hour. Many of the questioners are supportive and ask how we can win eventually.

The next interview is with Chris Lato at Wisconsin Radio Network, an agency that provides news to 48 stations in Wisconsin and Michigan. Chris seems very sympathetic to the uphill battle we face against uninterested media and against politicians who are determined to keep us out of the public discussion. I have the opportunity to plug this week's two events in Wisconsin.

Then I have two interviews with reporters for Internet publications. The first is with Lisa Bowman of www.zdnet.com (the site for Ziff-Davis computer magazines), who asks a great many questions about technology and government. I make it plain that I'm opposed to Internet taxation, Internet regulation, and Internet censorship. (Her article will appear tomorrow; while it does recite several of my anti-government stands, it doesn't include any compelling reasons to vote Libertarian.)

I then have a 3-minute conversation with Kay at Radio Iowa, which supplies news to 52 Iowa radio stations. It's so brief that I say little more than that we want you to be free from the income tax, Social Security, and the violent Drug War. She says she'll give people my website address and details of this week's appearance in Iowa City.

My next interview is with Rocky D. at WTAN in Clearwater, Florida. He says, "I went to see Harry Browne here in Tampa last week and I liked what he had to say." Although he doesn't endorse me, he tells a story about going into a restaurant after our event last week, wearing a "Browne for President" button on his T-shirt. When I describe how much better schooling would be if it weren't a political enterprise, he says, "Hallelujah!"

We receive an email from Rhys Read, the Vice-Chair of the Illinois Libertarian Party, telling us that a poll conducted by the Chicago Sun-Times and Fox News has me tied with Ralph Nader in Illinois at 3%. Buchanan and Hagelin are each at 1%.

Today the Rocky Mountain News, one of Denver's two daily papers, published a Colorado poll showing me at 3% in the state, with Ralph Nader at 5% and Pat Buchanan at 1%.

Also today, the Savannah (GA) Morning News published a letter from Jason Nobles, comparing politicians with brats who continually misbehave but whose parents (the voters) let them get away with it. He closes the letter by saying, "My duty and conscience require me to vote Libertarian for Harry Browne to save our country, the ‘child of liberty,' from the bad parenting of the Democrats and the Republicans. It's time to give these misbehaving brats a firm spanking."

We receive an email from Harry Gerard, informing us that the Knoxville (TN) News-Sentinel featured a pro-Browne letter with a headline across the top of the letters page. Mr. Gerard took the trouble to write the paper, expressing gratitude for the coverage.

I receive a phone call from Hilary Johnson, who has been working on a Worth Magazine profile of me for over two months. She has a few last-minute questions before the article goes to press tonight.

I fly to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where I meet Steve Willis and Michael Cloud. Steve drives us to Iowa City, where this evening's event will take place.

In the afternoon I have a short interview with a reporter at KKRQ-FM in Iowa City. I thought I was to be a guest on the Scott, Mark, & Cecily show, but instead someone named Steve interviews me off the air. He says the interview will play this afternoon, so I plug tonight's event.

Then it's a 15-minute taped interview with Bruce Baskin at KELA in Centralia. Washington. He is a Libertarian, and so the interview focuses largely on what we have to do to get libertarian ideas before everyone and to prevail in the political marketplace.

James Lynch of the Cedar Rapids Gazette comes to the hotel to interview me. We talk for about a half-hour, with much of the conversation dealing with the problems we have overcoming the obstacles in the way of getting our message to the public.

I then have a 10-minute interview with Jesse Elliot of the Daily Iowan, the campus newspaper at Iowa University here in Iowa City. He has done a lot of preparation, having interviewed students who are Libertarians and students who are critical of our ideas.

Both reporters stay for our evening rally. Also here are photographers Danny Wilcox Frazier of the Iowa City Press Citizen and Buzz Orr of the Iowa City Gazette. They snap numerous pictures of me greeting guests before the show begins. Julie Englander of the local National Public Radio station is here as well. She tapes my speech and will report on the event for a national NPR report. (I hear later that NPR ran excerpts of my speech on its national network.)

A little over 150 people arrive. At least half of them are college students. When Michael asks how many of them are at their first Libertarian event, about 70% of the audience stands. Christy Welty, our Iowa Volunteer Coordinator, set up carpools for people traveling from as much as three hours away to see the event.

The day begins in Iowa City at 8:15 with a 5-minute interview with Mike Hayes at WIZM in La Crosse, to plug tonight's event. He is very friendly and says there must be a lot of people who agree with the libertarian desire to be free but don't know they're libertarians. I, of course, agree.

Steve, Michael, and I drive the 225 miles to La Crosse. I'm able to work at my laptop (which is working well) as we drive alongside the Iowa cornfields and pass through a multitude of small towns. We stop in Marion, Iowa, for lunch. Alas, there's no Denny's, so we eat at the local Maid-Rite cafe.

It's unfortunate that some Libertarians are more concerned with proving they're superior to other Libertarians than they are with bringing about a Libertarian America. But this sort of posturing and back-biting happens in almost any large organization, and we should not expect to be exempt from the norms of human nature.

Today, however, our rooms are on the 8th floor overlooking the Mississippi River, and the view is spectacular. I find myself spending several minutes standing at the picture window, just relishing the scenery. La Crosse itself is a pretty town and seems like a pleasant place to live.

Almost immediately after arriving I have a TV interview with Jim Masterson of WXOW-TV, who has come to the hotel. He asks a series of prepared questions, and I use the opportunity to reiterate the major campaign themes. The report that appears on the 5 o'clock news is quite good, and it even includes statements from a local political analyst telling people they should vote for a 3rd-party candidate if he's the closest to one's views. A further report appears on the 6 o'clock news.

Just before the evening's event, I have a live interview standing outside the hotel with Mike Thompson of Channel 19, the ABC affiliate. He is a young man, apparently without too much experience. He has a list of prepared questions, and goes through them without hearing my answers. Consequently, at one point he asks a question I had just answered.

Ed Hoskin of the La Crosse Tribune is there, as is a TV camera from Channel 8. John Davis of Wisconsin Public Radio interviews me after my speech.

Eric Bailey of the Los Angeles Times is doing an article on third parties, and has flown to La Crosse from Sacramento to sit in on the campaign event. He will be at tomorrow night's rally in Milwaukee as well. He says he'll be building his article around our campaign.

Today Alan Bock, an editorial writer for the Orange County (CA) Register published an article on AntiWar.com praising my foreign policy stands.

Jack Dean informs us that our website is setting new records each day for visitors. Yesterday, we had 13,380 different visitors.

We get up early to make the 4-hour drive to Milwaukee, stopping along the way for breakfast at a non-Denny's coffee shop.

The second interview is a half-hour with Brian Wilson of San Francisco, who's guest-hosting this week on WBAL in Baltimore. Brian is an avid Libertarian who's been using this show all week to urge people to vote Libertarian. We talk about how important it is not to waste your vote by giving your blessing to candidates who are making government bigger.

The third interview is an hour is with Kathleen Dunn on Wisconsin Public Radio. I'm told by Wisconsin residents later that she's a liberal, but she doesn't betray any position in the interview. She is very cordial and a good interviewer. The first two callers are Libertarians, but then I get calls from people who are more typical of NPR listeners.

Eric Bailey of the Los Angeles Times has journeyed to Milwaukee from La Crosse and we spend an hour or so together talking further for his pending article on third parties. And he rides to the evening's event with Michael, Steve, and me.

A little over 200 people are there. This time only about 35% are newcomers. It's a very enthusiastic audience. Both Michael and I are "on" and the evening goes very well. The fund-raising is very productive. The entire event is a wonderful counterpoint to last night's event. Bob Collison and other volunteers did a terrific job of bringing out a good crowd.

Tami Kou of WTMJ-TV, Channel 4, is there to interview me and cover the event, as is Carlene Orig of WISN-TV, Channel 12, the ABC affiliate. And, of course, the ever-present Eric Bailey of the Los Angeles Times.

On the way back to the hotel, Eric joins us for a late meal at Denny's, the official Soup Kitchen of the Browne for President campaign.

The Bush and Gore campaigns announced today that they had reached agreement to do the three debates originally proposed by the Debate Commission. This virtually kills any chance that either of them will appear in a debate with any third-party candidates. Now we must persuade Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan to join me in a series of debates among the three of us. Since a couple of TV networks have already proposed such debates, there's a good chance we will see them.

On the way to Chicago, I have a 5-minute interview with Bill Becker at WWUS-FM at Big Pine Key in Florida. Although the interview is brief, I'm able to get in all the important themes.

When we arrive in Providence, we have a productive meeting in an airport room with a dozen Rhode Island Libertarians, arranged by state chair Daniel Harrop.

From the Providence airport, we drive to the Boston area. Steve and I drop Michael off at his home and head for our hotel. Having been short on sleep the past few nights, I'm exhausted and I lie down for a 45-minute nap. However, I set the clock radio incorrectly and don't wake up for two hours. I don't even know what awakens me, but it's just in time to get dressed for an evening TV interview.

Steve and I drive into the city to the local PBS station. Unfortunately, the directions we've been given aren't very precise. We miss the proper turnoff, and I have to call the station for directions. The engineer there feeds me instructions as we drive. The city is so torn up from the (federally funded) "Big Dig" tunnel boondoggle that time is beginning to get very short. I'm scheduled for a live interview precisely at 8:15 and we arrive at the station at 8:13.

The interview is actually with Wisconsin Public television, a network of PBS stations in Wisconsin, from which we've just come. I never catch the name of the woman interviewing me, but she's very pleasant and she gives me every opportunity to say what I want.

Two events today. The first is a picnic and rally at the Woburn Sportsman Association. This is a gun club whose event today is for members and their families to have a day of food, flea-market booths, pony rides, and shooting. Carla Howell (the Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate) and I have been given the opportunity to give short speeches.

We were told that 300-400 people were expected, but the turnout is disappointing. Probably no more than a hundred people are in attendance at the time Carla and I speak, and a lot fewer than that are actually focused on the speeches. But we are well received.

While at the picnic I get to shoot a Browning BuckMark .22 pistol, the first pistol-shooting I've ever done. I shoot about 20 rounds at balloons 25 yards away. I enjoy the experience and I hit the targets on about half the shots.

From there, Carla, Steve, Michael, and I drive to the Boston Common in downtown Boston for the Mass-Can rally. This is the annual "legalize marijuana" rally, and it's a big one. I can't tell how many people are in attendance, but it has to be in the tens of thousands. There are booths, food, and a lot of music. Interspersed among the musical acts, there are short speeches, and Carla and I have been invited to speak. She gives an excellent speech, comparing her anti-Drug-War stance with that of Drug Warrior Teddy Kennedy.

While at the rally I'm interviewed by Monica Morales of WFXT, the Fox TV station on channel 25; Terry Adler of WHDH, the NBC station on channel 7; T.J. Winick of New England Cable News; both James Lubin and Adrian Bashchuk of Tufts University's TV station in separate interviews; Jamal E. Watson of the Boston Globe; Ernie King of The Gardner News (a suburban newspaper); Kevin Stone of The Daily Collegian at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst; and Jason Walsh of The Campus Report at Middlesex Community College.

(In tomorrow's paper, the liberal Boston Globe will estimate the crowd at 40,000. It also quotes me: 

'The war on drugs is a tragic, flawed failure," said Harry Browne, who is running as the Libertarian candidate for president of the United States. "It is not the government's business to tell people what they should or should not put in their bodies. If elected president, I would pardon every non-violent federal drug prisoner to make room for the murderers, rapists, and child molesters who get out of prison early on plea bargains and early release," he said.

(The conservative Boston Herald, however, merely mentioned that Carla and I were there, with no statement regarding our stand on the Drug War.

(During the next few days we will receive numerous emails from people who were at the rally, telling us of people who decided to vote Libertarian after hearing the speeches.)

After the rally, Steve and I drive to the Boston airport, where we have a meeting with Bob Newman of Newman Communications, our public relations firm. We discuss ways to try to get more national TV coverage in the final seven weeks of the campaign.

This is a lazy day. I catch up on sleep in the morning, and remain drowsy throughout the afternoon. I'm staying at a small hotel in Rosslyn, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C.

Today Reuters ran an article entitled "Libertarian Browne Possible White House Spoiler." In it, Michael Carney points out that I'm polling at a few percent in some states, and might have more than the margin of victory between Gore and Bush.

The day begins with a 20-minute radio interview with Barnes, Leslie, and Jimmy on the Morning X show at WNNX in Atlanta. It is a Gen-X show and the questions are very good, very much to the point. I get the opportunity to make all the important points.

Later, someone writes to me to tell me that Barnes is the son of Roy Barnes, governor of Georgia.

Steve and I drive into Washington to tape an interview with Bob Edwards for the Morning Edition on National Public Radio. The interview lasts about twenty minutes, and I get the chance to say everything I want. Interviewers on NPR and PBS generally do not intrude much of their own opinions into an interview, so they provide good opportunities for me to present mine.

Later in the afternoon I have a phone interview with Paul Ladd of the Nashville News, a suburban weekly. He knows very little about libertarianism, but he's very cordial and asks perceptive questions.

Then I have an hour-long interview with Otis Twelve at KKAR in Omaha. He's a genial fellow who describes himself as a Goldwater liberal and a life-long Democrat. Although he says he disagrees with me on a few issues, he is strongly opposed to the Drug War and he says he doesn't know of anything he strongly agrees with Al Gore or George Bush about. He begins the interview by saying he is "leaning toward voting Libertarian this year."

Today we had 18,440 different visitors at the campaign website. Not only is this a new one-day record for us, but more than 1,000 people logged on every hour for the 5 hours during 3-8pm, with a peak of 1,300 during 4-5pm.

WorldNetDaily (a large Internet publication) conducted a one-day presidential poll today. Over 23,000 voted, and George Bush won with 61%. I came in second with 26%, Pat Buchanan was third with 7%, and no one else had more than 3%.

In the morning, Jim Babka, Steve Willis, and I drive to Springfield, Virginia, to visit with Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America. Although he appears to be quite libertarian and finds no satisfaction with most Republicans, he says his organization isn't in a position to endorse me.

In the afternoon I have a 30-minute interview with Ralph Bristol at WSPA in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Before the show, his producer tells me he (the producer) has joined the party and has begun giving speeches on behalf of Libertarian candidates. I was on with Ralph a month ago and the Drug War came up just as the interview was ending. I suggested we devote another show to it to do it justice, and he agreed. So today we spend the entire interview on this subject. He doesn't reveal his own opinion on the subject, but he seems very skeptical of the idea that the Drug War will ever succeed. One woman calls to support the Drug War but the other callers agree with me.

North is strongly in favor of having third-party candidates in debates. MSNBC, his TV network, has told him it will gladly carry a third-party debate if he can arrange it. He says that Buchanan and Phillips have agreed to debate me, but that he can't even get Nader on the phone.

Later I get a call from Josh Burek of the Christian Science Monitor, who is doing an article on me that will appear either in the printed edition or online or both. He asks a lot of pertinent questions and the interview lasts about 40 minutes. He seems quite sympathetic. I grew up in a Christian Science household, so I kid him that we should devote our conversation to the current health-care situation in America. (Christian Scientists don't patronize doctors or hospitals.)

In the evening Steve and I drive back into Washington so I can appear on America's Voice TV, being interviewed by Bill Hormann for about 20 minutes. As I'm the last guest on the show, I watch the earlier segments, and I can see that Bill does an excellent job interviewing his guests. My interview goes very well, and it ends with a strong statement urging people to vote Libertarian.

Today Rick Holmes, the News Opinion Page Editor of the Boston-area newspaper MetroWest Daily News, published an article called "Pacifists in the War on Drugs." The article talked about the speeches Carla Howell and I made at the Mass-Can anti-Drug-War rally last Saturday. Holmes quotes my statement about pardoning the non-violent drug prisoners.

Back at the hotel, I have an hour on the phone with Tony Mancrini at WNIS in Norfolk, Virginia. We have an event there tomorrow, and Tony and I plug it several times. He has been very good to us, and he's very supportive. He'll be at tomorrow's personal appearance. The show goes well with plenty of callers, and an opportunity to hit all the important points.

Just after that, I'm supposed to have an interview with a Houston radio station. But I don't hear from them, and when I call I'm told the show is running late and won't be able to accommodate me today. So I tell them to call Jim Babka to reschedule the interview.

Kelly Beaucar of ConservativeHQ.com comes to the hotel for an interview. Although we've spoken several times on the phone and she's written several articles about me, this is the first time I've met her in person. Today she wants to concentrate more on my personal background, but we inevitably wind up back on the issues, the campaign, and the debate possibilities.

Then I have a phone interview with John Lowry at WKYX in Paducah, Kentucky. It is a taping for later broadcast. We go through the issues and he wishes me luck at the end.

Josh Burek of the Christian Science Monitor calls again, requesting some audio soundbites from me for the newspaper's website. We go over some of the major issues and I try to be as brief as possible. He seems satisfied with what he gets from me.

The evening event is in Crystal City, just outside Washington. The audience is a little over 200, overflowing the room and creating standing-room-only conditions. Marianne Volpe and the Virginia Libertarians did a terrific job of drawing a crowd.

ZoomCulture.com, an Internet site, is doing a documentary on third parties and has a reporter and cameraman present. Michael Lynch of Reason magazine is there.

About a third of the audience are new to Libertarian events, and the entire audience is very enthusiastic. The fund-raising goes quite well. Michael Cloud is a brilliant emcee and fund-raiser. I don't know where the LP and our campaign would be without him.

Apparently, the original plan was that Sharon and I would be on for the entire half-hour show. But a school bus accident has preempted the station's facilities, and we have to be satisfied with a one-segment interview squeezed in between on-the-spot remotes from the accident scene.

Afterward we head to Tom Cantrell's office where Robert Dean has worked hard to set up a small rally and press conference. Three local TV stations had committed to attending, but the bus accident has kept all of them away. However, Janie Bryant of the Norfolk Pilot is present and asking questions.

Tony has already endorsed me. And on the way to the TV station we have heard him on the air making an excellent presentation on why the only wasted vote is one for someone you don't agree with. Tony gives a summary of that argument in his introduction now.

Robert Dean takes me back to the airport, where I catch a flight to New Hampshire via Philadelphia.

Art Olivier arrives at the Manchester airport about the same time I do. Don Gorman drives Art and me from the airport to a banquet staged by Gun Owners of New Hampshire.

Don takes Art and me around the room to meet several of the many Republican office-holders in attendance. I'm surprised that some of them have seen me on TV and have nice words to say about me.

Gordon Humphrey, the former U.S. senator, is running for Governor and is the featured speaker. John Babiarz, the LP gubernatorial candidate, and I go up to say hello to him. I tell Humphrey that I regret to inform him that I've decided to endorse Babiarz. He doesn't see much humor in that (but then, now that I think about it, neither do I).

There are many Republican office-holders among the crowd of a couple hundred or so. But somehow Don pulls off a miracle and arranges for me to be the only politician there with a speaking slot, aside from Humphrey.

I go on to relate my plan to disarm the guards protecting the Congressmen until the latter restore to all American citizens the unconditional right to defend themselves. This, too, goes over well.

Somehow I say all this in two minutes. (Well, maybe I take four or five.) And I'm surprised at how well a Republican audience responds.

We eat dinner, and then Don, Art, and I sneak out before Humphrey's speech. I don't think I can stand to sit through another speaker telling me we must "protect" our second-amendment rights when we've already lost them.

I'm able to sleep late this morning, and not a day too soon. I arise in the mid-morning and get some work done at my computer.

In the afternoon I give a short talk to the New Hampshire state LP convention. Other New Hampshire candidates speak as well. While there, I'm interviewed by Monica Morales of WFXT, channel 25, the Fox TV affiliate; by Terry Adler of WHDH, channel 7; and by T.J. Winnick of New England Cable News.

At the evening banquet, Marshall Fritz gives an excellent speech on the importance of separating school and state. I follow him with a 5-minute talk comparing the free-market computer industry with the government-dominated education business. This is an easy way to see how much better off we'd be if education were handled in the free market, as computers are (and how much worse off we'd be if computers were handled by government, as education is).

Afterward Jack Kenny of the Manchester Union-Leader interviews me for a few minutes outside the banquet room. He wants to get the exact wording on the analogies I used in my brief talk. I appreciate his desire to be accurate.

I fly from Manchester, New Hampshire, to Detroit. Steve Willis meets me at the airport.

Shortly afterward we hook up with Barbara Goushaw, the Energizer Bunny of the Michigan LP. Together we go to Excalibur, a gourmet restaurant in Southfield, where Sheldon Rose is hosting a dinner for Libertarian candidates and activists, as well as some of Sheldon's influential friends who lean toward libertarianism. One guest is Mary Kramer of Crane's Detroit Business, a local magazine. Sheldon is a successful contractor and property manager, and has been a great friend and help to the Michigan LP and to my campaign.

Before leaving for the speech, I have two radio interviews to do from the hotel room. The first is with Marci & Joe at WKMI in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She asks most of the questions, and she finds my stands on the issues a little hard to believe. But at the end of the half-hour she asks if we can stay over for the rest of the hour. I say that I can't, because I have another interview now, but we can schedule another interview for the near future. She says she'll do that because she thinks I'm a "great guest."

Later she and I get into a battle over abortion. I still haven't gotten wise to what's going on here. But then the host says he will ask me a question that Larry King or Barbara Walters would never ask me: When I die, what can I tell God is my justification for getting into Heaven. I say I don't know, because I don't believe I can know God's will. (It doesn't occur to me to point out that God wouldn't have to ask; he'd know already whether or not I had qualified for admission.) Al says he does know what God's will is, and advises me to read John, chapter 3. I finally figure out that this is a Christian program.

Then Steve, Barbara Goushaw, Jennifer Willis, and I head to downtown Detroit for the Economic Club. I seem to be wide awake and not dragging; perhaps it's adrenaline.

(Alexa's article will appear on the front page of the Metro section tomorrow, and it will be a very helpful article. She includes my statement that "Government is really good at only one thing, and that is to break your leg, then hand you a crutch and say, ‘Look, if it weren't for the government you wouldn't be able to walk,'" There also will be a large photo of me at the podium.)

Next is a pre-lunch reception with about 40 invited guests. We then head into the banquet room. There are about 200 people present. After everyone has had lunch, a prominent lawyer, Beverly Hall Burns, introduces me.

Afterward, Nolan Finley, an editorial writer for the Detroit News, asks if I can meet with the newspaper's editorial board tomorrow. I say I'd be glad to, but he'll need to set it up with Press Secretary Jim Babka.

Andre Holland of WKBD, channel 50, interviews me. And Jim Suhr, a staff writer for the AP, asks me some questions. (His article will appear tomorrow. A boxed adjunct to the article will describe my positions on our major issues, and will be very helpful.)

From downtown Detroit we head to the University of Michigan at Dearborn. A last-minute event has been arranged for political science students there. About 30 are in attendance. I speak for about 15 minutes and then answer questions for about a half-hour. Some respond very positively and sign up to volunteer for the campaign and the LP. Others are skeptical.

James Ridgeway of the Village Voice (a liberal weekly newspaper in New York) asks for my answers to five questions, to be posted on the publication's website. Here are the questions and answers. . . . 

"What's the difference between you and Bush?"

"Since the GOP doesn't have much going for it except libertarian-style economic ideas, why not just vote Republican?"

That would be an endorsement of the big-government programs George Bush is proposing or supporting.

I am running to help build a Libertarian Party big enough to win the Presidency and Congress. By your definition, we could never have anything but the Republicans and Democrats, because anyone else would be a "spoiler."

"Give me three simple things you'd do first if elected?"

1. Pardon every federal prisoner convicted of a non-violent drug offense.

2. Tear pages of regulations out of the federal register.

3. Bring U.S. troops home from abroad and announce that the U.S. will no longer meddle in other countries' affairs.

"Why won't you take federal election money?"

I don't believe you should be forced to support my campaign. And you certainly can't believe that anyone who feeds at the federal trough is serious about reducing government.

Steve and I arrive at WXYZ-TV, the ABC affiliate, for an interview with Chuck Stokes. His father is Carl Stokes, a Democratic Congressman, but his interviewing style doesn't betray any political viewpoint. We tape about 15 minutes, which will be aired in its entirety on Sunday. (You can hear it by clicking here.) Bill Shotey, the press liaison for the Michigan LP, has made a special arrangement with Carl to tape this on Tuesday while I'm here, rather than his normal Thursday. On every trip I've made to Michigan, Bill has come up with some good press contacts.

At one point I say the only defense we need is protection against missiles and a border patrol to protect us from those rampaging Canadians coming from Windsor (across the river from Detroit). He doesn't appear to be listening, and so I go on. But then I notice a slight smile creeping across his face. He heard it and now he gets it. He says something about the Canadians, and I say that of course I was joking about them; I love Canadians, and I lived in Vancouver for five years.

Next is an hour in studio with Mark Scott, a Libertarian talk-show host on WXYT. Mark has always been very good to me and to Michigan Libertarians, and this hour goes very well and very quickly. All the callers are supportive.

After getting a haircut (my first in too long), I meet with the Detroit News editorial board. In addition to Nolan Finley, there are writers Shikha Dalmia, Jeffrey Hadden, and Bill Johnson. Also present is Henry Payne, the syndicated cartoonist whose work appears in newspapers across America, as well as in Reason magazine.

The meeting lasts an hour. Sometimes we get too far into the details of government programs and free-market alternatives. But we also cover the political aspects of why people should vote Libertarian.

Our email message asked people to blitz the show with emails and phone calls, requesting my presence. The first day at least 600 emails reached the show, and the phone calls overloaded the voice mail system.

Michael, Steve, and I fly to Minneapolis. We stay at the Embassy Suites, across the way from the Mall of America, the world's largest mall. Unfortunately, I won't have time to check it out.

In the afternoon, I have an interview with Julie Foster of WorldNetDaily. She's writing articles on each of the third-party candidates. We spend some of the time talking about the difficulty of getting the media's attention, since most reporters seem to consider only celebrities like Nader and Buchanan to be worthy of coverage, no matter how their support compares with mine.

In addition, national reporters don't see Libertarian proposals as serious. When there's a social problem, the obvious solution is a new government program. Gore, Bush, Buchanan, and Nader all have plenty of new government programs to load on us. But I'm proposing that we solve problems by getting government out of the way. That just doesn't fit the typical national reporter's mindset. Hence, it just "isn't in the cards" for me to taken as seriously as Pat Buchanan or Ralph Nader.

Afterward, I talk with Peter Orvetti, who is writing a profile for his website Web White & Blue. His primary focus is on why the media isn't covering me. I tell him he should call the producer of Meet the Press to get an answer. (I don't think he does.) Orvetti's article appears on the Internet a couple of hours later. It contains some misunderstandings about what I said to him, but it is otherwise a fair article and should do some good.

Ridgeway may be wrong about that. My anecdotal experience suggests that roughly one third of the new support I'm getting has come from former Democrats, one third from former Republicans, and one third from people who haven't been voting. But I'm quite happy to have the press think I could be the spoiler.

Emiliano Antunez, chair of the Miami LP, wrote a letter to the Miami Herald, responding to an editorial that referred to 3rd-party presidential candidates as sideshows. The letters editor was so impressed that he suggested that Emiliano write a 650-word article for the Op-Ed page of the paper. Today Emiliano's article appeared in the Herald. It is witty and persuasive, arguing that third parties, if publicized, could do a lot to extinguish voter apathy.

Today the website set a new record with 17,606 different visitors, and with 21,578 visitor sessions overall.

After that I'm on KREF in Norman, Oklahoma, with Ben Odom. For some reason, I start out with the impression that he's a conservative. Even when he refers to the local Congressman disparagingly, calling him a right-wing Republican, I don't catch on that he's a liberal. My mind really isn't working properly.

With two interviews in which I don't feel I've handled myself up to par, I'm starting to get worried. Tonight there will be a debate, televised on C-SPAN, with Howard Phillips and John Hagelin, hosted (presumably) by Jesse Ventura. Will my mind, my heart, and my tongue be in sync by this evening?

We frequently hear some Republican or Democrat say that the debates have to be limited to just those with 15% support in the polls because there are over 200 people running for President officially, and you couldn't possibly have them all on the stage. But I receive a note from Jack Dean (our hard-working Internet guru), calling my attention to information from Richard Winger (America's ballot-access expert). Winger points out that there are only 13 candidates who are on the ballot in even one state this year. Only 7 candidates are on enough states to theoretically win a majority in the Electoral College. Of the 6 candidates who can't win mathematically, the most active is on only ten state ballots.

There probably should have been two such debates, so that every voter would have an opportunity to view each of these candidates. Having seven candidates would have been no more unwieldy than the early Republican primary debates.

By late September, the field should have been trimmed to, perhaps, the top five in the polls. At that point perhaps only those with 5% or more in the polls should be included. And one or more of those candidates who don't have 5% now might have earned that much support through the exposure of the earlier debates.

I spend part of the afternoon filling out issue surveys coming from various organizations. And there are two press interviews handled by phone.

Then I speak with Adrienne Drell of the Chicago Sun-Times. We talk for about 45 minutes in two conversations. Although we cover many matters, she's particularly interested in the Meet the Press situation.

In the evening there's a third-party debate with Howard Phillips of the Constitution Party and John Hagelin of the Natural Law Party. I've said I would debate anyone, provided it's covered on national television. This debate is on C-SPAN.

Howard Phillips gives the first opening statement, and he presents his case in his usual philosophical, academic style. John Hagelin follows him, and makes virtually the same statements he made throughout his 1996 campaign.

Today Jill Labbe published an article, syndicated by Knight-Ridder, entitled "Libertarians Are Starting to Look Good." The article is a strong endorsement of gun rights. It says, in part, "The more I read about these so-called crime initiatives, the more I start to look seriously at Libertarian Party candidates for Congress. What the Democrats want is obvious: more laws, because somehow 20,001 will be more effective than the 20,000 that the country already has. The Republicans keep harping on enforcement of those existing laws, but in reality, those laws do more to keep citizens of good intent from being able to protect themselves than they keep criminals from getting guns."

The two daily newspapers report on last night's debate. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, after attributing to me one of John Hagelin's statements, goes on to report, "Browne said he wants to be a leader, not ‘a dictator of the world,' while supporting a citizen's right to bear arms, working for affordable health insurance and devising a strategy to stop the ‘war on drugs.'" (Excuse me, I have to get back to work devising a strategy to stop the "war on drugs" and figuring out how we can have affordable health insurance.)

The St. Paul Pioneer-Press begins its report with, "Less than a week after third-party presidential candidate Ralph Nader attracted an estimated 12,000 people to Target Center in Minneapolis, three other third-party presidential candidates debated Thursday night before a tiny audience at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul." (Hmmm, I wonder whom the reporter is going to vote for.)

The AP report by Patrick Howe (who interviewed me yesterday) is more accurate, with no spin.

My day begins at 4:45. In the midst of getting dressed, I have a phone interview with Phil Paleologos on the Talk America Radio Network. He's very supportive, referring to me as "a true statesman."

At the beginning of 2000, as we neared the time when I would announce my candidacy and devote full-time to the campaign, she said she'd donate to my campaign if I promised to stress my opposition to the Drug War. I told her I intended to make a big issue of it.

Michael, Steve, and I head for the airport to catch a 7:10 plane to Chicago.

When we arrive, I get on the cell phone to talk with Ron Newman at WBIG radio in Aurora, just outside of Chicago. I'm on with him for about 45 minutes, until we arrive at the hotel in downtown Chicago. He is very nice to me, and quite complimentary. He also implies that other presidential candidates would appear on his show only if certain topics were kept off-limits.

Then I'm on with Hoppy Kercheval and Stephen Reed on West Virginia Radio, a network of 17 stations. We talk for 25 minutes about the issues and why you should vote Libertarian.

Steve and I head over to the Chicago Sun-Times building. While waiting in the lobby, I talk on my cell phone with Perry Willis, who gives me the good news that today's Zogby-Reuters poll has me at 1.6% and Pat Buchanan at only 0.6%. More fuel to heap on the fire at Meet the Press. (Ralph Nader is at 3.3%.) A Reuters article on the poll mentioned my lead over Buchanan, and so will probably bring my support to the attention of a lot of newspaper readers across America.

Perry also tells me that yesterday's press release about the "Meet the Press" exclusion was read in its entirety on the air by at least three radio talk-show hosts. One of them announced that he's voting for me. In addition, the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper is using the release as the basis for an op-ed piece. It's tough going sometimes when we seem to be continually denied our due, but then suddenly a bunch of good news will pour in.

At the Sun-Times building, we meet reporter Adrienne Drell, who interviewed me yesterday. She has arranged for a photographer to take pictures of me. First she reads to me a draft of the article she's written about me, so I can correct any factual errors or misquotations. This in itself is amazing, as reporters tend to think they're infallibly right about what they heard someone say. And the article is very flattering, so I'm doubly amazed.

The Fox TV News Network studio is in the same building and we go there for me to have a 5-minute interview with David Asman (my third interview with him). Although the interview is brief, I manage to get in all my main points. I mention the fact that Meet the Press doesn't want me on, despite the poll numbers. David mentions that yesterday he interviewed Ralph Nader, who said I should be in the Debate Commission debates, along with him and Pat Buchanan.

In the afternoon, I have phone interviews with Bill Anthony at WKZO in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and with Shane McBride at WNTM in Mobile, Alabama. Unfortunately, things are so hectic and confused today that I lose my notes and won't remember what was said in the interviews.

I have to leave the meeting earlier than normal to head back over to the Fox TV News Network for a segment on Hannity & Colmes. To keep from repeating myself and wearing out my welcome, I focus on the wasted vote issue. The interview seems to go very well.

My article "The Media Know Best" appeared today on WorldNetDaily, a large Internet publication. The article criticizes Meet the Press for excluding me from this Sunday's broadcast with Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan.

Today WorldNetDaily also conducted a poll asking which third-party candidates should appear in the presidential debates. There were 13,372 votes cast. The results were:

Browne 55.7%
All 23.3%
None 8.2%
Buchanan & Nader 7.3%
Buchanan 2.4%
Nader 1.7%
Phillips 0.7%
Other 0.5%
Hagelin 0.2%

Last week, Eric Bailey of the Los Angeles Times spent a couple of days with us in Wisconsin. Today his article appeared on the front page of the paper. It highlights the trials and tribulations of running a 3rd-party presidential campaign, using me as the main example. It's a very sympathetic article, but not the kind that will get us a lot of votes. The proposals we make aren't mentioned until half-way through the long article.

Today Oliver North released an article syndicated by Creators Syndicate, entitled "What are they afraid of?" It criticizes the Presidential Debate Commission for excluding Ralph Nader, Pat Buchanan, and me from the debates.

Also today the University of Hawaii newspaper Ka Leo O Hawaii
published an article by Pablo Wegesend entitled, "Vote Browne to Reduce Big Government." The title says it all.

Jack Dean reports that we're getting between 15,000 and 20,000 different visitors to our website every day now.

After the Rockford event we drive to Arlington Heights for this evening's event. At the event, Iris Bryan of the Crystal Lake Town Crier asks me a few questions. We have a little over 100 people there, Again, about a third are new people. We're indebted to Ken Prazac for his help in making this event a success.

Michael and I each have wireless microphones. After he introduces me at the beginning of the meeting, he leaves the room. Shortly after I start speaking, I hear from my right a loud noise, and then another. At first I think there's a problem with speakers at the event in the next room. But then I realize it's coming from the speaker in our room: Michael's microphone is still on and he's sneezing. I say "Gesundheit!" to the speaker, and then call out to Michael to turn his mike off or take some Claritin.