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That was the 1964 campaign, Root was about three and Goldwater was saying that what the country needed was a lot less government. It was a notion that continues to resonate in Root’s thinking. So flash forward 40-plus years and we have Root, who is now a Las Vegas resident, trying to succeed where Goldwater fell short in 1964. He wants to be elected president. He is very actively pursuing the Libertarian Party’s nomination. It is a designation that will be awarded about a year from now at the third party’s national convention. In the meantime, Root’s putting some rhetorical polish on a message that he figures will resonate with a “natural constituency” of some 30 million people who are known to have an interest in poker and online gambling.

Root points out that he bears no resemblance to a professional poker player, seeing as how he has never played more than some social poker. But hey, we’re all gamblers, right, and Root’s long involvement in handicapping through his well-known Winning Edge certainly makes him a member in good standing of the brotherhood of people who feel Congress erred in trying to shut down the Internet.

“I’m your man,” is what Root seems to be telling poker buffs, and Goldwater is his role model. He quotes from “Conscienceof a Conservative” with a passion that suggests the Goldwater book is the next best thing to having sole possession of a treasure map.

The issues in need of a solution that Goldwater saw as he peered across the sharp divisions defining the social and political landscape of the mid-1960s are not all that different he says from what we see today.

There’s an unpopular war, and a variety of social issues in need of attention, which may, Root argues, mean nothing more than getting the government’s nose out of places it should never have been.

Root would have dropkicked last year’s anti- Internet gambling bill, legislation that was the handiwork of former senate majority leader Bill Frist into oblivion with a quick veto. There would be nothing better than some wellplaced vetoes to remove what Root views as getting creeping, unnecessary government out of the lives of Americans. There would be nothing like the Frist bill on his watch.

“I love the smell of vetoes in the morning,” he snaps, a line that has the sound of a wisecrack based on conviction.

With his well-tuned sense of mind-catching sound bites, Root seems to havea snappy response to every proposal for extending government’s reach. Example: “Do you want the people in charge of Hurricane Katrina relief and Walter Reed Hospital in charge of the entire health care system?”

Root is planning his candidacy as the basis of a TV reality show. Root says veteran executive producer Burt Dubrow who helped developed the Sally Jesse Raphael and Jerry Springer shows has signed on.

So how did he decide to launch this effort to get the Libertarian nomination? “As most people know, I’ve been working for years as a sports handicapper and odds maker, but what most people do not know is that the real love of my life has always been politics.”

It’s at this point that he will often clue interviewers in on the Barry Goldwater connection and those neverto- be-forgotten moments in the 1964 campaign when his family was living in Mount Vernon, N.Y. “As a matter of fact, I guess you could say that this campaign is really dedicated to Barry Goldwater because my favorite book of all time is Conscience of is a conservative, but he is a big government conservative. I am a small government guy.

“The fact is the federal government needs to get out of our lives. As it isnow, both parties want the same thing: bigger government and more spending and more control.”

So about a year ago, as Root recalls the evolution of his thinking, the decision to run “got really strong in my mind and here we are.”

Incidentally, the White House invite came in December 2005, at a time when he was filming a special cable project that he had created - King of Vegas. It was a reality show designed to find the biggest gambler in the world. Spike Television bought the project, giving him a credit as its creator and also making him co-host.

The scheduled twoweek shoot gave him one day off, the day when he was scheduled to be at the White House party. What he did was leave Las Vegas on a late night flight after a day of shooting, get to Washington and then come back late the following day to continue shooting.

A tough schedule, but as they say, someone had to do it and who turns down a chance to visit the White house for what, in this case, was a party associated with the holiday season. “An honor of a lifetime,” he says again.

“But unfortunately, the man who occupies the White House now has, I think, in manyways has set the Republican Party back several decades. I think the party had a chance if they had stayed with Barry Goldwater’s roots, excuse the pun, of smaller government and lower spending and lower taxes.”

Root seems to shake his head at what he views as the equivalent of a train wreck.

“The government is just bursting at the seams and spending has gone out of control. Our children and grandchildren will be paying for what’s happening now, and we’ve got a war thousands of our boys have died in that is dividing our country.”

It’s a situation, he suggests that has been made to order for generous applications of a Libertarian approach.

He says, “The two-party system is a gigantic failure that no longer represents the typical American.”

Root sees himself in the role of a sort of “Ross Perot wildcard,” maybe not winning next year but getting enough votes to shape the outcome and create an outcome that will provide the foundation for future campaigns.

Who knows what might happen, he suggests, by 2016 or the election of 2020.

The current campaign will all be presented to the American people, he says in the context of a reality television show. The outcome may very well hinge in large part on the success of his efforts to reach that natural built-in constituency of the millions of voters who feel strongly enough about the Internet gambling issue to get to the front lines of this issue and make their feelings known.

There’s no question, he says, that Internet gambling and poker should be legal and regulated, a thought that brings him to what he’s doing now.

“I think my base of support (among gamblers) will make me the most influential third party candidate ever, but I am not a one issue candidate. I just believe that this one issue is symptomatic of everything that is wrong with government today.”

Telling people they can’t play poker on their own computer in their own home with their own money is, he maintains, “simply outrageous.”

And that is that! is a conservative, but he is a big government conservative. I am a small government guy.

“The fact is the federal government needs to get out of our lives. Asit is now, both parties want the same thing: bigger government and more spending and more control.”

So about a year ago, as Root recalls the evolution of his thinking, the decision to run “got really strong in my mind and here we are.”

Incidentally, the White House invite came in December 2005, at a time when he was filming a special cable project that he had created - King of Vegas. It was a reality show designed to find the biggest gambler in the world. Spike Television bought the project, giving him a credit as its creator and also making him co-host.

The scheduled twoweek shoot gave him one day off, the day when he was scheduled to be at the White House party. What he did was leave Las Vegas on a late night flight after a day of shooting, get to Washington and then come back late the following day to continue shooting.

A tough schedule, but as they say, someone had to do it and who turns down a chance to visit the White house for what, in this case, was a party associated with the holiday season.

“An honor of a lifetime,” he says again.

“But unfortunately, the man who occupies the White House now has, I think, in many ways has set the Republican Party back several decades. I think the party had a chance if they had stayed with Barry Goldwater’s roots, excuse the pun, of smaller government and lower spending and lower taxes.”

Root seems to shake his head at what he views as the equivalent of a train wreck.

“The government is just bursting at the seams and spending has gone out of control. Our children and grandchildren will be paying for what’s happening now, and we’ve got a war thousands of our boys have died in that is dividing our country.”

It’s a situation, he suggests that has been made to order for generous applications of a Libertarian approach.

He says, “The two-party system is a gigantic failure that no longer represents the typical American.”

Root sees himself in the role of a sort of “Ross Perot wildcard,” maybe not winning next year but getting enough votes to shape the outcome and create an outcome that will provide the foundation for future campaigns.

Who knows what might happen, he suggests, by 2016 or the election of 2020.

The current campaign will all be presented to the American people, he says in the context of a reality television show. The outcome may very well hinge in large part on the success of his efforts to reach that natural built-in constituency of the millions of voters who feel strongly enough about the Internet gambling issue to get to the front lines of this issue and make their feelings known.

There’s no question, he says, that Internet gambling and poker should be legal and regulated, a thought that brings him to what he’s doing now.

“I think my base of support (among gamblers) will make me the most influential third party candidate ever, but I am not a one issue candidate. I just believe that this one issue is symptomatic of everything that is wrong with government today.”

Telling people they can’t play poker on their own computer in their own home with their own money is, he maintains, “simply outrageous.” And that is that!

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