The Libertarian Party of Oregon has a fractious recent history, featuring lots of infighting for control. And although registered Libertarians number only about 13,000 in Oregon, a little more than half of one percent of registered voters, they can play an important role in elections. In 2002, for instance, Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Tom Cox got more votes than the margin by which Democrat Ted Kulongoski defeated Republican Kevin Mannix.

For the GOP, losing even a few votes to a third party—to "bleed," as campaign strategists call the phenomenon—could be costly. With that backdrop, here is an excerpt from the LPO's website:

A failed attempt at a bureaucratic coup of the Libertarian Party of

Oregon raises a large number of questions. The primary of which is, who

exactly is in control of the Libertarian National Committee?

First off though we need to review the facts of what happened:

A small group of members, most of which who have strong ties to

Americans for Prosperity (described by Rush Limbaugh as a right wing

organization), and one of which in particular, Richard P. Burke, is a

paid employee of that organization, met on May 21st, 2011 at the time

and place of a member convention that had been previously cancelled and

rendered moot by the recent party re-organization. They subsequently

submitted documents  to the Oregon Secretary of State in an attempt to gain control of the party.