For Bob Barr, it all comes down now to getting into the debates. (And, from the GOP perspective, keeping his accursed cracker ass out at all costs). If the one-time Clinton impeachment House manager successfully barges onstage for a nationally-televised forensic fracas with McBama, his polling could double by the time the network credits start rolling that night.

If, on the other hand, the 'pukelickens once again win their time-honored pastime of stifling voices of freedom from the right, Barr's national numbers may plateau and languish in the high single digits. Although historic by Libertarian Party presidential campaign standards, such a finish would constitute a disappointing letdown given the promise and possibilities a high-profile candidacy like Barr's offers.

This is a tough test for Barr. Russell Verney, Ross Perot's campaign manager back in the day — and now Barr's chief organizer — knows the debate gig is rigged against challengers to the bipartisan leviathan status quo. "The criteria are absolutely, unequivocally unfair, and the debate commission is a complete fraud," Varney told Campaigns & Elections' Politics magazine.

Nevertheless, Barr's acumen, savvy, balls and gravitas are on trial here. It was his proclaimed ability to get bottom-line results and capture national attention that got the former Georgia federal prosecutor nominated over more philosophically principled LP lightweights, one-notes, no-names and nut jobs at the party convention back in May.

Minimally, Barr needs to put up a big enough stink to force the subject of his inclusion in (or exclusion from) the debates to the forefront of campaign season political awareness. Should he ultimately prove unsuccessful in gaining entry, Barr at the very least needs to collar an arresting verdict in the court of public opinion to the effect that the Commission on Presidential Debates is corrupt, pathetic and rotten to its heart.