Bob Barr, the former Republican Congressman and current libertarian candidate for President, lost one of his most important and outspoken supporters today after snubbing the press conference organized by Ron Paul to highlight third party candidates.

Adam Kokesh of Iraq Veterans Against the War announced on his blog and his FaceBook profile that, after attending a separate press held by Barr immediately following Paul’s event, he would no longer back Barr:

I had hoped that he had a good reason for not being [at Paul's press conference] that I was not aware of. Maybe he would say he had a personal issue. But instead, I sat there and listened to him prattle on about Ross Perot and getting votes and forcing policy issues and “principled leadership.” Then he asked Ron Paul to be his VP.

I was fuming.

Kokesh has been speaking frequently lately, including at the Rally for the Republic in Minneapolis last week and the Revolution March in Washington this summer. In some circles, particularly the antiwar movement, he probably has higher name recognition than Barr himself.

This is a major setback for Barr, who has struggled to convince liberty-minded voters that he is truly reformed from his rocky past, which included voting for the USA-PATRIOT Act and the Iraq War, as well as preventing the District of Columbia from spending $1.64 to count the vote totals for a medical marijuana initiative.

Three candidates did join Paul at his press conference: Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution Party candidate, Cynthia Mckinney, the Green Party candidate, and Ralph Nader, an independant candidate.

It’s unclear who Kokesh will now back. This blogger is hoping he’ll go with Mckinney, who has strong anti-war credentials and a powerful base in inner cities in the North and South. She’s surely the farthest of the three from Paul’s politics, but she just might be the closest to his spirit.