I've been a libertarian (non-party member, but fairly active) for almost a decade now.  I have a BA and MA in political science and am currently working on a second Master's in Diplomacy.  In 2004, I ran for county sheriff in Tom Greene County and was, without any advertising or other materials, able to gain 3% (roughly 3,000) votes.  I have recently just moved back to Texas from Montana where I worked for a non-profit, voter education group called Project Vote Smart (www.votesmart.org) and was in charge of helping to write and send out their Political Courage Test, an issue position questionnaire (though they'd hate that I call it that) for candidates.