in early 1999, hornberger formed an exploratory committee to seek the libertarian nomination for president in 2000. two months later, hornberger withdrew from the race. harry browne, who had been the 1996 libertarian nominee for president, was running for the nomination in 2000 and was considered the frontrunner. hornberger began publishing essays criticizing browne for not being committed to libertarian principles, alleging that browne was running a "republican-lite" campaign.