WASHINGTON -- Former Republican Congressman Bob Barr says he's formed a presidential exploratory committee and may seek the Libertarian party nomination.

Barr says in a news release that he told Midwestern political activists at the Heartland Libertarian Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, on Saturday that the country faces a grave moral crisis and he feels he cannot sit on the sidelines.

The former Georgia congressman left the GOP in 2006 over what he called bloated spending and civil liberties intrusions by the Bush administration.

Barr became a darling of conservatives in the 1990s for his persistent attacks on President Clinton. He was among the first to press for impeaching Clinton.