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People just love to go after marginal federal income tax rates as such a big problem. Let us take a look at the math...
The Govt CPI Calculation has average a 2.5% increase over the last 20 years while wages remain stagnant. Compounding the rate of increase of a dollar gives 1.64 20 years later. 100.00 is 164.00 20 years later.
If the 1980 CPI calculation is used instead of the current one...Avg Inflation over the 20 year period is 7.5 to 8 percent. We will use the lower of 7.5%. The same dollar is now 4.25. And that is only compounding once per year. 100.00 is now 425.00.
Median Household income is much easier to look up. Median Meaning that if there are 100,000 households - It would be the income of the 50,000th household. The 1992 Median Household Income is 40,500 dollars. The Median 2012 Household Income is 51,500 dollars. This is an increase of 11,000.00 per year.
So...
From 1992 to 2011..Median Household Income increased from 40,500 to 51,500 dollars which is 27% (1.35% per year)
1980 Govt CPI Formula - It takes 172,037 to buy what was 40,500 twenty years ago
Official Govt CPI - It takes 66,363 to buy what was 40,500 twenty years ago
Marginal Tax Rate for Single person claiming 1 before any deductions
1992 - Median Income of 40,500
21,450.00 * .15 = 3,217.50
9,000.00 * .28 = 4,320.00
9,950.00 * .31 = 3,084.50
--------- ---------
40,500.00 10,622.00
10,622 / 40,500 = 26.22 % Marginal Tax Rate
2012 - Median Income of 51,500
8,700.00 * .10 = 870.00
26,650.00 * .15 = 3,997.50
16,150.00 * .25 = 4,037.50
--------- ---------
51,500.00 8,905.00
8.905 / 51,500 = 17.29 % Marginal Tax Rate
Four Points...
1. Median Household 1992-2012...Marginal Federal Tax rates have fallen from 26.22% to 17.29% or a net -8.93%.
2. Using the Official Govt CPI from 1992 to 2012 - 66,363 dollars is needed in 2012 to keep even with the 1992 Median Household Income of 40,500
3. Using the 1980 CPI Formula - 172,037 dollars is needed to keep even with the 1992 Median Household Income of 40,500
4. Median Household income has increased from 40,500 dollars in 1992 to 51,500.00 in 2012.
In Simpler Terms - Marginal Federal Income Rates have Fallen, and Money is Worth Less.
Are we really sure we should be worrying more about Marginal Federal tax rates more than the devaluation of our money?
Shermann
Gary Johnson With Chuck Todd MSNBC – 10/12/12
http://libertycrier.com/politics/gary-johnson-with-chuck-todd-msnbc-101212/?utm_source=The+Liberty+Crier&utm_campaign=6727e16d55-The_Liberty_Crier_Daily_News10_13_2012&utm_medium=email
Shermann
Gary Johnson Officially On The Ballot In Pennsylvania
http://libertycrier.com/politics/gary-johnson-officially-on-the-ballot-in-pennsylvania/?utm_source=The+Liberty+Crier&utm_campaign=6727e16d55-The_Liberty_Crier_Daily_News10_13_2012&utm_medium=email
HARRISBURG — A state judge Wednesday ruled that Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson will remain on the Pennsylvania ballot for November’s general election.
Commonwealth Court Judge James Gardner Colins determined that Johnson had collected 20,730 valid signatures, just above the threshold of 20,601 signature required by state law for third parties to get on the ballot.
Along with Johnson, the Libertarians will their candidates on the ballot for U.S. Senate, state auditor general, state attorney general and state treasurer.
Tom Stevens, chairman of the Pennsylvania Libertarian Party, said the ruling was a victory in an uphill battle against the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, which had brought the challenge against Johnson.
“Now the voters of Pennsylvania will have an opportunity to have a real choice in who to vote for in statewide and national elections this November,” he told PA Independent.
Ronald Hicks Jr., a Pittsburgh attorney for the Pennsylvania GOP, said the Libertarians got on the ballot by overwhelming the review process that gave limited time for the GOP to review and challenge all signatures.
Hicks pointed to the fact that more than half of the 49,000 signatures originally submitted by the Libertarians were deemed to be invalid during the review process, and that more than 90 percent of all the signatures were from Philadelphia.
“The Libertarians are on the ballot without the full support of the Pennsylvania electorate,” he said. “They had six months to gather these signatures across the commonwealth, and they didn’t.”
A separate challenge to Johnson’s place on the ballot is still pending in the state Supreme Court, with no timetable for a decision. Both sides said that challenge was rendered moot by the Commonwealth Court ruling.
By adding Pennsylvania, Johnson will appear on at least 48 state’s ballots in November.
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein also has qualified for the ballot in Pennsylvania.
Contact Boehm at Eric@PAIndependent.com and follow @PAIndependent on Twitter
Nationwide Gary Johnson Sign-Waving Day (Oct. 17th, All Day)
Look for one in your Area!!!
Shermann
An open letter to Gov. Gary Johnson
http://activist-post-forum.947009.n3.nabble.com/An-open-letter-to-Gov-Gary-Johnson-td4025158.html
Will Kesler
Sir, whereas income tax; rates, loopholes, corporate welfare, class warfare, etc. is the focal point in the national dialogue and since you have vowed to end its tyrannical reign and since your campaign needs a bit of exposure, why not end income tax during the campaign? The greatest October Surprise, ever.
I have publicly refused to file an income tax return for over a decade, justifying my stance in columns published by the Aspen Daily News, Aspen CO and have come to realize that the following letter is the most effective way to slay the monster. Without withholding, income tax is doomed. America would be forever grateful to the Libertarian Party if it simply demanded what the law provides and exposed a government that is profoundly out of control.
Dear IRS,
Whereas the Internal Revenue Code defines a “withholding agent” at IRC 7701(a)(16) which states, “The term ‘withholding agent’ means any person required to deduct and withhold any tax under the provisions of Sections 1441, 1442, 1443 and 1461.” The first three sections apply to nonresident aliens and foreign corporations, while 1461 simply makes the agent responsible for monies collected.
Therefore, as I am neither a nonresident alien nor foreign corporation my employer is not required to withhold income tax from my paycheck and since I no longer choose to volunteer, I submit this letter and demand the appropriate form/ instructions, based on the above definition, i.e. the law, which I can then present to my employer to legally halt having income tax withheld from my paycheck.
Sign, date, witness and be the revolution.
for a concise synopsis
http://www.activistpost.com/2012/01/17-reasons-i-refuse-to-file-income-tax.html
Gov. Jesse Ventura & Gov. Gary Johnson Team Up in Minnesota: The Country Is In Real Trouble (VIDEO)
http://xrepublic.tv/node/580http://xrepublic.tv/node/580
Shermann
If Gary Johnson were up there on the podium we might have a real debate
http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2012/10/if_gary_johnson_were_up_there.html
Over at Taki's blog, Jersey's own Andrew Napolitano has a piece arguing that Gary Johnson should be included in the presidential debates.
That would certainly liven things up.
As I noted in my Thursday column, there are major areas of policy that don't even arise in these debates.
For example, a recent Brookings Poll showed just 22 percent of Americans support arming the Syrian rebels.
Yet the Romney-Ryan ticket is advocating doing just that.
And the Obama-Biden ticket isn't putting up much of an argument against it.
Imagine if Johnson were up there arguing that we should just stop meddling in the Mideast, period. The other two would be tripping over their tongues trying to make a case for why we should stay.
And then there's the economy. Both parties plan debt to the horizon.
Here's what Napolitano has to say on that topic:
Why does the federal government now spend half a trillion a year in debt service? Because every president, Republicans as well as Democrats, from FDR to Obama has borrowed money in order to spend more than he collected and has let future generations deal with repaying the debt. Because the feds do not repay (they merely roll over) their debt, the cost of interest payments has skyrocketed. Romney’s ability to articulate the virtues of the free market and to dance around the issue of debt, while the president nearly fell asleep, are the reasons he did so well in the presidential debate last week.
Exactly. And he wouldn't have done well at all if Johnson had been raising the question Jim Lehrer wouldn't:
Just how long do you plan to continue deficit spending? The Ryan plan calls for more than 20 years of unbalanced budgets. Let Romney defend that.
He doesn't want to. That's why the Republicans are fighting so hard to keep Johnson off the ticket in key states. Fortunately they're failing. Here's a recent release from the Johnson campaign:
Republican President candidate Mitt Romney has likely lost his last hope for a victory in the electoral-rich state of Pennsylvania.
Commonwealth Court Senior Judge James G. Colins ruled late today that the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania has filed nominating petitions containing more than the required 20,601 valid signatures and that the entire slate of statewide Libertarian candidates will remain on the November 6 general election ballot, including Libertarians two-term Governor Gary Johnson for President and Judge Jim Gray for Vice President.
The ruling was a stinging defeat for Republicans who waged a grueling and expensive 9-week battle to force their Libertarian Party competition off the November ballot.
Governor Johnson said, “It is a travesty of the democratic process that Libertarians were required to endure such a drawn-out, expensive and unnecessary attack on their right to be on the ballot. Voters in every state deserve real choices in this election, and it is clear that the Republican Party, not only in Pennsylvania, but in key states across the country, will go to any lengths to keep liberty, nonintervention and smaller government off the ballot.”
That certainly points to the value of Napolitano's conclusion:
Obama is either a Marxist who doesn’t believe in personal freedom or private property, or a nihilist who doesn’t believe in anything except his own ability to exercise governmental power. Romney sounds like another big-government Republican who wants to regulate part of the economy, fight wars on a credit card and let your grandchildren pay for it.
If you want a real debate—one that will explore the proper constitutional role of the federal government in our lives before it gets so big that we cannot safely challenge it—you will be disappointed, unless Gary Johnson is let in
Why Ron Paul Doesn’t Endorse Romney
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/why_ron_paul_doesnt_endorse_mitt_romney_20121012/
At a town hall event in Ohio last month, Rep. Paul Ryan was asked why supporters of Ron Paul — the iconoclastic congressman from Texas — should back this year’s Republican ticket.
Appearing offended by the implication, Ryan scolded: “Do you want Barack Obama to be reelected?” Paul is a actually “friend,” he claimed, and the two are in agreement on key issues.
Baloney. Paul is one of only three GOP House members to not endorse Mitt Romney — and there are several reasons for this.
Leave aside that Paul is a man of deep principle, while Romney appears to have never held a sincere belief in his life. More important are their governing visions, which stand in profound conflict.
Paul was moved to run in the 2008 Republican primary largely out of his disgust with President George W. Bush’s foreign policy. You may recall the preemptive invasion of Iraq?
America’s misadventures abroad, Paul posited, have engendered “blowback” (i.e., anti-American resentment) around the world. This, in turn, has put our security at risk.
His rivals for the nomination were predictably outraged by the suggestion. A bitter Rudy Giuliani recently told me that Paul was intent on “blaming America” for the 9/11 attacks.
Those inclined toward Giuliani’s hardline way of thinking constitute the lion’s share of Romney advisers. Liz Cheney takes part in weekly conference calls with the campaign; former Bush officials and consummate warhawks like John Bolton and Dan Senor are major players.
By voting for Romney, then, Paul supporters would be voting for a return to the same neoconservative philosophy that mired us in the Iraq disaster, costing countless lives and dollars.
President Obama may have authorized a drone war and escalated ground troops in Afghanistan, but at least he has avoided launching another full-scale invasion.
This is not a petty distinction. Romney routinely gives assurances that he’d be far more likely to appease Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has designs to attack Iran — perhaps in the coming months. Paul’s passions seem to be most enlivened by his unflinching opposition to aggressive war; for him, this dark prospect would be a nonstarter.
But the unbridgeable divide between Paul and the GOP is not limited to foreign policy.
Many supporters were first attracted to the congressman for his blunt words on the scourge of drug prohibition. Romney has failed to evince an iota of rationality on this front. In May, he was asked for his view on the legality of medical marijuana. “Aren’t there issues of significance you’d like to talk about?” he rebuffed.
Yes, it is true that under Obama, the Drug Enforcement Administration has continued to raid marijuana distribution facilities, while Marines have been deployed overseas on ill-advised drug interdiction missions.
But it’s equally true that Obama has demonstrated some measure of amenability to reform, at least rhetorically. The famously puritanical Romney would likely bring us back to the era of “Just Say No.”
If Paul supporters still believe their aims can be best advanced vis-à-vis the GOP, they are deluding themselves.
Rather than continue this abusive relationship, they must reevaluate — bearing in mind Paul’s track record of fruitful cooperation with the left, most notably Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Ralph Nader. Ron Paul faithful should thus take a cue from the man himself and reject Paul Ryan’s phony entreaties.
In states like New York, where the outcome is essentially predetermined, they should instead vote for a third-party candidate: Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party, Jill Stein of the Green Party, Rocky Anderson of the Justice Party or Virgil Goode of the Constitution Party.
In states that hang in the balance, such as Ohio, Florida or Virginia, they should pinch their noses and vote for President Obama — even if only to punish Romney, Ryan and the GOP.
Tracey is a journalist based in Brooklyn. He contributes to The Nation, The American Conservative, Salon and other publications.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ron-paul-avoid-mitt-romney-article-1.1181097#ixzz298sDM7bC
Rand Paul coy on presidential bid 4 years from now
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/11/4903931/rand-paul-coy-on-presidential.html
Ron Paul is in such great shape, that I would not be surprised to see him run again in four years...With Rand as VP
Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul is telling reporters that it's "too soon" to say if he'll run for president in four years.
The tea party darling, making his rounds among reporters before Thursday night's vice presidential debate at Centre College in Danville, was asked if he expects to be engaged in a presidential debate in 2016.
Paul, the son of Texas Congressman Ron Paul who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination this year, chuckled. But he didn't rule it out.
The Kentucky eye surgeon from Bowling Green rose from political obscurity to upended Republican and Democratic insiders to win his Senate seat in 2010, largely thanks to a wave of tea party support.
Judge Napolitano: Let Gary Johnson Debate
President Obama has been a failure. On his watch, the American economy has significantly deteriorated largely because he has stifled free market forces by over-regulating them and because he has laden taxpayers with debt. Those two factors alone -- the federal government increasing the cost of doing business by telling businesses from physicians to major industries how to do their work, and the federal government spending trillions it doesn’t have and pushing the debts onto future generations -- are enough to sink any economy.
In this arena, Mitt Romney has it half-right. He does understand that only free market forces can produce prosperity, but he fails to see that when the government spends what it doesn’t have, the result is inflation and higher taxes for future generations.
Why does the federal government now spend half a trillion a year in debt service? Because every president, Republicans as well as Democrats, from FDR to Obama has borrowed money in order to spend more than he collected and has let future generations deal with repaying the debt.Because the feds do not repay (they merely roll over) their debt, the cost of interest payments has skyrocketed. Romney’s ability to articulate the virtues of the free market and to dance around the issue of debt, while the president nearly fell asleep, are the reasons he did so well in the presidential debate last week.
Because Romney and Obama are different only in degree, I wish the cabal of former leaders of the two major political parties that runs the debates would permit former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson to participate.
In the realm of foreign affairs, the president has unleashed a torrent of violence in the Middle East by supporting some of the people his predecessor was fighting a few years ago. Those folks now run the government in Libya and Egypt, and those places are now unsafe for Americans.
What would Romney do? He’d insert the U.S. military to extend American dominance and build a new world order.
What has Obama done? He’s bombed and killed innocents with drones. Neither has learned the lessons of 9/11: You cannot kill people or occupy foreign lands without moral and legal justification, lest you suffer deadly consequences.
Because Romney and Obama are different only in degree, I wish the cabal of former leaders of the two major political parties that runs the debates would permit former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson to participate. He is the Libertarian Party candidate who is on the ballot in all 50 states and the only current national candidate who if elected would shrink the government and keep it within the confines of the Constitution.
Don’t hold your breath.
The debates are crafted by the folks who run the Romney and Obama campaigns. Romney is afraid of Johnson because he might take the votes of those who are tired of unconstitutional government and deficits and war.
Obama is afraid of Johnson because he might take the votes of those who are appalled at the government’s murderous drug wars and its assaults on personal freedom and who also are tired of war. Both sides fear Johnson because he is essentially fearless when it comes to his belief that the Constitution means what it says -- meaning if it does not authorize the feds to regulate health care, fight undeclared wars or mortgage the future, then they simply cannot do it.
But the powers that run the means by which we elect presidents have decided that they can ill-afford a frontal assault on the big government they have created, on national television much less, and four weeks before a presidential election. You see, without Johnson in these debates, the argument will remain how much the feds should regulate, rather than whether they should do so.
I was disappointed but not surprised when Romney defended the concept of the feds regulating ordinary commercial transactions and borrowing money to spend it on things like federal aid to education, rather than defending the free market and the constitutional restraints on the feds.
Obama is either a Marxist who doesn’t believe in personal freedom or private property, or a nihilist who doesn’t believe in anything except his own ability to exercise governmental power.
Romney sounds like another big-government Republican who wants to regulate part of the economy, fight wars on a credit card and let your grandchildren pay for it.
If you want a real debate -- one that will explore the proper constitutional role of the federal government in our lives before it gets so big that we cannot safely challenge it -- you will be disappointed, unless Gary Johnson is let in.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/10/11/let-gary-johnson-debate/#ixzz293BqWCUY
Gary Johnson @ UNM
http://rtr.org/videofeed/bInmA5MhXTg
Shermann
Ron Paul Sparked a Revolution in Election 2012, Now Gary Johnson Will Fulfill It
http://www.policymic.com/articles/16325/ron-paul-sparked-a-revolution-in-election-2012-now-gary-johnson-will-fulfill-it
Vice presidential candidates Joe Biden and Paul Ryan are gearing up for their first and only vice presidential debate on Thursday, looking to help their presidential running mate rise in the polls in the homestretch of the 2012 election. But, there are two additional candidates, who are often overlooked, who may reign on their parade: Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
While neither has a chance at taking national office, both third party candidates could do severe harm to either Romney Ryan or Obama Biden in the polls, much in the same way that Ralph Nader is widely blamed for siphoning voters away from Al Gore in the 2000 election vs. then-candidate George Bush.
Johnson is often left out of national polls, but he is officially on the ballot in 47 states and the District of Columbia, and he's fighting in court to get on the ballot in the remaining three states. Rasmussen polls show that Obama has 48 percent and Romney has 47, but 2 percent of the public remains undecided. Moreover, Johnson held 4 percent of Virginia's vote in an October 7 poll, and may hold up to 10 percent support in the all-important state of Ohio. A new Zogby poll, conducted with the Washington Times, shows that Mitt Romney leads Barack Obama 45.1% to 44.5%. But interestingly, when third party candidates such as Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson are provided as options, Romney actually trails the president 45.5% to 45%.
These polls reveal what Ron Paul supporters have known for quite some time: Libertarians have a real chance to influence the 2012 election, and it's time for the Republican and Democratic parties to take Gary Johnson seriously.
Johnson has until now been denied a role at the presidential debates, and it will almost for sure stay that way, but that doesn't mean he isn't out campaigning hard for his cause while the other candidates debate. On Thursday, while Biden and Ryan spent the day preparing for their showdown in Danville, Kentucky, Johnson rallied young supporters across the state of Virginia. The former New Mexico governor met students at Maggie Walker's Governor's School at 10:00 a.m., after which he hosted a rally at Virginia Commonwealth University at noon.
On Thursday when you watch the presidential debate on Thursday, and examine the polls in the next three weeks leading up to the election, think not only of the two candidates on stage and constantly in the spotlight, but also about the candidate not on stage, who is also likely to impact the outcome of the 2012 election.
An August poll of 13,000 Ron Paul supporters found that 66 percent would vote for Johnson. If that remains the case, then he could be the Ralph Nader of 2012.
Ron Paul and Gary Johnson’s supporters are not a “nonfactor” in this election
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/making-waves-hawaii-perspective-washington-politic/2012/oct/10/more-than-a-nonfactor/
America has fallen a long and terrible way from George Washington’s farewell address in which the first U.S. president warned “I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state … The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.”
Today, petty browbeating and factional elitism in Washington D.C. has replaced George Washington’s spirit of humility and wisdom. We have seen narcissism overtake nationalism and partisanship replace patriotism.
Today, if you don’t identify with the Democrat or Republican parties or don’t want to vote for Mitt Romney or Barack Obama in November, you’re despised as electoral ragamuffin, political flotsam and a “nonfactor” in the pages of history. Now some would call that “pragmatism.” I call it electoral bigotry.
If America’s Founding Fathers could look from the balconies of heaven upon the Great Republic Experiment they birthed, their eyes would be shedding tears upon us like a squall of winter raindrops. The same nation that began with a Declaration of Independence that said “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” now is a nation controlled by politicians who insist they know best for us, that their plans are better than our plans and that all of us must sacrifice our unique values and history so that they can make history.
Like the Bible’s prophet Hosea of ancient antiquity bemoaned, “because your hostility is so great, the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac.” No scholar or expert can have a serious discussion in this country anymore because the agenda setting power rests with people who refuse to accept rebuke from the very people – now awake – that in prior elections were lulled into voting for charlatans in gray suits and maroon ties.
No one can talk about real issues anymore because hyperbole and innuendo are now preferable to salt and light. Any attempt to address America’s debt crisis, her costly and losing commitment to meaningless military engagements abroad and the collapse of our government institutions at home is met with elitist sneers, ridicule and contempt. We are told that others, smarter and more competent know better than us and that we should simply know our place and vote for left or right.
This is a pattern that is happening not just in America, but the world over. If liberty is extinguished here in America, there is no other place for Americans to flee to or seek refuge in. Nigel Farage, a UKIP MEP, speaking of Europe’s bureaucratization warned of what he calls a “moral mutation” and says of the EU, “Money from taxpayers and consumers is channeled, by this system, into those parts of the civil infrastructure, which support the incumbent parties and for the last few decades, have ensured that these parties remain collectively in power and that they resolutely continue with the work of removing from society all concept of moral value, other than that defined by themselves.”
We would be wise to take heed to those words and to ensure that America does not fall into that same moral mutation, though she is already showing signs of massive political and social metastasis.
Now consider this: Gary Johnson and Ron Paul both are men whose movements have attracted people who are sick and tired of being sick and tired. They are people who are increasingly less interested in left and right and more concerned about right and wrong. For them, this election is a referendum not on personalities but on paradigms. They are tired of explanations, tired of excuses and tired of waiting for a false political tagline salvation that never comes.
There is good reason not to vote for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney. On my ballot, I have a third party choice and I will vote for it. I am a Libertarian, and for president I am voting Libertarian! It has nothing to do with irrational disdain for either candidate and more to do with choosing to say that America needs to know that there are people who do not agree with the two parties and refuse – politely, yet firmly – to be peer pressured into voting for platforms and presidential candidates that do not represent their view of a government “as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Contrary to what you have been told, a third party vote isn’t a vote for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney. It’s a vote for a future that though delayed today cannot be denied tomorrow if enough people have the faith to pursue it. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith calls those things which are not as though they are until they are. And in this election, there are those of us who will choose the third choice because we choose to believe in an America so much better than what we've been offered by the two party system.
Change begins with a courageous choice. You've heard it before: what is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right. Do not be moved by peer pressure or intellectual intimidation. The two parties may revel and glory that they hold majority today, but remember you still hold the vote. And as Shakespeare wrote, “Glory is like a circle in the water, which never ceaseth to enlarge itself, till, by broad spreading, it disperse to naught.”
Some of you reading this may be Republican. Then vote Republican. Some of you may be Democrats. Then vote Democrat. Good for you. But others of you are Americans commited only to the labels of liberty and justice for all, and to you I say this:
Your vote counts. Your opinion matters. If your heart feels led to vote third party, know that a vote for a third party is never a wasted vote, and this is your time to choose!
Johnson makes case for Ron Paul supporters to vote for him in general election (VIDEO)
Gary Johnson on Sean Hannity
http://rtr.org/vid/3126
Shermann
Ron Paul: The Campaign Continues! We Must Stop the Enemies of Liberty! (VIDEO)
http://www.ronpaul.com/2012-10-04/ron-paul-the-campaign-continues-we-must-stop-the-enemies-of-liberty/
Shermann
Ron Paul hints that he’s voting for Gary Johnson
http://www.unitedliberty.org/articles/11464-ron-paul-hints-that-hes-voting-for-gary-johnson
It’s no surprise that Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), who is retiring from elected office at the beginning of the year, isn’t a fan of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. The two seemed friendly during the race for the GOP nomination as Paul defended Romney when other candidates were attacking his tenure at Bain Capital. There was even speculation that a deal was in the works between the two campaigns.
While his son, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), endorsed Romney, the elder Paul made it clear during the summer that he was unlikely to do the same. The treatment endured by Paul supporters at the Republican National Conventon may have sent Paul over the edge, as he recently hinted that he may vote for Gary Johnson, via Buzz Feed:
In a Fox Business interview Wednesday, Rep. Ron Paul refused to say who he was planning on voting for — but ruled out voting for Mitt Romney or President Obama, leaving only one plausible option.
“I obviously haven’t announced in support for Romney, so that means that’s very unlikely,” Paul said. “And I don’t think anybody think’s I’m going to vote for Obama. So it’s back to that frustration level in not seeing a dramatic choice in how the system works.”
“Tonight there’s a debate going on,” Paul said. “And if you come to the conclusion that the candidates aren’t all that different, why do we have to just listen to two of them?”
“There are other people who are technically capable of winning because they’re on a lot of ballots,” Paul said, to which his interviewer said “Like Gary Johnson, for example.”
You can watch the interview here. It should be noted, as BuzzFeed points out, that Paul hasn’t confirmed anything, at least as of Friday.
A couple of things about this. If Paul, who ran as the Libertarian Party’s nominee in 1988, were to endorse Johnson, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s backed a third-party bid. In 2008, Paul endorsed Constitution Party nominee Chuck Baldwin.
On the other hand, if Paul does really intend to vote for Johnson, and express that sentiment publicly, the younger Paul could be put in the doghouse by figures in the conservative movement and Republican leaders in the Senate. That is a troubling prospect, not just for Ron Paul supporters and the Campaign for Liberty crowd, but also the broader Tea Party movement.
How Ron Paul and Gary Johnson can fight for the Constitution
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/forbidden-table-talk/2012/oct/8/how-ron-paul-and-gary-johnson-can-fight-constituti/
I’ll never forget the old Laurel and Hardy movie, in which those two lovable buffoons were ordering dessert in a restaurant.
“What kind of ice cream do you have?” asked Stanley, the slimmer, dopier one.
The waiter replied, “We have pistachio or vanilla.”
With a gleeful, child like enthusiasm, Stanley said, “I’ll take chocolate.”
Life can be that way at times. Much as we’d like to believe we can have it all, much as we think we’re entitled to unlimited choices, the list is not always as big as Ben and Jerry’s. Many assume, as Stanley did, that because they like chocolate, the restaurant must offer chocolate. Indeed, we can be in so much denial, that we do not even hear the waiter. But deep preference will not miraculously turn two flavors into three.
While this observation may be obvious while discussing dessert, it hides more easily when strong convictions collide with political reality. Many Libertarians and Conservatives are standing by Ron Paul and Gary Johnson because they see little difference between Obama and Romney. They are mistaken. There may be reason to conclude that neither choice is ideal, but anyone who sees no difference at all must have been asleep during last week’s debate.
Be that as it may, former Republican Governor Gary Johnson is running as a third party candidate and Ron Paul fans offer a strong write-in campaign as an alternative to the Republican and Democratic nominations. Congressman Paul has not commented on this development one way or the other but inasmuch as he never endorsed Romney at the GOP convention, we can conclude that the write-in movement does not upset him.
Most conservatives, while disagreeing with Paul on foreign policy, still admire his domestic viewpoints and honest adherence to our Constitution’s original intent. They are still concerned about Ron Paul votes ruining November’s outcome.
Many modern elections have had third party choices and write-in campaigns which made little more difference to the outcome than a toy poodle attacking a German Sheppard. But most of those candidates did not share the popularity of Ron Paul. Even a less popular figure could affect an election this close. According to the latest Rasmussen Poll (Monday, October 8, 2012) Romney and Obama are tied at 48 percent, which means Romney’s bump from last week’s debate has already been sanded down. Therefore, a split anti-Obama vote could prove lethal, even if only a sliver is shaven off. Add in Gary Johnson, whose name is already written on the ballot in 47 states along with Washington D.C., and we might just witness a majority of voters rejecting Obama, yet handing him the election at the same time.
Paul and Johnson are painfully aware of this potential outcome. Johnson talks as if the problem is found exclusively in the Ron Paul write-in movement which he says ‘will effectively be meaningless’” (Politico, 9-26-12).
I have news for you, Gary. Your own campaign is just as meaningless, unless your objective is to keep Barack Obama in office.
Ironically, while Paul’s supporters vow to write in his name, Paul himself has dropped a hint that he may vote for Johnson.
“There are other people who are technically capable of winning because they’re on a lot of ballots,” Paul said (Fox Business, 9-3-10).
But neither the Libertarian ballot box nor the write-in protest vote will provide a victory to either gentleman. It’s high time Paul and Johnson admit that the very constitution they so passionately defend may not be worth the paper it is printed on if their loitering helps Obama’s re-election.
Much can happen in four years. For proof, look back at the last four years. Obama’s contempt for our founding document has already been demonstrated with an end run around welfare and immigration laws passed or upheld by the other branches of government. Regardless of how one feels about those issues specifically, the process itself is chilling: Our president stretches the limits of Executive Order and rules by fiat. Any man willing to do this while running for re-election might just be unstoppable if he’s awarded a second term. Even so, Obama will have an opportunity to appoint additional judges who view the Constitution as a “living breathing document.” If Ron Paul and Gary Johnson are truly concerned about our constitution, there can be only one course of action: Johnson needs to drop out of the race. Paul needs to bury the hatchet with the GOP regardless of how he feels he was treated at the convention. He must discourage the write-in campaign and publically announce that he will vote for Romney instead of casting a worthless protest vote for Johnson. Any other decision could be fatal for our nation. A second term of Obama may just end any honest application of the Constitution once and for all. How sad if these “champions of the Constitution” help to make this happen. The moment of truth has arrived. Are Ron Paul and Gary Johnson concerned about the freedom of our Republic or the inflation of their own egos?
But these candidates aren’t the only ones responsible for soul searching. So are their fans. Disenchanted with both Romney and Obama, many are eager to exhibit their disdain. This is understandable. There is nothing wrong with protests. People should use their First Amendment freedom to express themselves loudly and clearly. But while doing so, they must also preserve this same First Amendment. That can only be done with a reality check: In the voting booth, we do not find an endless supply of life changing choices. Any political system is a flawed system. The opportunity to make our world perfect will not present itself in November.
It always sounds righteous to reject “the lesser of two evils” but it’s still preferable to the GREATER of two evils. Sorry, Stanley, much as you might love chocolate, the choice is pistachio or vanilla.
Bob Siegel is a weekend radio talk show host on KCBQ and columnist. Details of his show can be found at www.bobsiegel.net.
Read more: How Ron Paul and Gary Johnson can fight for the Constitution | Washington Times Communities
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A Vote For Gary Johnson is NOT WASTED!
http://xrepublic.tv/node/513
Shermann
Gary Johnson – Legalizing Marijuana: Most Americans Get It, So When Will Our Politicians?
http://libertycrier.com/politics/gary-johnson-legalizing-marijuana-most-americans-get-it-so-when-will-our-politicians/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Teaparty07+%28TeaParty07%29
Prohibition in the US was a huge, miserable failure. During its 13-year run, beginning in 1920, Prohibition caused a massive rise in organized crime and actually increased alcohol consumption instead of curtail it.
After Prohibition's repeal in 1933, kids didn't start drinking in record numbers. Society didn't collapse. Today, bathtub gin dealers don't run amok on playgrounds; microbreweries don't protect their turf with automatic weapons. Instead, a safe environment to drink was created when the government began regulating and taxing alcohol.
And yet, here we are in 2012, giving Prohibition another shot. For lack of a better word, that's just stupid.
Today, instead of alcohol prohibition, we've got the government's harmful attempt to prohibit marijuana use. With record federal deficits and states teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, why do we insist on dumping billions of tax dollars into another failed prohibition that is accomplishing nothing other than making criminals out of millions of regular citizens and fueling drug cartels that threaten our security?
Last year, 800,000 people were arrested in the United States for crimes associated with marijuana – and marijuana alone. It's insane to arrest people for choosing to use a natural substance that is, by any objective standard, less harmful than alcohol, a drug that is advertised at every major sporting event. Think of the strain and costs to our law enforcement, court system and prisons. And for what? Is marijuana use decreasing? No. Are cartels any less powerful and violent? I'm afraid not. Is pot difficult for minors to obtain? Nope. In fact, when polled, kids say it's easier to get marijuana than it is to get alcohol. Why? It's simple. Black market dealers don't ID.
And yet we go around and around … trying the same methods and always getting the same terrible results. Isn't it time to try something different?
In 1999, when I was governor of New Mexico, I began advocating for marijuana legalization. At the time, there were precious few high-ranking elected officials willing to stick out their necks for this issue. It was considered political suicide.
Today, polls in the US show that at least 50% of Americans are now open to the idea or fully supportive of legalizing marijuana. My experience is that, the more people look at the drug issue, the more they recognize that the "war on drugs" is a dismal and expensive failure. It's costing more than an absurd sum of money; it's costing people their future.
In the US, 100 million people have themselves violated our drug laws at some time or another. In fact, President Obama has readily admitted his own youthful drug use. Had he been caught and arrested, would he be president today? How many promising young people's lives and ambitions are being derailed by senseless drug laws?
This November, voters in several states will have the opportunity to vote on marijuana legalization and medical marijuana laws. I hope the citizens of these states will carefully consider these initiatives. Once they do, I'm confident they'll give them their full support. They just make too much sense. And as more states begin to align their laws with common sense and reality, it is inevitable that the federal government will eventually follow.
I strongly believe the tide is turning on this issue, and it's because of education and thoughtful discussion. The more we learn about marijuana and our federal government's futile and ill-advised attempt to prohibit it, the more the solution becomes clear. America will be better-off when marijuana is managed like alcohol and tobacco. Our border with Mexico will be safer, and addiction will at last be treated as the health concern it is, rather than as a criminal justice issue.
It's truly unfortunate that President Obama doesn't see what's coming. Not only does he refuse to acknowledge the support this issue is gaining, more shockingly, he has blatantly gone back on his promise to allow states to administer their own marijuana laws. The Obama administration has shut down hundreds of state-legal medical marijuana dispensaries and is currently threatening to shut down many more.
It's odd: when it comes to marriage rights, President Obama is quick to cede the federal government's power to the states. But when it comes to states deciding for themselves how best to tackle the marijuana issue, Obama steps right in and insists that the federal government knows best.
I am confident American voters this November will send a signal that the time is long past that we stop putting people behind bars and forever labeling them as criminals for behavior that is personal, private, and no more "criminal" than drinking alcohol or taking legal pain medicine.
When that signal is sent, perhaps we can put an end to modern-day Prohibition, just as we did nearly 80 years ago.
Gary Johnson Explains The Libertarian Presidential Platform To C-SPAN Callers (VIDEO)
Gary Johnson – Ron Paul Revolutionary (VIDEO)
http://libertycrier.com/politics/gary-johnson-ron-paul-revolutionary/
As a two-term Republican Governor, Gary Johnson endorsed Libertarian Ron Paul in 2008 and was the only candidate to answer the question about a running-mate in the Fox/Google debate of 2012. He said Ron Paul without hesitation. What Ron Paul started will never fade because Ron Paul is right. We the people will end the wars, abolish the IRS, audit the Fed, balance the budget, stop the spending and end the war on drugs. LIVE FREE.
Listen to Third-Party Candidates: This is What Democracy Sounds Like
by Amy Goodman
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/10/06-5
A few miles south of the campus arena in the Mile High City where Barack Obama and Mitt Romney met in their first debate, "Democracy Now!" news hour broke the sound barrier by expanding their gated debate to include two third-party presidential candidates. Dr. Jill Stein, of the Green Party, and Rocky Anderson, of the Justice Party, responded to the same questions put to the major-party candidates, in real time, from their own podiums a little ways down the road. The goal was to open the forum, to bring out voices that are ignored or marginalized by the mainstream media. (Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson was also invited to participate, but declined.)
President Obama made a good point in late 2011, when he told "60 Minutes," "Don't judge me against the Almighty; judge me against the alternative." If only the public had a full range of alternatives against which to judge. In fact, most people do. They just don't know it. The reason they don't know it is because the media don't report on third-party politics or campaigns. These campaigns also lack the funds to purchase television airtime, or to compete against the Democratic and Republican campaign fundraising juggernauts. This leads to less diversity of voices, and far fewer alternatives on the ballot.
It hasn't always been this way. In 1980, the League of Women Voters ran the debates, and independent presidential candidate John B. Anderson was allowed to participate (President Jimmy Carter opposed his participation and boycotted the event). In 1992, billionaire Ross Perot used his personal funds to overcome the media blockade of his presidential campaign. His successful debate performance temporarily propelled him ahead of both Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush in the polls.
Since then, no third-party candidate has been allowed into the presidential debates. The debates are run by the Commission on Presidential Debates, an organization described by George Farah, founder and executive director of Open Debates, as "a private corporation financed by Anheuser-Busch and other major companies, that was created by the Republican and Democratic parties to seize control of the presidential debates from the League of Women Voters."
Farah told me that in 1988, "you have the Michael Dukakis and the George Bush campaigns drafting the first-ever 12-page secret debate contract. They gave it to the League of Women Voters and said please implement this. The league said, Are you kidding me? We are not going to implement a secret contract that dictates the terms of the format. Instead, they release the contract to the public and they held a press conference accusing the candidates of 'perpetrating a fraud on the American people' and refusing to be 'an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American people.' "
The Democratic and Republican parties wrested control of the debates from the League of Women Voters, and have controlled them since.
"Democracy Now!" brought Stein and Anderson to a television studio in Littleton. After each response from President Obama and Mitt Romney to moderator Jim Lehrer's questions, we paused the tape, allowing Stein and Anderson to answer as well. What they said stood in stark contrast to the barbs traded inside the heavily secured debate arena.
For example, on health care, former Salt Lake City Mayor Anderson said: "We're talking here about Obamacare and Romneycare. I would call it insurance companycare because they're the ones who wrote it. They joined up with a very conservative foundation years ago to develop this plan, to make the American people buy this perverse product."
The Green Party's Stein, a medical doctor from Massachusetts, said: "Under the Obama White House, which basically codified the violations of George Bush, the attacks on our privacy rights, on First Amendment rights, the criminalization of the right to protest ... things are not working under Democrats, under Republicans alike. We need a government that is of, by, and for the people, not sponsored and working for big money."
Robust debate on the critical issues of the day only strengthens democracy. As the Democrats and Republicans raise and spend unprecedented sums of campaign cash, "Democracy Now!" will continue to make additional voices heard. This is what democracy sounds like. Open the debates.
© 2012 The Capital Times
Amy Goodman is the host of "Democracy Now!," a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on 900 stations in North America. She was awarded the 2008 Right Livelihood Award, dubbed the “Alternative Nobel” prize, and received the award in the Swedish Parliament in December.
[VIDEO] Jack Hunter: Romney Should Veer Towards Libertarianism
http://www.campusreform.org/blog/?ID=4417
Conservative pundit Jack Hunter told LI's Campus Reform on Wednesday he thinks Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney should follow the example of libertarian members of Congress Rep. Ron and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Texas, Ky.)
“Romney could learn a few things from guys like Ron Paul, or Rand Paul, or Senator Jim DeMint, [who are] to me, people who are conservatives who have always got it and know that we need to go in the opposite direction as far as getting rid of our debt and reducing the size of government,” said Hunter in an interview in the Campus Reform studios on Wednesday.
Speaking the morning before President Obama and Romney were set to spar in their first presidential debate, Hunter suggested he saw little difference between many of the candidates positions.
“What we’re seeing even with Romney and Obama is that they don’t really disagree on very much at the end of the day,” said Hunter.
Hunter also responded to remarks former Secretary of State Rumsfeld made to LI's Campus Reform last month in which he seemed to disparage the libertarian view of foreign policy.
At the time, Rumsfeld contended “There is a lot of appeal in the libertarian movement, in the country, and as I say a number of things I find that I agree with.” Rumsfeld continued “[T]he non-interventionist aspect of it, the idea that we can sit here with two big oceans like we were able to do in the 1700's and the 1800's I think is not realistic.”
Hunter remarked "That sort of neoconservative hawkish view [of foreign policy] which is really liberalism passed off as conservatism is horribly, horribly, naive."
Hunter also suggested it is impossible to export democracy.
“You can’t give [the world] democracy, they have to fight for it themselves,” he argued. "We involve ourselves around the world to our own detriment. We involve ourselves there financially, militarily, and it hurts us."
In any case, Hunter said he sees a bright future for the libertarian movement.
“The Liberty Movement itself is, I think, probably one of the most transformative and revolutionary forces in American politics right now, in the sense that [all] we have is a left and right that accept the status quo,” he concluded.
Ben Swann One on One with Gary Johnson (VIDEO)
http://libertycrier.com/politics/ben-swann-one-on-one-with-gary-johnson/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Teaparty07+%28TeaParty07%29
Shermann
Gary Johnson Campaign Says PA Republicans Used “Watergate-Style Dirty Tricks”
http://libertycrier.com/politics/gary-johnson-campaign-says-pa-republicans-used-watergate-style-dirty-tricks/?utm_source=The+Liberty+Crier&utm_campaign=8fd4c339c8-The_Liberty_Crier_Daily_News10_5_2012&utm_medium=email
An attorney for Libertarian Gary Johnson’s presidential campaign is accusing a private investigator hired by the Pa. Republican party of “Watergate-style dirty tricks,” related to a recent ballot challenge.
In a letter to Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams obtained by PoliticsPA, Johnson General Counsel Alicia Dearn alleges that an agent of the PAGOP posed as an law enforcement official and attempted to bribe or intimidate witnesses.
“This information warrants serious investigation because the reported acts constitute felonies and show a scandalous level of illegal activity by the Pennsylvania Republican Party, if any of them are proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” wrote Dearn, an attorney based in California.
Each of half a dozen witnesses, Dearn wrote, was approached by a man showing a badge and “giving the implied or express impression” that he was an FBI agent. He allegedly sought to pressure the circulators into testifying that they had falsified signatures on Johnson’s behalf.
The PAGOP helped to coordinate the challenge of tens of thousands of petition signatures in an effort to disqualify Johnson, the former Governor of New Mexico, from the presidential ballot in Pa. A judge ruled 3 weeks ago that enough of Johnson’s petitions are valid and he will remain on the ballot; the matter has been appealed.
Johnson’s campaign hired a firm to collect the necessary signatures. During the course of his investigation, Dearn alleges, Reynold Selvaggio, a New Jersey PI hired by the Pa. GOP sought to intimidate those hired petition circulators.
“This man, identified by some of the witnesses as Reynold Selvaggio, offered petitioners money (the sum reported by most witnesses was $2000) and other benefits to testify that they had falsified signatures. He also threatened the petitioners with prosecution if they did not testify to falsifying signatures,” wrote Dearn. A list of specific witness accounts is included in her letter (full copy below).
She said the she, as well as several of the witnesses she cites in her letter, are willing to participate in an investigation.
Selvaggio testified in court on behalf of the Pa. Republican Party during the Johnson hearing. PoliticsPA is seeking comment from him, as well as the PAGOP.
Here is Dearn’s full letter:
Gary Johnson on Fox Business: First Debate Misses Key Campaign Issues (VIDEO)
http://libertycrier.com/politics/gary-johnson-on-fox-business-first-debate-misses-key-campaign-issues/?utm_source=The+Liberty+Crier&utm_campaign=8fd4c339c8-The_Liberty_Crier_Daily_News10_5_2012&utm_medium=email
Shermann
An Idea For Gary Johnson RE: The Presidential Debates
By Trevor Lyman | Trevor Lyman is a political activist and founder of LibertyCrier.com. During the 2008 Ron Paul Presidential campaign Trevor was the lead organizer of the first Ron Paul moneybombs (of Nov. 5th, and Dec. 16th, 2007) and of the Ron Paul Blimp project.
http://libertycrier.com/politics/an-idea-for-gary-johnson-re-the-presidential-debates/?utm_source=The+Liberty+Crier&utm_campaign=8fd4c339c8-The_Liberty_Crier_Daily_News10_5_2012&utm_medium=email
Gary Johnson needs a well produced video that includes his responses to last night’s debate questions.
With a re-cut version of the debates in hand, and with the help of the campaign, we could embark on a “liberty-movement-wide” PR blitz, telling all our friends and family that there is in fact a viable alternative to Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, and that Gary Johnson should be included in the debates!
Given the right video, it is very possible we could get more people to see the debate with Gary Johnson than the number of people who saw the debate without him.
And let’s not forget there are several debates coming up that we can take advantage of in the same way.
If you would like to see a professionally packaged video of Gary’s responses to the debate then please let him know by signing the petition below.
Messengers for Liberty – Episode 3 VIDEO
“Messengers for Liberty” is a six hour documentary series about the grassroots liberty movement growing in America today. Learn why these grassroots patriots are speaking out and why liberty has transformed their lives. Join us on this documentary journey to explore these founding principles that once made America free and prosperous.
http://libertycrier.com/front-page/messengers-for-liberty-episode-3/?utm_source=The+Liberty+Crier&utm_campaign=8fd4c339c8-The_Liberty_Crier_Daily_News10_5_2012&utm_medium=email
Shermann
Libertarian candidate makes push for Nevada’s Ron Paul supporters
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/oct/05/libertarian-candidate-makes-push-nevadas-ron-paul-/
When the election is this near and polls are this close, it often seems like any soft breeze could tip the scales in favor of one presidential candidate or the other.
Such as a bad jobs report. Or a good debate performance.
Or a third party candidate.
Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party’s pick for 2012, hasn’t gained as much recognition as his third-party predecessors.
He hasn’t been invited to participate in the debates, as Ross Perot was in 1992. He hasn’t yet captured as many headlines as did the 2000 cycle’s Ralph Nader, whose 90,000 votes in Florida tipped the scales out of former vice president Al Gore’s favor enough that George W. Bush was eventually awarded the state’s electoral votes and became president.
Despite that, Johnson’s campaign, and the Libertarian Party backing him, consider Johnson to be a more serious candidate than any of his predecessors.
“Gov. Johnson is the most qualified person to be president of the United States that I know of,” Judge Jim Gray, Johnson’s running mate, said in an interview with the Sun on Thursday. “As he has said: We will run to win.”
But, as Gray and members of the Libertarian Party readily admit, their real goal is a far more modest showing that won’t get Johnson anywhere near the White House. Still, the very fact he’s on the ballot could potentially keep one of the two frontrunner candidates from getting in.
“In a close race, can he be the spoiler? Certainly he can be the spoiler,” said Jennifer Duffy, senior editor with the Cook Political Report. “In a really close race, a third candidate who gets 2 percent can make a difference.”
The Johnson camp’s goal is actually 5 percent, that being the performance threshold necessary to get public funding in 2016.
“Academic polls are showing the governor between 5 and 6.5 percent, so that’s where we are now,” Campaign Manager Ron Nielsen said in an interview Thursday, adding that he expected the turnout for Johnson in Nevada to be higher. “What we’re presenting is an opportunity for voters to make a choice. And we say it’s the best choice. ... If the notion comes up that Gary Johnson is a spoiler, then so be it. People have the right to make a decision.”
“If we just get 5 percent of the vote nationwide, it will be historic,” Gray said. “It will be the beginning of the end of the two-party system.”
To reach that goal, his campaign is doing everything they can to promote Johnson on a limited budget — the campaign has less than $2 million in total reported receipts — and almost no airtime.
But with his name recognition still relatively low, it’s clear that his campaign staffers are promoting the negative aspects of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney to rustle up the protest vote.
“It is a protest we’re encouraging: We’re protesting the two-party system,” Nielsen said. “We’re protesting the same versus the same, and we’re offering something different.”
Johnson’s showing in Nevada — where the presidential race remains tight — depends on how many voters decide they want to cast a protest vote and, of those, how many of them decide to choose Johnson as their protest selection.
Nevada has its fair share of disaffected voters this year, especially in the Republican Party.
“Nevada’s a very unique situation. ... I think we’ll have a huge faction of people that are GOPers on the Ron Paul side who want to see the revolution continue with Gary Johnson,” said Brett Pojunis, a national committee member with the Libertarian Party who is based in Nevada and is supporting Johnson. “Gary in the campaign has spent a tremendous amount of time, effort, resources and money developing a message specifically for the Ron Paulers, and that message is: ‘If you loved Ron Paul, you’re going to love Gary Johnson.’”
Pojunis rattled off several points of Johnson’s platform that matched up with Paul’s. They’re both anti-war, pro-small government and in favor of ending the Fed. It’s a message Johnson has been taking directly to the Ron Paul supporters for months, even appearing at a rally of the Paul faithful in Tampa to ask for their support.
“(Ron Paul’s) supporters are coming to us because we have one enormous benefit and quality that Dr. Paul does not: We will be on the ballot in November, and he will not be,” Gray said.
That message is swaying some Paul followers, but not with the same against-all-odds gusto they exhibited for Paul.
“My vote is about 98 percent cast in stone for Gary Johnson,” said Cynthia Kennedy, a Paul supporter from Las Vegas and one of the Nevada delegates to the Republican National Convention who broke their obligation to vote for Romney in Tampa, Fla., in favor of Paul. “But who knows? At the last minute, something might happen and Obama makes a terrible decision — if he’s leading in the polls and it’s absolutely imperative to get him out of there, I might change my mind.
“But Romney seems to be doing okay without my vote,” she hastily added.
“I think (Johnson’s) a much better candidate than Romney or Obama ... and I may vote for him. But I’m not supporting him or endorsing him; I’m not actually going out and hustling up votes for him,” said Jim Ayala of Henderson, who also was an RNC delegate who switched from Romney to Paul. “I probably agree with maybe 80 percent of the stuff Gary Johnson talks about. But I see Rand Paul as a much more viable collector of the Paul support. ... He probably agrees with his father on 90 percent of the issues.”
Johnson already has vowed that he would remain the Libertarian Party’s candidate through the 2012 cycle and run again in 2016 — when most Paul supporters are expecting that their former leader’s son Rand, currently serving as a U.S. senator from Kentucky, will pick up the mantle of the movement his father inspired and possibly run for president.
“It’s tough to go with a guy like Gary Johnson knowing that it’s going nowhere,” said Carl Bunce, Paul’s former state campaign director, who said he would not be shifting his loyalties. “I think (Johnson’s) a good asset for the libertarian mindset, movement, argument, but I don’t think he’ll have a huge effect from Nevada, as far as pulling voters from Republicans.”
In Nevada, Johnson isn’t the only option to register one’s displeasure with the two big-party candidates on offer. There’s also the option to vote “none of these candidates.”
“None of the above — I think that might be more of a factor than Gary Johnson, actually,” Bunce said.
But it’s difficult to know for sure. There hasn’t been much reliable polling in Nevada that takes Johnson’s candidacy or the none of the above option into account, Duffy said.
Paul’s supporters drew a lot of attention during the Republican primary season, but in the end, they didn’t turn out that many votes: Paul drew only 6,175 to the state caucuses out of a total 32,894 voters.
“In the presidential election, there’s going to be what — 800,000 voting here? It’s a very small fraction of the total,” said David Damore, professor of political science at UNLV. “In Nevada, some folks pride themselves of that libertarian mindset, so it is better territory for (Johnson) than a lot of places. But it’s still at the margin.”
The numbers are slightly better when one looks to registered Libertarian voters, who number just shy of 8,000 statewide, according to the Nevada secretary of state’s official count from September 2012.
Pojunis and other Libertarians plan to use the Johnson campaign to grow those numbers: On Monday, the Libertarian Party will launch a three-week long “Double the LP” drive to promote Johnson and double their dues-paying membership, a campaign that will culminate on Oct. 26 with a party in Las Vegas featuring Johnson and Gray.
But whether that will generate enough energy around the campaign to put Johnson over the turnout top isn’t clear.
Thus far, Johnson has attracted only modest crowds, such as the 300 who turned out to hear him speak at UNLV last week — and that’s the Libertarian Party’s estimate. Campaign officials did not share formal estimates of anticipated attendance for a series of events Gray plans to hold in and around Las Vegas on Friday.
In an interview, Gray was particularly optimistic about his chances of winning over the local electorate, from all parts of the political spectrum.
“In Nevada, there’s such disenchantment: Most people figuring on putting an ‘X’ by Obama’s name are just voting against Romney, and most people putting an ‘X’ by Romney’s name are just voting against Obama,” he said. “We are coming at Obama from the left ... and we’re coming at Romney from the right.
“We’ve approached the Tea Party ... and we’re in line with the Occupy movement. We are in the middle where neither Buchanan nor Ralph Nader were. We apply across the board. We are classic liberals and classic conservatives. ... We are refreshing.”
But in this election climate, a refreshing alternative may not be enough to get voters up and to the polls — even if they are fed up with their standard choices.
“Romney or Obama ... a lot of time voters just can’t stomach voting for either of them,” Duffy said. “But they still don’t want to be the spoiler."
Gary Johnson Responds to Questions of the Debate From Which He Was Excluded
http://xrepublic.tv/node/469
Shermann
An Email from Gary Johnson on the Debates...
Friends,
Last night, there was one candidate for president whose followers on Twitter increased by 7,000.
There was one candidate who had so many people trying to watch him that it overloaded Google+.
One candidate didn’t have to try to explain his plan for government-run health care – because he doesn’t have one, and never had one. He doesn’t think government should even try to run health care. If you agree, go to www.garyjohnson2012.com right now and show your support.
There was even a candidate who didn’t claim he would balance the budget without cutting Medicare spending or reducing federal education dollars. He was the candidate actually telling the truth.
And that same candidate for president didn’t dance around questions about taxes. He’s the only candidate who isn’t afraid to offend the beneficiaries of crony capitalism and the tax code it loves.
The candidate who WON last night was Gov. Gary Johnson – and he wasn’t even allowed on the stage. He wasn’t allowed on the stage for the very same reason that he won. He told the truth, and the Republicans and Democrats didn’t want any truth being told on the stage they had bought and paid for. Truth hurts when you’ve presided over too many wars we don’t need to fight, racking up a $16 trillion debt, and putting millions of Americans out of work. But if you agree that the truth needs to be heard, go to www.garyjohnson2012.com and help America hear it!
We’re still fighting to get Gov. Johnson the podium he deserves for the next debates. Three sponsors of the debates have already pulled out after hearing from tens of thousands of Americans who have finally figured out the system is rigged – and we’re just getting started.
But in the meantime, Gov. Johnson will NOT be silenced. Last night, tens of thousands of people watched his on-line commentary and responses as Barack Obama and Mitt Romney nibbled around the edges of problems that must be devoured. And even the media is paying attention. Since yesterday, Larry King, Fox Business, Alex Jones and even Mike Huckabee have given Gov. Johnson the chance to speak that the so-called Debate Commission refuses to give him.
Liberty, truth, and bold ideas add up to a message that can’t be silenced forever. But it is a message that needs your help now in order to make a real difference in November. Please go to www.garyjohnson2012.com today and make a contribution that will broadcast the truths the Republicans and Democrats don’t want America to hear.
We are on the move and climbing fast. Don’t let our momentum fade. Your contribution will keep us on the path to making history in 33 days.
Thank you.
Ron Nielson
Senior Advisor / Campaign Manager
Governor Gary Johnson
Watch Gary Johnson's Debate Commentary LIVE
http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/
Shermann
Alan Keyes points out the idiocy of the lesser of two evils argument (VIDEO)
http://xrepublic.tv/node/455
Shermann
Gary Johnson ~ I'm Not The 3rd Choice I'm The ONLY Choice! (VIDEO)
http://xrepublic.tv/node/460
Shermann
Gary Johnson Presidential Debate: Ron Paul Alternative to Tweet During Obama Romney Debate (VIDEOS Inside)
http://www.policymic.com/articles/15773/gary-johnson-presidential-debate-ron-paul-alternative-to-tweet-during-obama-romney-debate
During Wednesday's first presidential debate in Denver, Colorado between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson, who was shut out of tonight's debate, will provide live online reactions. Johnson became the preferred choice of the Liberty Movement after Ron Paul declined to run on a third-party ticket after being defeated by Romney for the Republican nomination. The former New Mexico governor said he will offer commentary during tonight's debate via Twitter and other new media, after a lawsuit he filed to include him in the debates failed. Whether he will do any additional crowd-surfing during his campaign remains to be seen:
4:42pm: Here's 1988 Libertarian Party nominee Ron Paul (you might have heard of him), speaking back then on a libertarian presidency. It pretty much all still applies today:
4:25pm: So far, two debate sponsors have withdrawn from the first presidential debate to protest Johnson's exclusion from it. The Philips Corporation and the YWCA dropped their sponsorship after being indundated with emails and phone calls from Johnson supporters, reports U.S. News.
4:06pm: Are you going?
PolicyMic will be covering Johnson's reactions live, as well as provide third-party insight on tonight's debate, which features only the Democratic and Republican nominees. The Commission on Presidential Debates, which organizes them, requires that presidential candidates poll at a minimum of 15% in a major national poll as a condition for inclusion in debates. This is an enormously high barrier for third parties, which are already at a major disadvantage when it comes to press coverage.
In addition to Johnson, other candidates include Green Party nominee Jill Stein, who ran unsuccessfully against Romney in the 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial race, and Constitution Party nominee Virgil Goode, a former Republican Congressman for Virginia 5th district. Goode was almost booted from Virginia's state ballot after state Republican Party of Virginia, which is concerned that Goode will siphon votes from Romney in this crucial swing state, challenged the legitimacy of the petition Goode's campaign submitted to the Virginia State Board of Elections. But Goode will remain on the ballot after Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's office found nothing that would justify Goode's being kept off the ticket. At last check, the conservative Goode was polling around 2% — an insignificant number for him, but one that could loom large for Romney in a state where he just so happens to trail Obama by 2%, according to the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll.
Gov. Gary Johnson to Provide Online Commentary During Presidential Debate
Today, October 3, 8:00 PM CDT https://plus.google.com/events/c6lgvqkp818a2nn9r6fqq3gt7v8#events/c6lgvqkp818a2nn9r6fqq3gt7v8
Gary Johnson Will Not Be Allowed To Participate In The Presidential Debates
http://rtr.org/vid/2355/gary-johnson-will-not-be-allowed-to-participate-in-the-presidential-debates
Shermann
Do you remember that Ron Paul helped host a third-party event in 2008?
http://www.dailypaul.com/256678/do-you-remember-when-ron-paul-helped-host-a-third-party-event-in-2008
Here is the video. Yes, some time after Ron Paul had dropped out in 2008, he helped organize a televised event for the remaining third party and independent candidates that were of course not allowed to debate against McCain & Obama. Among those invited in 2008 were:
Ralph Nader - Independent
Cynthia McKinney - Green Party
Chuck Baldwin - Constitution Party
Bob Barr - Libertarian Party (Ended up not attending)
Gary Johnson Gains Support And May Take Ohio Out of Play for Romney
http://libertycrier.com/politics/gary-johnson-gains-support-and-may-take-ohio-out-of-play-for-romney/
The usual wisdom is that, as election day grows closer, support for third-party candidates tends to shrivel as the voting public heeds the tribal war drums and comes home to Team Red or Team Blue in a ritualistic display of political masochism that could be topped only by the sight of actual hair-shirted flagellants lined up to enter the polling booths. That third-party shrinkage may not be happening this year, though — or not yet, at least. A new poll from Ohio shows Gary Johnson gaining support, even as press reports emphasize the hold-your-nose-quality in which both major-party candidates marinate, and which may have voters looking elsewhere for options.
Conducted September 21-22, a Gravis Marketing/Capitol Correspondent poll first asked the usual Obama or Romney question, which revealed a tight race. (The full results are here.)
Obama/Biden: 45.2%
Other/Unsure: 10.4%
Romney/Ryan: 44.3%
Then, Gary Johnson was added.
Johnson: 10.6%
Obama/Biden: 44.5%
Other/Unsure: 7.1%
Romney/Ryan: 37.8%
Not so tight, anymore. And Johnson's numbers are up from September 7-8, when he pulled 4.5% in Ohio.
If this is a break from the usual all-power-to-the-institutional-parties phenomenon, why would that happen? Well, note that, in Ohio, both Romney and Obama have higher unfavorables than favorables. When asked about Obama's job performance, 46.4 percent disapprove, and 45.3 percent approve (8.3 percent are unsure). When asked their opinions of Romney, 44.4% are unfavorable and 41.1 percent are favorable (14.6 percent are, somehow, still unsure).
The recent nation-wide Reason-Rupe Poll (PDF) also found both Obama and Romney upside down in terms of public opinion, with 50 percent disapproving of the president's performance on the economy* compared to 47 percent approval, and 49 percent holding an unfavorable opinion of Romney compared to 41 percent favoring him. That poll found national support for Johnson at six percent.
This wide-ranging dislike for what the major political parties have coughed up as their team leaders this year squares very strongly with a recent Bloomberg Businessweek article pointing out:
Never have American voters re-elected a president whose work they disapprove of as much as Barack Obama's. Not that Mitt Romney can take much comfort — they've never elected a challenger they view so negatively, either.
Unless things change dramatically, this Election Day will mark a first, no matter who wins. The victor will be a sitting president with a slow economy, 8 percent-plus unemployment and an average Gallup job-approval rating below 50 percent. Or he'll be a challenger who isn't liked personally by a majority of the public and faces notable discord within his own party.
Of course, third-party support could still shrivel by election day. But it's interesting to see Johnson's support apparently growing this close to America's regularly scheduled festival of political disappointment.
*Note: I originally pulled numbers from the wrong line of the poll. Obama has overall favorables in the Reason-Rupe poll, but an unfavorable rating on his handling of the economy, which has shaped up as moderately important this year.
A Skeptic’s Case for Gary Johnson
http://libertycrier.com/politics/a-skeptics-case-for-gary-johnson/
You may be an independent that finds the major party candidates for president particularly weak this year. You may be an “Old Right” conservative that can’t bring yourself to vote for Mitt Romney. You may be a died-in-the-wool liberal who thinks Barack Obama’s presidency has been just a little too similar to Dubya’s.
Or, you may be a libertarian.
If you belong to any of those groups, you might be considering voting for Gary Johnson. Ironically, if you are a libertarian, you may need the most convincing.
Gary Johnson isn’t well-grounded in libertarian theory and it results in him taking some positions that libertarians don’t like. I made the argument myself that Johnson is not really a libertarian at all. In two subsequent interviews (here and here), Johnson didn’t allay those concerns.
Regardless, Gary Johnson is the best choice for president this year for voters from all over the political spectrum.
For libertarians, Johnson may not be Harry Browne, but it isn’t hard to imagine Browne behaving similarly in office. As Governor of New Mexico, Johnson vetoed over 700 bills. He balanced the budget without raising taxes. He even came out publicly against the War on Drugs.
As president, Johnson has promised to propose a balanced budget during his first year in office. He says that means cutting the federal budget by over 43%. Regardless of how he got there, libertarians have to agree with this.
Likewise for all of those conservatives who complain about “RINOs” (Republicans in Name Only). If they truly do want to see the size and influence of the government reduced, Johnson is really their only choice. Romney openly admits that he will spend more in his first year in office than Obama is spending now.
Some Republicans claim that voting for Johnson would be “handing the election to Obama,” but that’s not true. Johnson is pro-choice. He wants to end the war in Afghanistan. He is pro-gay marriage. He wants to abolish the Patriot Act. These are all core liberal issues that Obama has failed on. Johnson could easily take as many votes from Obama as he does from Romney.
The most compelling reason to cast a vote for Johnson is what it could do for the third party movement in general. The majority of Americans say that a third party is needed in American politics, but most don’t pull the lever for the other parties on the ballot right now. Why? They don’t think a third party can win.
That won’t change overnight, but a surge in third party votes will start to turn the tide. If Johnson were to break into double digits, as Ross Perot did in 1992, the momentum is not as likely to fade this time. The U.S. economy is in a protracted recession and is no longer responding to the Federal Reserve’s inflationary cure-all as it did during the Clinton years. If a third party were to show promise in 2012, one could reasonably expect better in 2016. 2020 could see 30 percent, which could win in a three way race with other parties also taking some votes.
Johnson is making a strong pitch to Ron Paul supporters, many of whom see Johnson as the next best thing. Others say they are going to write in Ron Paul’s name even if he is not on the ballot. They would do better to vote for Johnson.
Many states don’t count write-in votes at all. Others require the candidate to have qualified as a write-in (which seems to defeat the purpose, doesn’t it?). Even in those states that supposedly count write-in votes, Paul supporters should be skeptical after their experiences in the primaries.
Imagine if a third party was a viable option for Ron Paul’s campaign this year. Ron Paul’s supporters can help ensure that the next Ron Paul will have that opportunity.
Even die-hard Republicans and Democrats have a good reason to nurture a third party. In election after election, politicians from both sides campaign on the party line and then do exactly the opposite when they get into office. Why? Because they know they have the die-hards locked up. They know the Republican base will never vote for a Democrat or vice versa. A viable third party would keep them honest.
Of course, there is the tired argument that voting for a third party candidate is “throwing away your vote.”
The only way to “throw away your vote” is to vote for someone you know is going to betray you. Reagan promised to shrink the government and then doubled it. Bush promised to shrink the government and doubled it again. Obama promised to undo Bush’s warmongering, civil liberties violations and unconstitutional executive power grabs. He doubled down on all of them. Voting for a Republican or a Democrat in this election is a lot like Charlie Brown letting Lucy hold the football again.
If elected, either Romney or Obama will propose the first $4 trillion federal budget in U.S. history. With either in office, Americans can expect more war, more debt, less freedom and fewer opportunities. You can choose that or you can take Johnson up on his invitation to “be libertarian with me one time.” What do you have to lose?
Tom Mullen is the author of A Return to Common Sense: Reawakening Liberty in the Inhabitants of America.
Gary Johnson Will Protect Internet Freedom (VIDEO)
http://libertycrier.com/politics/gary-johnson-will-protect-internet-freedom/
Two-term Governor, Gary Johnson, says the internet must remain free. SOPA and PIPA are just the latest efforts on behalf of the federal government to limit free speech. If no one stands up to this threat on our fundmental right, we will lose it. Two two-party system is one system of control, censorship and the loss of personal liberty. Be Libertarian for one election. LIVE FREE
Jesse Ventura: "Let Gary Johnson Debate!"
http://rtr.org/vid/2226/jesse-ventura-let-gary-johnson-debate
Shermann
Banksters Screw The Average Guy
Gary Johnson Answers Questions On Ron Paul For Reddit
http://reason.com/blog/2012/09/26/gary-johnson-answers-questions-on-ron-pa
Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson discussed Ron Paul and other topics in his third Reddit appearance today to answer a hodgepodge of questions from users.
Throughout his campaign Johnson has used the internet to hold freewheeling online town hall forums. He frequently uses Google Hangouts along with other setups to engage supporters and potential voters.
Here's a quick sample of the questions asked that referenced Paul, to whom Johnson is frequently compared. Johnson has made courting Paul supporters a major part of his campaign efforts, even altering his standard stump speech to appeal to key Paul themes like sound money and the Federal Reserve.
User: What do you see as the main differences between you and Ron Paul? You both obviously share very similar views, but I am curious if there is anything you disagree with him on.
Johnson: Main differences are my business background and the executive experience I've had in my career. We may have differing views on immigration, a woman's right to choose, gay issues, and Israel.
User: Do you feel Ron Paul slighted you in the last debate by not naming you as a hypothetical running mate?
Johnson: I'll leave the answer about Ron Paul to you.
User: How do you feel about Ron Paul running as a Republican?
Johnson: Kudos to Ron Paul. Trying to change the Republican party resulted in a lot of knots on my head. Changing to the Libertarian party, nothing had to be changed.
In one notable exchange, Johnson was asked what he thinks about Paul supporters who plan to write in the Texas congressman's name on Election Day.
User: Thanks for doing another one of these Governor Johnson.
I am a Ron Paul supporter and I must admit that I am still undecided as to whether I will vote for you in November or write in his name. I realize that you are also a fan of Dr. Paul and want to carry on his message, but there are a few things that concern me.
One is foreign policy. I know you don't want to start a war in Iran, but what about our countless military bases around the world? I have also heard that you support intervening in Uganda to get rid of Joseph Kony. Fans of Ron Paul seem largely opposed to intervention of any kind, even if it has good intentions. It seems that Kony is no longer a huge issue and that most Ugandans believe intervention would do more harm than good...
Johnson: As much as I support Ron Paul I think writing in his name will effectively be meaningless. Count on me to be a military non-interventionist. I think Kony could have been more effectively dealt with by letters of marque and reprisal.
Gary Johnson – Ron Paul Revolutionary (VIDEO)
http://libertycrier.com/politics/gary-johnson-ron-paul-revolutionary/
As a two-term Republican Governor, Gary Johnson endorsed Libertarian Ron Paul in 2008 and was the only candidate to answer the question about a running-mate in the Fox/Google debate of 2012. He said Ron Paul without hesitation. What Ron Paul started will never fade because Ron Paul is right. We the people will end the wars, abolish the IRS, audit the Fed, balance the budget, stop the spending and end the war on drugs. LIVE FREE.
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Johnson, who has been referred to as the 'most fiscally conservative Governor' in the country, was the Republican Governor of New Mexico from 1995-2003. Governor Johnson brings a distinctly business-like mentality to governing, believing that decisions should be made based on cost-benefit analysis rather than strict ideology.
An avid skier, adventurer, and bicyclist, he has reached the highest peak on four of the seven continents, including Mt. Everest.
Governor Johnson, who has been referred to as the 'most fiscally conservative Governor' in the country, was the Republican Governor of New Mexico from 1995-2003.
A successful businessman before running for office in 1994, Gov. Johnson started a door-to-door handyman business to help pay his way through college. Twenty years later, he had grown the firm into one of the largest construction companies in New Mexico with over 1,000 employees. Not surprisingly, Governor Johnson brings a distinctly business-like mentality to governing, believing that decisions should be made based on cost-benefit analysis rather than strict ideology.
Johnson is best known for his veto record, which includes over 750 vetoes during his time in office, more than all other governors combined and his use of the veto pen has since earned him the nickname "Governor Veto." He cut taxes 14 times while never raising them when he left office, New Mexico was one of only four states in the country with a balanced budget.
Term-limited, Johnson retired from public office in 2003. An avid skier, adventurer, and bicyclist, he has reached the highest peak on four of the seven continents, including Mt. Everest.
In 2009, after becoming increasingly concerned with the country's out-of-control national debt and precarious financial situation, the Governor formed the OUR America Initiative, a 501c(4) non-profit that promotes fiscal responsibility, civil liberties, and rational public policy. He traveled to more than 30 states and spoke to over 150 conservative and libertarian groups during his time as Honorary Chairman.
He has two grown children- a daughter Seah and a son Erik and currently resides in a house he built himself in Taos, New Mexico.
http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/about
Gary Johnson Has The Beltway's Attention-And Willie Nelson's Endorsement {C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}By Jim Scarantino on June 15, 2012
Is Gary Johnson the wild card in the Presidential election? "A surprise may be lurking in the presidential campaign that could cause a stir in the coming months, but it has nothing to do with Mitt Romney or Barack Obama," begins the story in Real Clear Politics on Johnson's possible impact in picking the next President. That article observes that Johnson's impact on the race remains unknown, though a recent Arizona poll showed him pulling 9% of the vote in a race against Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Capitol Report's
Rob Nikolewski has done a better job following Johnson's growing impact on the conversation, if not yet the electorate. As he has reported, national polling organizations will be including Johnson in their surveys. Another poll reported by Nikolewski found Johnson pulling 7% of the national vote in a three-way race with Obama and Romney. Johnson has qualified for federal funds, and it is likely he will be on the ballot in every state. Johnson dipped into his personal fortune in his first race for Governor. On a national stage, his resources won't go as far as they did in New Mexico. But they can keep him alive, especially in selected swing states. The other unknown is whether Ron Paul's money bomb capabilities will shift to Johnson as the standard-bearer of the libertarian cause. http://newmexico.watchdog.org/14118/gary-johnson-has-the-beltways-attention/
Gary Johnson appears on "The Colbert Report" wants the government to decriminalize marijuana and tell kids the truth about smoking pot. http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/309253/may-10-2010/gary-johnson
Gary Johnson appears on "The Daily Show" http://newmexico.watchdog.org/13896/gary-johnson-appears-on-the-daily-show/
Track Record
Gary Johnson announced his gubernatorial run under a "common sense business approach"
1994Gary Johnson elected governor of New Mexico, beating incumbent 50% to 40%
Governor Johnson set state and national records by vetoing 200 bills out of the 424 that were passed by the Legislature
1995Ran for re-election against Democratic Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez
1998Won reelection by a 45% to 55% margin despite a 2-1 Democrat majority
Term-Limited, Governor Johnson finished his second term as a Governor
2002
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