Gary Johnson
Former Gov. Gary Johnson is “doing little to knock down the idea that he may be looking toward a 2012 presidential run,” Politico reports today in an article profiling a man the article says “emerges as the next Ron Paul.”
“Former New Mexico Republican Gov. Gary Johnson is a teetotaling triathlete who looks the part of the laid-back Mountain West politician,” the article begins. “But don’t let the jeans and black mock turtleneck he’s sporting on his new website fool you: Johnson is starting to sound like a mad-as-hell populist with an eye cast on 2012 and the building fury aimed at Washington.”
“I’m finding myself really angry over spending and the deficit,” the article quotes Johnson as saying. “I’m finding myself really angry over what’s happening in the Middle East, the decision to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely. I’m angry about cap and trade. And I’ve been on record for a long time on the failed war on drugs.”
From the article:
“Is that enough to design a presidential campaign around? It might be, at a time of tea parties, rage at bailouts, job loss and general voter discontent. And there is plainly an opportunity for some politician to harness the anti-establishment, populist grass-roots fervor that is right leaning but untethered to any party at the moment.
“It’s what Ron Paul tried to do in last year’s presidential campaign, but Johnson may better positioned to ride the populist wave than the longtime Texas GOP congressman. For one thing, the anti-establishment energy was not at the fever pitch then that it’s nearing now. And, unlike the unlikely Paul, a 73-year-old who got interested in elected politics when Richard Nixon abandoned the gold standard in 1971, Johnson is telegenic, is media savvy and, equally important, has twice been easily elected to statewide office.”
Johnson has been quite active lately. He recently talked with NMPolitics.net’s Peter St. Cyr about the budget crisis in Santa Fe. And St. Cyr recently caught audio and video of Johnson talking about his continued push for decriminalizing and legalizing drugs in the United States.
Johnson has also started a new, libertarian-leaning group, Our America Initiative.
That group is designed to “elevate the profile” of Johnson, the Politico article states. And that’s when the news organization points out that Johnson “is doing little to knock down the idea that he may be looking toward a 2012 presidential run.”
“Is there room for something a little different? I’d like to think I’m putting that to the test,” the article quotes Johnson as saying.
Read the full article here.