420 Warrior
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The former two-term New Mexico governor tries to bring sexy back to the Libertarian Party.
At the Libertarian Party of Florida state convention held this past weekend, former GOP presidential candidate Gary Johnson didn't just win the straw poll; with 42 of the 60 votes cast, he wiped the floor.
If Johnson can replicate that success in other states, he'll have little trouble getting the nomination at the national Libertarian Party convention in May. Compared to fellow former Republican Bob Barr, who was tied for the nomination through five rounds of ballots at the 2008 national convention, getting the backing of the LP is going to be a cakewalk for Johnson.
But what about the rest of America? Johnson is hoping to poll high enough to appear with President Barack Obama and the GOP nominee in a televised debate, and pull 5 percent in the general election. The former two-term governor of New Mexico, an experienced coalition-builder, is having a hard time coralling people who lean libertarian, but aren't quite.
Take, for instance, his appeals to marijuana voters.
Johnson's decision to campaign on legalizing marijuana was based on principle: He's used it, he thinks it's safer than booze, and he hates the drug war. It was also based on some hypothetical math: "100 million Americans have admitted to using marijuana," Johnson told me two weeks before the Florida straw poll. "If they all gave me a dollar, that's a hundred million bucks."
In theory, it was a swell plan. In practice, Johnson has "done so many events with marijuana. So many marijuana events. Basically, nothing comes out of it other than for an enthusiasm for what I say. No money comes out of it."
That's not to say that marijuana policy reform advocates are broke, or cheap. Progressive Insurance founder Peter B. Lewis has donated half a million dollars this election cycle to Prop. 66, which would reform California's onerous three-strikes law, and another $159,000 to the Drug Policy Alliance Network Committee. (Lewis's deep pockets also made the Marijuana Policy Project what it is today.)
But what weed money there is, isn't flowing to Johnson. So he's going back to the basics: Cutting the size of government. But even that can prove difficult. In a 2012 election in which Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) is promising to cut spending by $1 trillion, Johnson is still searching for a way to earn media attention.
"'How do you differ from Ron Paul? Ron Paul's proposing a $1 trillion reduction!' people say. Well, I'm proposing a $1.4 trillion reduction." Johnson seldom puts it that way, though. Instead he calls it a 43 percent cut in government spending.
Over dinner, I asked Johnson how to make that message...sexier.
"How do you?" he replied. "We talk about this all the time. That's kind of the crux. It's not a sexy message, but if we don't cut Medicare by 43 percent, there's not gonna be any Medicare."
Reducing the size and scope of government is not a new mantra for Johnson. He vetoed bills with abandon while governor and left New Mexico with a budget surplus. His struggle to get traction at the national level occasionally makes him wonder what's changed.
"I mean, how did I get elected in New Mexico in the first place? And get re-elected? I mean, I'm questioning that these days. How did that happen?"
Identity crisis aside, Johnson is upbeat about his chances with the Libertarian Party. Due to his profile, he's not just the odds-on favorite for winning the nomination, but the party's best chance for getting coverage in the general election.
"They did a poll [in Florida] a couple weeks ago. The names were Gary Johnson, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney. Those 3 names. I was at 9 percent," Johnson said. That's pretty good, I replied to him. "It is. And not so much that it's me, but just any third name, right? Any third name. But there's a potential here to be at 15 percent. I think there's a real potential. [It's not going to be] Ron Paul who people are galvanizing behind. Who are they gonna galvanize behind?"
News Hawk - 420 Warrior 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Reason Magazine
Author: Mike Riggs
Contact: reason.com/contact
Copyright: 2012, Reason Magazine
Website: reason.com
At the Libertarian Party of Florida state convention held this past weekend, former GOP presidential candidate Gary Johnson didn't just win the straw poll; with 42 of the 60 votes cast, he wiped the floor.
If Johnson can replicate that success in other states, he'll have little trouble getting the nomination at the national Libertarian Party convention in May. Compared to fellow former Republican Bob Barr, who was tied for the nomination through five rounds of ballots at the 2008 national convention, getting the backing of the LP is going to be a cakewalk for Johnson.
But what about the rest of America? Johnson is hoping to poll high enough to appear with President Barack Obama and the GOP nominee in a televised debate, and pull 5 percent in the general election. The former two-term governor of New Mexico, an experienced coalition-builder, is having a hard time coralling people who lean libertarian, but aren't quite.
Take, for instance, his appeals to marijuana voters.
Johnson's decision to campaign on legalizing marijuana was based on principle: He's used it, he thinks it's safer than booze, and he hates the drug war. It was also based on some hypothetical math: "100 million Americans have admitted to using marijuana," Johnson told me two weeks before the Florida straw poll. "If they all gave me a dollar, that's a hundred million bucks."
In theory, it was a swell plan. In practice, Johnson has "done so many events with marijuana. So many marijuana events. Basically, nothing comes out of it other than for an enthusiasm for what I say. No money comes out of it."
That's not to say that marijuana policy reform advocates are broke, or cheap. Progressive Insurance founder Peter B. Lewis has donated half a million dollars this election cycle to Prop. 66, which would reform California's onerous three-strikes law, and another $159,000 to the Drug Policy Alliance Network Committee. (Lewis's deep pockets also made the Marijuana Policy Project what it is today.)
But what weed money there is, isn't flowing to Johnson. So he's going back to the basics: Cutting the size of government. But even that can prove difficult. In a 2012 election in which Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) is promising to cut spending by $1 trillion, Johnson is still searching for a way to earn media attention.
"'How do you differ from Ron Paul? Ron Paul's proposing a $1 trillion reduction!' people say. Well, I'm proposing a $1.4 trillion reduction." Johnson seldom puts it that way, though. Instead he calls it a 43 percent cut in government spending.
Over dinner, I asked Johnson how to make that message...sexier.
"How do you?" he replied. "We talk about this all the time. That's kind of the crux. It's not a sexy message, but if we don't cut Medicare by 43 percent, there's not gonna be any Medicare."
Reducing the size and scope of government is not a new mantra for Johnson. He vetoed bills with abandon while governor and left New Mexico with a budget surplus. His struggle to get traction at the national level occasionally makes him wonder what's changed.
"I mean, how did I get elected in New Mexico in the first place? And get re-elected? I mean, I'm questioning that these days. How did that happen?"
Identity crisis aside, Johnson is upbeat about his chances with the Libertarian Party. Due to his profile, he's not just the odds-on favorite for winning the nomination, but the party's best chance for getting coverage in the general election.
"They did a poll [in Florida] a couple weeks ago. The names were Gary Johnson, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney. Those 3 names. I was at 9 percent," Johnson said. That's pretty good, I replied to him. "It is. And not so much that it's me, but just any third name, right? Any third name. But there's a potential here to be at 15 percent. I think there's a real potential. [It's not going to be] Ron Paul who people are galvanizing behind. Who are they gonna galvanize behind?"
News Hawk - 420 Warrior 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Reason Magazine
Author: Mike Riggs
Contact: reason.com/contact
Copyright: 2012, Reason Magazine
Website: reason.com
