# Liberty Movement > Liberty Campaigns >  Gary Johnson's 2012 GOP Primary Opponents

## free.alive

If Obama wins, then Gary Johnson will run for President in the GOP in 2012, so says Tom Woods. Great! But who's the competition going to be?

The GOP, on the local, state and even national level will be a shambles after this election, unless McCain pulls something out of his ass quick. This will be our best opportunity to change this party. In the meantime, we need to be building the party, getting 2010 congressional, and state-wide candidates to win, and solidifying our position within the party. 

All this leads to us giving Gary Johnson early support, money, enthusiasm and access in the 2012 primaries (actually 2011). We need to be prepared by January of that year. Therefore the reorganization meetings in December of 2010 are crucial for us. We need to take a majority of leadership by Jan 1 2011, or we're screwed. 

So who will Johnson, and by proxy - we, be up against in the primaries? Here's a list of potentials I've gotten from a few other threads elsewhere on the web:

Bobby Jindal - LA
Mike Huckabee - AR
Mitt Romney - MA
Rudy Guiliani - NY
Mark Sanford - SC
Tim Pawlenty - MN
Sarah Palin - AK
Butch Otter - ID
Michael Steele - MD
John Hoeven - SD
Richard Burr - NC
Jon Huntsman - UT
Charlie Crist - FL
Jeb Bush - FL
Mike Pence - IN
John Thune - SD
Haley Barbour - MS
Newt Gingrich - GA 

Yes, this is wild speculation. Wild... Nevertheless, we need to be prepared. Now's a good time to start!

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## Jeremy

Sarah Palin? lol... why would she run?

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## free.alive

Hey - 

I'm just cutting and pasting and throwing names out there...

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## free.alive

Honestly, 

I think Crist, Jindal and Palin will be somewhere in DC in the future, but I think they'll all run again for their second terms as governor, not for president in 2012

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## Slist

I know this would be weird.. but could we run with TWO candidates into the primaries? In the primary debates, this would double the time our message would get out.

Probably it would not be feasible since grassroots could hardly focus on two candidates... but if it was possible, it would be great...

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## slacker921

*shudders at the thought of most of those people*   

geez..   If I have to go to a GOP convention in 2012 and hear everybody pushing for "unity" behind Jeb Bush, Huckabee, Gingrich, etc.....  ugh.   Where do I donate to the Gary Johnson exploratory committee?   It needs to start getting him national exposure on a regular basis starting November 5th.

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## NewEnd

Man, Gary Johnson would be awesome... awesome awesome awesome.

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## Kludge

Who?

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## Slist

> Where do I donate to the Gary Johnson exploratory committee?   It needs to start getting him national exposure on a regular basis starting November 5th.



Absolutely. If obama gets elected, Johnson needs to be pushed...

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## NewEnd

> Who?



former governor of New Mexico.  I like him, from what little I have read of him (OK, its his opposition to the drug war where I first heard about him, but also, he is an athlete, and in very good shape, and a fierce competitor.)

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## Kludge

> former governor of New Mexico.  I like him, from what little I have read of him (OK, its his opposition to the drug war where I first heard about him, but also, he is an athlete, and in very good shape, and a fierce competitor.)


Cool. He and Ventura can tag team their opponent(s) if they lose.

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## Knightskye

> Bobby Jindal - LA
> Mitt Romney - MA
> Mark Sanford - SC
> Tim Pawlenty - MN
> Charlie Crist - FL


I could see them running.  And maybe Tom Coburn.




> Jeb Bush - FL


Yeah, like people would support another Bush.




> Mike Pence - IN
> John Thune - SD
> Haley Barbour - MS
> Butch Otter - ID
> Michael Steele - MD
> John Hoeven - SD
> Richard Burr - NC
> Jon Huntsman - UT


Who are they? 

Rudy would be too distraught after his failed bid for governor (I heard he's thinking about running).

You know who should run, though?  Sarah Steelman.  She ran for governor in Missouri, but lost by a couple points in the primary.  She seems like a Ron Paul Republican, and she's a woman.

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## NewEnd

> Cool. He and Ventura can tag team their opponent(s) if they lose.



LoL!!!

(O.T.  Ventura better start losing weight if he is serious about running, or else he is just going to look like a bitter has-been)

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## me3

Gary Johnson is a good guy and all, but listening to him speak is about as exciting as watching paint dry.

I don't think this is going anywhere....

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## Knightskye

> Gary Johnson is a good guy and all, but listening to him speak is about as exciting as watching paint dry.


Johnson/Baldwin '12? 

Joe Scarborough said Baldwin makes paint melt when he speaks.  Maybe they could talk at the same time on the campaign trail.  In unison.

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## adamni

Mark Sanford would be a pretty good candidate, too, I think.



> While in Congress, Sanford was a staunch conservative (he garnered a lifetime rating of 92 from the American Conservative Union), but displayed an occasional independent streak. He often would be one of two members of Congress, along with Ron Paul, voting against bills that otherwise got unanimous support. For example, he voted against a bill that preserved sites linked to the Underground Railroad. He opposed pork barrel projects even when they benefited his own district; in 1997 he voted against a defense appropriations bill that included funds for Charleston's harbor. Seeing himself as a "citizen-legislator," he did not run for reelection in 2000, in keeping with a promise to serve only three terms in the House.

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## Shotdown1027

Mark Sanford, Butch Otter, and Gary Johnson wont all run at the same time--it'd be fractisious in nature. In all liklihood, two will back the other. Otter and Sanford were allies (and allies of Paul) in Congress and both have respect for Gary Johnson (and vice versa, im told). 

Jindal, Palin, and Pawlenty are the frontrunners in my opinion.

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## slacker921

Burr voted for the bailout.  ..

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## Shotdown1027

BTW: The best story about Gov. Sanford is when he let live pigs onto the floor of the State Legislator in protest of the pork-laden bills they kept sending to his desk.

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## AbolishTheGovt

Sanford has said once he's out of the Governor's Office, he's done with electoral politics for good.

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## MRoCkEd

> If Obama wins, then Gary Johnson might run for President in the GOP in 2012, so says Tom Woods.


When did Tom Woods say this?
Nevermind, found it

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## slacker921

I seem to remember Sanford doing something back around the time of the SC primary that ticked off a lot of Paul supporters here.  Something he said about the Iraq war, McCain, etc..  I'm not sure, but I remember a big discussion about him not being at all what people expected.

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## Kotin

if we did a yearly moneybomb for gary johnson or jesse ventura we could raise a $#@! load by 2012.

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## No1ButPaul08

Unfortunately, David Petraeus might have a shot if he runs.

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## Knightskye

> if we did a yearly moneybomb for gary johnson or jesse ventura we could raise a $#@! load by 2012.


There'd be little motivation.

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## surf

The Rs have already admitted that on November 5th it will all be about the pretty boy - Romney.

Make no mistake, Mitt is who they will champion for the next 3+ years and that is who our fight will be against (if we remain in the GOP). A smug, stuck-up, uptight, imperial dueche. Get ready.

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## TruthAtLast

oh crap, if we get Jeb Bush I'm going to lose it!

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## rancher89

> Burr voted for the bailout.  ..


and refused to call out the Ron Paul votes at the RNC--he will NOT get my vote and when he comes up for reelection I will work very hard to get his butt kicked out.

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## rancher89

> I seem to remember Sanford doing something back around the time of the SC primary that ticked off a lot of Paul supporters here.  Something he said about the Iraq war, McCain, etc..  I'm not sure, but I remember a big discussion about him not being at all what people expected.


He went to a CFR event

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## rancher89

> oh crap, if we get Jeb Bush I'm going to lose it!


He's supposed to be the "smart" one........let's here from the FL people--was he a good gov?  (Not that I'd vote for him anyway......)

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## Shotdown1027

Sanford may claim hes done with politics, but that is what Johnson said before 2008 too.

I think we should convince Travor Lyman and Lawrence LLepard (two well-respected activists with some swinging power) to plan a moneybomb for November 5th 2009 on behalf of Gary Johnson (of course, Johnson would need to open an exploratory committee).

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## rich34

Hell with that.  I really hope Ron is in good health and good spirits and throws his hat into the ring and finishes what he started.  Johnson, Sanford maybe good candidates, but I really hope the best runs.  We know Ron can't be bought and I trust him.  I can't really think of another politican I can say that about.

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## jpa

Charlie Crist is probably strongest of the bunch... we should start the dirt digging now

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## boggie08

After November 4th, there will be much upheaval in the Republican Party. It is futile to attempt to plan two years into the furture when you cannot predict November 5th. Wait until the dust settles.

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## ArrestPoliticians

although I am more of a Ventura guy myself, Dr. Paul has decided that working within the GOP is the best strategy to ultimate victory, and therefore I will support Johnson. However, does anyone know what his feelings are regarding the Campaign for Liberty 4 point litmus test? No candidate should be supported by us unless they agree with those 4 points. I know Jesse Ventura would agree with the 4. Anti-drug war alone will not cut it, even Chris "CFR" Dodd was for marijuana legalization.

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## tggroo7

> If Obama wins, then Gary Johnson will run for President in the GOP in 2012, so says Tom Woods. Great! But who's the competition going to be?
> 
> The GOP, on the local, state and even national level will be a shambles after this election, unless McCain pulls something out of his ass quick. This will be our best opportunity to change this party. In the meantime, we need to be building the party, getting 2010 congressional, and state-wide candidates to win, and solidifying our position within the party. 
> 
> All this leads to us giving Gary Johnson early support, money, enthusiasm and access in the 2012 primaries (actually 2011). We need to be prepared by January of that year. Therefore the reorganization meetings in December of 2010 are crucial for us. We need to take a majority of leadership by Jan 1 2011, or we're screwed. 
> 
> So who will Johnson, and by proxy - we, be up against in the primaries? Here's a list of potentials I've gotten from a few other threads elsewhere on the web:
> 
> Bobby Jindal - LA
> ...


Johnson/Pence 2012!

I don't believe Pence is too bad of a guy.

EDIT: Scratch that, after two minutes of Googling, I changed my mind on that. LOL  He's more conservative than many and did vote against the bailout, but he did vote for the Iraq War and was against Dr Paul on some other issues.

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## Micah Dardar

> I like Jindal as well...


Gary Johnson is much better than Jindal so far. Jindal likes to rub shoulders with the good ole boy Republicans too much.

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## ItsTime

> although I am more of a Ventura guy myself, Dr. Paul has decided that working within the GOP is the best strategy to ultimate victory, and therefore I will support Johnson. However, does anyone know what his feelings are regarding the Campaign for Liberty 4 point litmus test? No candidate should be supported by us unless they agree with those 4 points. I know Jesse Ventura would agree with the 4. Anti-drug war alone will not cut it, even Chris "CFR" Dodd was for marijuana legalization.


Good question. I have always assumed he agreed with them since he was a key speaker at the C4L rally.

Anyone know his email address? Maybe we should tell him we are going to draft him if he agrees LOL

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## MRoCkEd

I remember him saying we should abolish the federal reserve in his speech

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## nbhadja

> He's supposed to be the "smart" one........let's here from the FL people--was he a good gov?  (Not that I'd vote for him anyway......)


Nope he was trash. He supported amnesty and drivers license for illegals. He was for a huge government.

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## Alawn

> I seem to remember Sanford doing something back around the time of the SC primary that ticked off a lot of Paul supporters here.  Something he said about the Iraq war, McCain, etc..  I'm not sure, but I remember a big discussion about him not being at all what people expected.


He went to the Builderberg meeting in 2008.  I don't think I can ever trust him again.

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## surf

It's going to be *Mitt*

he is already _the_ annointed one by whatever is left standing at the RNC

of course, it was supposed to be Rudy this time until our guy bitchslapped him hard. is there a lesson for us here?

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## MRoCkEd

> of course, it was supposed to be Rudy this time until our guy bitchslapped him hard. is there a lesson for us here?


Yes, bait them with the "blowback" argument

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## free.alive

Remember everyone - there's no "it's going to be... they've already decided..." The entire make-up and internal dynamics of the GOP are about to change. 

Balls, everyone. Balls...

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## ronpaulfollower999

> He's supposed to be the "smart" one........let's here from the FL people--was he a good gov?  (Not that I'd vote for him anyway......)


No.

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## american.swan

This past primary season, we saw a large number of GOP candidates drown out the one good candidate, Ron Paul.

I suspect a similar thing will happen in 2012.

My suggestion would be for two to four freedom loving candidates to run for president with legitimately different qualifications.   Same message, seriously different people.

Drown out the Neo-cons this time.

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## The Lantern

> He's supposed to be the "smart" one........let's here from the FL people--was he a good gov?  (Not that I'd vote for him anyway......)


.
Jeb Bush was supposed to be President, but he got derailed when Lawton Chiles did push calls at the last minute scaring senior citizens.  Jeb just barely lost the governorship.  George W got the nod to be president several years later.  

Jeb did a pretty good job as Governor here.  Not as good as he could have, but he was a good advocate for smaller, slimmer government.  The Republican Liberty Caucus did ratings in Florida on Legislative members.  They came up with a dozen votes to show a person's Liberty leanings.  When it turned out that 90% of the Republican legislature was libertarian leaning, it was discovered that Jeb was the one who had pushed all those issues.  As much as I dislike President Bush, I am a big Jeb fan.  However, if he were to be elected President, he will probably fall prey to the powers that be and really screw things up.  However I would campaign again if he wanted to run for Governor or Senate.

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## Grimnir Wotansvolk

Why should we be working strictly within the GOP, thus alienating a lot of potential support? A fusion ticket is what's required to break through.

Let's start pushing for that Paul-Kucinich/Paul-Gravel ticket that we were robbed of.

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## Flash

> This past primary season, we saw a large number of GOP candidates drown out the one good candidate, Ron Paul.
> 
> I suspect a similar thing will happen in 2012.
> 
> My suggestion would be for two to four freedom loving candidates to run for president with legitimately different qualifications.   Same message, seriously different people.
> 
> Drown out the Neo-cons this time.


Theres no other really good Republican that could run in 2012.

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## mlmvh

> Gary Johnson is a good guy and all, but listening to him speak is about as exciting as watching paint dry.
> 
> I don't think this is going anywhere....


Yeah, I thought that his speaking style at the Rally for the Republic was a little too laid back.  I didn't like the beginning of his speech, when he talked about himself climbing Mt. Everest or wherever; who cares?  Give us a fiery political speech!

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## Jeremy

> Yeah, I thought that his speaking style at the Rally for the Republic was a little too laid back.  I didn't like the beginning of his speech, when he talked about himself climbing Mt. Everest or wherever; who cares?  Give us a fiery political speech!


he's not a poet

he was invited there because of his amazing record as governor, so thats what he talked about =)

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## parke

> I like Jindal as well...


There is a saying in Louisiana.. 'The best politicians money can buy.' 

Its also the most politically corrupt state in the country.

He is a pretty boy and charasmatic, but I wouldnt trust him. Then again, I dont really trust many people other than Paul. Its funny how the truth just exposes most of these douchebags for what they are.

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## JAlli41

> I think we should convince Travor Lyman and Lawrence LLepard (two well-respected activists with some swinging power) to plan a moneybomb for November 5th 2009 on behalf of Gary Johnson (of course, Johnson would need to open an exploratory committee).


The problem here is that he'd essentially have to be running for office for 4 strait years.  What Johnson really needs to do is to start making political connections with people who know how to run a tough 50 state top down campaign.  It might turn people around here off, but this is how you win in politics.  As for moneybombs, the best thing to do is to support 501c's who will have a significant warchest by the time 2012 roles around and they can spend big bucks for Gov. Johnson without actually having to have the Johnson name on it, sort of a "his campaign is going negative,"  "no we're not, my name isn't even on that ad, I don't have control over these 501c's."  Similar to the swiftboat style stuff.  The one thing that we should do is start e-mailing him and those close to him letting him know that there is a large group of liberty-minded supporters who want him to run.  Also as far as Johnson being a boring speaker remember, he claimed to debate one of his opponents something like 50 times, I'll bet when he is in political battle-mode he can get fiery... I love Gary Johnson and would prefer him about a thousand times over Jesse.

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## Shotdown1027

Johnson's tidbit about climbing Mt. Everest might not be interesting to us--but it'll be a significant selling point in 2012. When he can say, "I know what tough is, I'v climbed Mt. Everest....blah blah blah". People like stuff like that.

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## Shotdown1027

> The problem here is that he'd essentially have to be running for office for 4 strait years.  What Johnson really needs to do is to start making political connections with people who know how to run a tough 50 state top down campaign.  It might turn people around here off, but this is how you win in politics.  As for moneybombs, the best thing to do is to support 501c's who will have a significant warchest by the time 2012 roles around and they can spend big bucks for Gov. Johnson without actually having to have the Johnson name on it, sort of a "his campaign is going negative,"  "no we're not, my name isn't even on that ad, I don't have control over these 501c's."  Similar to the swiftboat style stuff.  The one thing that we should do is start e-mailing him and those close to him letting him know that there is a large group of liberty-minded supporters who want him to run.  Also as far as Johnson being a boring speaker remember, he claimed to debate one of his opponents something like 50 times, I'll bet when he is in political battle-mode he can get fiery... I love Gary Johnson and would prefer him about a thousand times over Jesse.



You are right. Instead of donating to an exploratory committee, we can moneybomb a massive 501c3 (or 4) that will support all of our various candidates in 2010 and then in 2012. We can load it up with cash in 2009 and 2010 (for the 2010 elections) and then against in 2011 for the 2012 elections.

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## tajitj

Something is brewing people, keep your ears to the wall. 

And for you people who harp on his speaking style, HELLO we are at Ron Paul Forums, since when is your presentation the litmus test to supporting a guy. Sorry, but Ron Paul is no George Clooney on stage. 


In meantime check out the sites started in case  he runs.

http://garyjohnson2012.blogspot.com/

http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/

http://johnsonforamerica.com/

& Join the Gary Johnson 2012 facebook page,
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38552147212

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## Matt Collins

YouTube - Gary Johnson 2012: Meet Gary Johnson

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