Johnson is considering a US Senate run in NM

[HardyMacia]

Johnson is considering about at a US Senate run in NM - hopefully now we all can get behind him and get him elected...maybe give him his own pro-liberty candidate topic now here also.

 

[specsaregood]

As a LP candidate?

 

[Bruehound]

Johnson is considering about at a US Senate run in NM - hopefully now we all can get behind him and get him elected...maybe give him his own pro-liberty candidate topic now here also.

Source? This would be great news.

 

[CaptUSA]

He should have done this in 2012. He would have had a much better chance since it was an open seat. We would have supported him. The liberty movement would have been united instead of fractured.

Still, I wish him all the luck and will support him if he chooses to run.

 

[supermario21]

I would support him, and he should have run in 2012. Polls actually had him winning the race. My guess is that he will rejoin the RP and run.

 

[Lucille]

He should have done this in 2012. He would have had a much better chance since it was an open seat. We would have supported him. The liberty movement would have been united instead of fractured.

Still, I wish him all the luck and will support him if he chooses to run.

Right? He would have won handily, and we could have used him in the Senate. Now I'm afraid (R) NM voters will be all butthurt and blame him for Obama's reelection and won't vote for him because of his LP run.

 

[AJ Antimony]

If he runs as a Libertarian, then I hope he enjoys actually getting 5% this time.

If he runs as a Republican, then he's going to learn just what happens when you bail on the GOP to get 1% of the national vote. He's not going to be as well-liked in the NMGOP as he was before 2012.

I wish him the best of luck, he'll need it if he wants a political future.

 

[Sola_Fide]

What...has Gary been thinking for the past few years...who knows....

He could have ran and won a seat already.

 

[CaptUSA]

Right? He would have won handily, and we could have used him in the Senate. Now I'm afraid (R) NM voters will be all butthurt and blame him for Obama's reelection and won't vote for him because of his LP run.

Could you imagine what it would have been like? We would have been all excited about having Ron Paul AND Gary Johnson to support at the same time. Then, when Paul didn't get the nomination, Johnson would have gotten our attention and support. Instead, he ended up fracturing our support (not really his fault), burning the GOP bridges, and made to look fringe. He could be awaiting his oath of office right now instead of pondering his future moves. Oh well, live and learn, I suppose.

 

[FSP-Rebel]

I'm not even gonna lift a finger on this if he runs LP. If he could drum up his glory days as governor in peoples' minds, he could landslide this as a republican. Doubt there is anyone in NM that has the prominence he once had nor the name recognition. I can kinda see why he didn't run this last election as he'd have to overcome the Obama affect but he should be golden two years from now. Coming from someone who wasn't that big a fan of his, I bare him no grudge and would lend a hand if he ran it to win it.

 

[supermario21]

I don't think the situation with the NM GOP would be as bad as some say here. They just ran Heather Wilson, a moderate who pretty much was the best shot here (would have done much better than Rand's guy, Sowards) and lost. It's not like GJ sabatoged that race. 2014 could be more favorable for the GOP and a guy like Gary could do well with crossovers (any R must do this with the party ID disadvantage and win the race.

 

[dinosaur]

Johnson is considering about at a US Senate run in NM - hopefully now we all can get behind him and get him elected...maybe give him his own pro-liberty candidate topic now here also.

The only stance on the life issue that ever succeeded in uniting people in the liberty movement was the stance of Ron Paul. Johnson's (personally) pro-choice stance guarantees that he will never function as a uniter, and will always be a divider.

 

[ican'tvote]

He talked a little bit about this in a live Q&A on his website. He said that if he runs for Senate, it will be as a republican.

 

[Rocco]

If he runs as a republican, I am on board. If he runs as a Libertarian, I won't even follow the race.

 

[Sola_Fide]

The only stance on the life issue that ever succeeded in uniting people in the liberty movement was the stance of Ron Paul. Johnson's (personally) pro-choice stance guarantees that he will never function as a uniter, and will always be a divider.

I agree. After I read Abortion and Liberty by Ron Paul, I cannot think of any pro-abortion candidate as a truly "liberty" candidate anymore.

 

[Matt Collins]

Well the good news is that since he ran as a LP candidate he'll have a huge fundraising list to build a warchest on.

The bad news is that it's not longer an open seat.

The good news is that he's got name recognition and a good record there.

The bad news is that the NRSC will probably work to hamper his efforts (although Mitch and Rand and Jesse and DeMint and Jack might could change this).

The good news is that he very well might have a big anti-Democrat sentiment on his side by then.

The bad news is that he might take funds and support away from a potential Tom Davis run

The good news is that if multiple serious and credible liberty cacandidates run in 2014 then the establishment will be playing whack-a-mole with us.




Is there a source for the OP?

 

[Eric21ND]

Johnson has the opportunity to become the new wave republican, that can win in blue states out west.

 

[RonPaulMall]

The only stance on the life issue that ever succeeded in uniting people in the liberty movement was the stance of Ron Paul. Johnson's (personally) pro-choice stance guarantees that he will never function as a uniter, and will always be a divider.

There are plenty of people in the liberty movement that support Paul despite his position on abortion. And remember, Paul voted for the ban on partial birth abortions, a vote that he acknowledges himself was not in accordance with his stated position that the Feds have no constitutional authority to be involved in abortion. So even if you argue his theoretical position shouldn't scare off pro-choice folks, the fact that he hasn't respected his own position in the past means he can't be trusted when it comes to abortion. Paul did better with pro-choice folks because most liberty minded pro-choice folks care passionately about things like non-interventionism abroad and ending the war on drugs where Paul takes extremist positions in favor of liberty. It isn't that his abortion position "unites" them so much as all but the most extreme pro-choice folks are willing to forgive him for it. Gary Johnson on the other hand, doesn't offer any red meat on foreign policy, drugs, or even the Fed so he doesn't inspire the same willingness to overlook among the pro-life crowd. Also, one could argue there are more "single issue" hard core pro-life folks who wouldn't overlook no matter what among the small government, single males that predominate the liberty movement than there are hard core "single issue" pro-choicers.

 

[Sola_Fide]

There are plenty of people in the liberty movement that support Paul despite his position on abortion. And remember, Paul voted for the ban on partial birth abortions, a vote that he acknowledges himself was not in accordance with his stated position that the Feds have no constitutional authority to be involved in abortion. So even if you argue his theoretical position shouldn't scare off pro-choice folks, the fact that he hasn't respected his own position in the past means he can't be trusted when it comes to abortion. Paul did better with pro-choice folks because most liberty minded pro-choice folks care passionately about things like non-interventionism abroad and ending the war on drugs where Paul takes extremist positions in favor of liberty. It isn't that his abortion position "unites" them so much as all but the most extreme pro-choice folks are willing to forgive him for it. Gary Johnson on the other hand, doesn't offer any red meat on foreign policy, drugs, or even the Fed so he doesn't inspire the same willingness to overlook among the pro-life crowd. Also, one could argue there are more "single issue" hard core pro-life folks who wouldn't overlook no matter what among the small government, single males that predominate the liberty movement than there are hard core "single issue" pro-choicers.

Yes, but Ron Paul has said that pro-abortion "libertarians" are dangerous to liberty and need to be corrected. In Abortion and Liberty, Ron lays out the irrefutable arguments that connect life to liberty.

I think its great that many pro-abortionists will support Ron's ideas, but they are inconsistent and don't quite yet understand liberty.

 

[KingNothing]

If he runs as a Republican, then he's going to learn just what happens when you bail on the GOP to get 1% of the national vote. He's not going to be as well-liked in the NMGOP as he was before 2012.

I wish him the best of luck, he'll need it if he wants a political future.

The GOP cares about winning, more than anything else. If the voters still like Gary, the state-GOP will still like Gary.