Gary Johnson media coverage updates with links

The following is more recent media coverage of Libertarian Presidential nominee Gary Johnson.

First is an interview with NPR’s Michel Martin where he sat down in studio to discuss his record as Governor, libertarian views, and capturing Ron Paul supporters.

MARTIN: Well, you’re also arguing that you are where many of the American people are, if not most, in the sense of being socially progressive or inclusive or not wanting to have a heavy government imprint in the personal lives of Americans. Let’s put it that way. And also being fiscally conservative and also wanting to avoid kind of an aggressive and expansionist kind of American foreign policy. That’s your core argument. How do you then create the institutional support to carry that message forward? What’s the plan?

JOHNSON: Well, so, Michel, politics – and I’m just going to speak the obvious here – but politics is all about momentum. If you don’t have momentum, there’s no reason to be doing it. And so, I have terrific momentum. I’m not expecting anybody to recognize that.

Ron Paul was asked a couple of months ago, are you going to drop out of the race? He said: No, I’m not going to drop out of the race. People that are coming out to see me are growing in number, and I think my voice is representative of the largest growing segment of American politics today.

I would just offer up the same, that that is my experience. That the momentum is straight up, I’m not expecting anybody to recognize that. But that’s the case. And if it weren’t, I wouldn’t be doing this. My message is a message that needs to be heard and it needs to be pursued.

MARTIN: But isn’t politics the means by which government happens? I mean, if you are unable to create an institutional framework that allows the people who support you to support you in a way that achieves the goal, what’s the point?

JOHNSON: Well, the notion here is to win. The notion here is to poll at a high enough level to be in the national debates against Obama and Romney. And if that happens, I want to suggest to you, I could crash and burn or anything could happen, given the sentiment in this country today, which is a rightful sentiment. We’re in deep doo-doo and we need to fix this. We need to fix this now.

The full interview can be read and listened to at NPR: Gary Johnson Offers Third Choice in 2012 Elections

Technorati puts a different spin on the spoiler card and suggests that perhaps Gary Johnson represents a movement that is growing in numbers, and that recent poll numbers don’t show the true support that he actually has.

In poll after poll, Libertarian candidate for President Gary Johnson has appeared around 7%, including recent polls in New Hampshire, and 9% in Arizona.  Are these supporters voters who don’t care for either Obama or Romney, or is this a sign of the changing times?  Perhaps it is both.

While there are likely some who find Romney and Obama too bland or uninspiring for their tastes who are willing to support the third name on the ballot, there is also the question of the Ron Paul faction.  As we heard many times throughout the campaign, many Ron Paul supporters refuse to vote for Romney or Obama in the upcoming election, insisting on writing in Paul’s name in November.  Perhaps, however, if Johnson’s numbers pick up (and considering Johnson endorsed Ron Paul for president in 2008), they may be encouraged to back him.  And what Gary Johnson needs right now is their support.

According to the Johnson campaign, 15% is the national threshold in polling to get on the debate stage in the fall.  If he is only polling around 7% because of disgruntled voters, the 10% (give or take) of the country that seems to support Ron Paul could push him beyond the 15% that he needs.

Read the rest at Technorati: Gary Johnson: Spoiler or Movement?

Finally, IVN included Gary Johnson in their coverage in the recent debate on immigration reform, and goes in detail what Gary Johnson’s immigration views are, especially considering he was Governor of a border state with a large hispanic population.

But if Americans are unhappy with immigration policy, which has been handled by the two party establishment for over a century, why should they care what the two major parties have to say about immigration now, and why should they expect effective and satisfactory reforms from the very institutions that gave us an immigration policy that everyone believes needs reforming? Their credibility is damaged and independent voters should say so and act accordingly. One third party candidate’s credibility is strong enough to at least warrant inclusion in this important public policy debate, and that candidate is Gov. Gary Johnson.

Read the rest at IVN: Presidential Candidate and Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson on Immigration Policy

Gary Johnson is a former two term Governor from New Mexico and is the Libertarian nominee for President.