As I reported last week, former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson has been forced out of the GOP race and will seek the Libertarian Party nomination instead:
The former two-term New Mexico governor, whose campaign for the GOP nomination never caught fire, will make the announcement at a press conference in Santa Fe on Dec. 28. Johnson state directors will be informed of his plans on a campaign conference call Tuesday night, a Johnson campaign source told POLITICO.
The move has been expected for weeks — Johnson had run a New Hampshire-centric effort that never got him past a blip in the polls. He appeared at only two nationally televised debates, and only one in which other major candidates took part.
Johnson expressed deep disillusionment with the process as his libertarian message failed to catch fire and he received almost no attention for his bid. He soon began flirting with the Libertarians when it became clear that he was gaining no traction in GOP primaries.
He appeared at only two nationally televised debates
It’s hard to get in the debates when the people that run them keep changing the rules. And when those rule changes seem custom tailored to exclude a specific candidate.
Comment by Brian Dunbar — December 21, 2011 @ 15:01
I don’t have a good explanation for why they spent so much time and energy excluding him from the debates — since they clearly believe that most of what he stands for (small government, lower taxes, reduced regulation, drug decriminalization, etc.) is anathema to their voters anyway. The GOP braintrust understand that American voters want a bigger nanny state, more borrowing, more spending, and more military adventures abroad.
Comment by Nicholas — December 21, 2011 @ 17:29