Libertarian Gary Johnson throws US Senate race in chaos

The San Francisco Chronicle ^ | August 16, 2018 | Russell Contreras, The Associated Press

[2ndDivisionVet]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Former Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson said in seeking to make history and capture a U.S. Senate seat in New Mexico he'll have to give up a few of his favorite activities: marathon biking rides, hanging out in his northern New Mexico "dream" home and tuning out news about President Donald Trump.

But he can't promise he won't smoke an occasional joint.

Johnson, who served two terms as New Mexico governor in the 1990s and gained national attention as one of the first mainstream politicians to call for the legalization of marijuana, announced Thursday that he's seeking to unseat Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich after the previous Libertarian nominee dropped out the race.

Johnson told reporters at his newly minted and empty Albuquerque headquarters that his candidacy was a longshot, but he felt he had no choice given Trump's unacceptable actions on immigration and free trade....

[fieldmarshaldj]

Unless the Republican (Rich) withdraws or Johnson withdraws, this only serves to reelect Heinrich with two opponents. Somebody will have to get out in order to win.

[cynwoody]

From the Wikipedia, we see the third-party curse:

Polling[edit]

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Martin Heinrich (D)	Mick Rich (R)	Gary Johnson (L)	Undecided
GBA Strategies (D-Heinrich)	August 1–5, 2018	800	± 3.5%	47%	29%	22%	–
NSON Opinion Strategy (L)	July 2018	500	–	39%	25%	24%	–

There ought to be a runoff if nobody gets over 50%.

[Williams]

I hope you realize he’s doing this on purpose to elect the Democrat.

[fortheDeclaration]

Libertarians want to elect Democrats.

[Bullish]

Johnson’s a loon.

[robowombat]

‘I hope you realize he’s doing this on purpose to elect the Democrat.’

Yes I believe that. The question is why? Johnson certainly has less in common with the Dem that the GOP candidate. Johnson seems to have become a strange and angrily crazy person after dealing with the painful and extended recovery from his paragliding accident. I suspect he still has a lot of residual pain and always will. He seems to be in a rage much of the time which is consistent with many chronic pain sufferers.

[Crucial]

After looking at the polls, it looks to me that it would take more than the withdrawal of Johnson to get Rich elected. Given the Johnson, supports marijuana legalization, he probably is peeling off votes from the Democrat as well.

[JudgemAll]

Liebertarian he is. These are flaming liberals pausing as libertarians. They have more in common with Bernie Sanders than democrats

[Revel]

I don’t care what anyone says. This guy corrupted the Libertarian party, and he has no sense of concern for the control of the Senate at this critical time. He is not a good person.

[Nifster]

So now the press isn’t so fond of Gary

[Fai Mao]

“I don’t care what anyone says. This guy corrupted the Libertarian party, and he has no sense of concern for the control of the Senate at this critical time. He is not a good person.”

Agree.

He is not, at least in my mind a Libertarian. True libertarians know absolutely that the biggest threat to personal liberty is Socialism. A true libertarian would oppose socialism at every opportunity.

[thoughtomator]

Any Republican that would break from the GOP candidate over Trump’s immigration and trade policies was already voting Democrat anyway. I don’t see who the GOP-voting constituency for this candidacy might be.

[MUDDOG]

[AppyPappy]

Pro-weed Libertarians tend to steal from both parties.

[mewzilla]

Which is why conservatives need to run DINOs in ‘Rat primaries.

[abb]

He’s been paid to run.

[WKUHilltopper]

Yep. I’m sure he got a house deal like Bolshevik Bernie did.

[DFG]

“Where is Aleppo?”