Now that Gary Johnson, the former New Mexico governor who sought the Republican presidential nomination before pulling out ahead of the Iowa caucus, has won the Libertarian Party’s nomination, it’s clear that he is targeting supporters of a former rival for the GOP nod and a former Libertarian nominee -- Ron Paul.

Johnson romped to victory at the Libertarian convention on Saturday, winning the nomination on the first ballot with the support of 419 of the 595 delegates. Les Wrights, a writer who served as the party’s vice chairman, placed a distant second with 152 delegates. Former Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia was the Libertarian nominee in 2008, beating out a field that included former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska and sports handicapper Wayne Allyn Root on the sixth ballot. Barr, who selected Root as his running mate, pulled 0.4 percent in the 2008 presidential election.

Johnson, who was elected the first of two terms as governor of New Mexico back in 1994, hopes to do better than Barr who backed Newt Gingrich for president during the 2012 election cycle.

“I am honored and I just want to pledge that no one will be disappointed,” Johnson told the convention on Saturday. “We’re going to grow the Libertarian Party.”

Johnson made a stab at the Republican presidential nomination but was essentially shut out of the debates with the exception of one held in Orlando back in September. He pulled out of the race for the Republican nomination barely a week before the Iowa caucus and encouraged his supporters to back Paul. Johnson had endorsed Paul, who was the Libertarian presidential nominee back in 1988, in 2008 when the Texas congressman sought the Republican nomination.

While Johnson points to the 14 times he lowered taxes and the more than 750 vetoes he cast during his two terms as governor, he received national media attention for his call to legalize marijuana. Johnson will continue to push for legalization of marijuana and his running mate, former Judge Jim Gray of California, has been very active in pushing for reform of the nation’s drug laws.

Johnson has made no secret that he plans to appeal to Paul’s supporters. While Paul has picked up momentum in recent weeks as other candidates have dropped out of the race, and he is the only major candidate in the Republican primaries besides Mitt Romney, the Texas congressman trails behind the former Massachusetts governor in the delegate count.

One of the first things Johnson did on Saturday after winning the nomination was to post the news on Twitter -- and sending it to Paul’s account. “Humbled to receive the LP Nomination; Ready to give America a real choice in Nov.,” Johnson posted.

Johnson reached out to Paul supporters back in late December when he scuttled his bid for the Republican nomination and announced that he would aim for the Libertarian nod. At the time, Johnson encouraged his supporters to back Paul but insisted the Texas congressman had little chance to win the Republican nomination. Since then, Johnson has continued to reach out to Paul supporters, though there are some differences between the candidates including on foreign policy where Johnson has been more of a supporter of American military intervention abroad than Paul has been.  

Despite trailing Romney in the delegate count, Paul shows no signs of putting the brakes on his bid for the Republican nomination. Last week Paul held three rallies in California, which holds its primary in early June, which brought out thousands of supporters, and on Sunday he returned home to the Lone Star State to hold a rally in Austin.




Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.