He may not say it outright, but former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson is sure acting like he wants to take a shot at running for President in 2012.
Johnson may be a longshot because of his low name-recognition across the country, but with the economy spinning its wheels, Congressional approval ratings for both parties in the dumper and a feeling by some that a libertarian mood might be on the rise, Johnson might just make a few waves.
He’s spent a lot of time in Iowa (home of the presidential caucus), New Hampshire (home of the famous presidential primary) and South Carolina (home of another early primary) this summer. And yesterday, a newspaper in the Quad-Cities of Iowa ran this profile on him.
The key paragraphs:
In an interview with the Quad-City Times editorial board, he suggested the current crop of Republicans considering presidential bids wouldn’t be as determined about cutting spending.
“I think they would all talk about lowering taxes and reducing spending. But when it comes to specifics, ‘Gee, no, not when it comes to Medicare. No, not when it comes to Social Security. No, not Medicaid. No, not defense, certainly,’” he said. “That doesn’t get it.”
Johnson said those areas are where government needs to look, and he noted he liberally used the veto pen as New Mexico’s governor (750 times) allowing him to hold spending down and prevent tax increases.
