At their convention in Orlando over the weekend, the Libertarian Party nominated the highest credentialed national ticket of any third party since the Bull Moose Party chose former President Theodore Roosevelt and in 1912. In separate second-ballot nominations, the Libertarians selected Gary Johnson for president over five other candidates and William Weld for vice president over three opponents. Johnson was twice elected governor of New Mexico in 1994 and 1998, both times by 10 point margins, and Weld was elected governor of Massachusetts in 1990 and reelected four years later with 71% of the vote before failing in a bid to unseat Sen. John Kerry in 1996. No one expects the Johnson-Weld ticket to be elected. Yet it’s striking that a party not famous for nominating experienced political leaders put aside ideological purity aside for the sake of choosing nominees with a record of winning support from actual voters. What’s more, their experience is of the politically right kind: starting in 1976, four of the last six presidents have ridden anti-Washington sentiment into office from their base as current or
Subscribe Today
Our subscribers have first access to individual race pages for each House, Senate and Governors race, which will include race ratings (each race is rated on a seven-point scale) and a narrative analysis pertaining to that race.