Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson tried to win over conservatives seeking an alternative to Donald Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland.
Without mentioning Trump by name, Johnson cast himself as the person best positioned to challenge the nominees of both major parties.
“I am the third party,” Johnson said. “The Libertarian Party will be on the ballot in all 50 states, there are only three parties in November that will be able to lay claim to that.”I took third place in 2012, 1.3 million votes. I heard from many that they didn’t want to waste their vote. Wasting your vote is voting for somebody you don’t believe in.”The former New Mexico governor made a concise pitch, focusing on fiscal issues that he shares in common with voters who make up the base of the Republican Party, while avoiding discussion of social issues. He said he believed the biggest issue facing the United States right now is the government is too big, does too much, and spends too much. Johnson told the Washington Examiner he is looking for the support of the libertarian-minded Republicans that Donald Trump may have driven away.
“I think Donald Trump fully alienates more than half of Republicans,” Johnson said. “I’ve been in New Hampshire, I’ve been in the Midwest, the group, the core of those people that he is attracting, I’ve seen them up front and in person. They believe the scourge of the earth is Mexican immigration and I’m the one out there saying this is a political boogeyman. It’s made up. It’s a good thing, not a bad thing.”
Johnson’s pitch also includes an overture to social conservatives, who he encourages to “live your life by example … but if you’re going to put that into public policy, we’re going to end up adding to the highest incarceration rate in the world.”
Onstage, Johnson sought to bolster his credentials for the presidency with the conservative audience by noting that “I summited Mount Everest on a recently broken leg” and “I’m a gas-balloon balloonist.”
As right-leaning voters scramble for a contrast with Trump, Johnson will target those who swear off the Republican Party for 2016.
“Google me: Gary Johnson,” he told CPAC, “if you’re serious about reducing the size and scope of government, I’m your guy.”
