His speech starts at approx 2:55:25
Gary Johnson Wins Libertarian Party Nomination
Las Vegas – For the second consecutive election cycle the Libertarian Party has nominated a prominent ex-Republican politician as their presidential nominee. Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico, won the party’s nomination on the first ballot. Johnson's opponents, including his debate partner Lee Wrights, trailed far behind.
Johnson is the first former state executive to run for president on the Libertarian line and, arguably, provides the LP with their highest profile candidate since Ron Paul in 1988. Johnson has stated that his goal, short of winning, is to reach 15 percent in the polls to qualify for the national debates and to pick up at least 5 percent of the vote in November order to secure public funding for the party in 2016.
Voting for the vice presidential nominee will take place next. Jim Gray and Lee Wrights are the two candidates seeking the VP slot.
Gary Johnson 70.420%
Lee Wrights 25.546
Jim Burns 2.017%
Write-Ins 1.008%
Carl Person .5%
None of the above .5%
It was also improvised.
“You must not know much about Gary,” his spokesman told me when I asked for a transcript of the speech, which brought the packed Red Rocks ballroom to its feet half a dozen times. “That was all Gary. All he had up there were a few notes.”
Content-wise, Johnson’s speech was nothing new. He’s talked about winding down the war in Afghanistan, ending the war on drugs, fiscal responsibility, tax reform, GLBT rights, and gun rights at speeches across the country for months. But today’s delivery showed Johnson has finally learned how to package those ideas into sound bites.
Some of the punchiest lines:
“Imagine a libertarian president challenging Congress to bring about marriage equality.”
“Imagine a libertarian president ending impediments to free markets.”
“Imagine a libertarian president challenging Congress to repeal the PATRIOT Act.”
“Imagine a libertarian president challenging Congress for meaningful immigration reform.”
“The libertarian candidate for president is the only candidate talking about gun rights and gay rights in the same sentence.”
“The libertarian candidate for president is the only candidate that’s going to be talking about slashing welfare spending and warfare spending in the same sentence.”
“Make no bones about it: The goal here is to win the election.”
"Somewhere between 2000 and 2008, Bob Barr fell out of bed, hit his head, and became a libertarian. I'm glad it happened."
"This is not 2008. I don't have any of that baggage hanging in back of me."
And the best line of the speech:
"I was on NPR's All Things Considered yesterday. The question was, 'You're on the torture rack, they're going to kill you, who are you going to vote for? Mitt Romney, or Barack Obama? I said, 'Look, I've climbed Mount Everest. I know how to do what it takes. Take this to the bank: I would rather die.'"
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