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Libertarians Unite: Johnson Endorses Paul

By Skeet Shooting

Gary Johnson, former New Mexico governor and friend of libertarianism, has publicly endorsed Ron Paul. Now this is a big deal for Paul because, despite Johnson's eccentricities, has now garnered the endorsement of a non-fringe elected official.

The rest of Paul's endorsements (Here) are a list of D-list political celebrities and wannabees, with the exception of the conservative economist Walter Williams, who appears to have endorsed Paul in a tongue-in-cheek way and to avoid Mallard Fillmore's push for a Williams run.

Disturbingly, whoever is editing Paul's wikipedia page includes Paul's David Duke endorsement--yet another reminder of the "newsletters" that could well have been written by Duke or his ilk.

What Johnson's (late) endorsement really highlights is what has plagued Paul's campaign hitherto: a credibility gap. Most of us realize that voters don't choose their candidates based on the number or punching weight of a candidate's endorsements. But Ron Paul's campaign proves that they do matter for by any other political calculus, Ron Paul should be outperforming his own showings so far.

Paul has the hype/energy that Romney or Giuliani could only dream of, the money Huckabee and McCain would have killed for, and, on blind polling I would conjecture, the conservative/libertarian positions of the GOP base and yet he cannot take advantage of the weak GOP field and "break-out."

Now a credible and current/future officeholder of stature coming out to endorse Ron Paul would be a real coup for it would signal that Paul's a serious candidate and not a distraction from the process a la Gravel or even Kucinich. Ron Paul needs the imprimatur of a national figure and fast or else the Ron Paul Revolution will look more like the campaign of cranks it has become on youtube comments.

Full post as published by Expressio Unius on January 22, 2008 (boomark / email).