Libertarians Choose Their Candidate - Greens Still Pondering Their Choice

For those of you who don't want to vote for the candidates of either the Republican or Democratic parties, there is now an official third-party candidate. The Libertarian Party met in Las Vegas this weekend, and they have nominated former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson as their candidate for president in the November election.

Johnson (pictured above) had originally tried to get the Republican nomination this year, but his candidacy could never get any traction. He finally dropped out and went after the Libertarian nomination. And he didn't have any trouble getting it -- winning 70% of the delegate vote on the first ballot (getting 419 of the 595 votes cast). I think the Libertarians were thrilled to have someone with at least a little name-recognition as their candidate this year.

In his acceptance speech, Johnson told the delegates, "I am honored and I just want to pledge that no one will be disappointed. We're going to grow the Libertarian Party." Johnson also promised solutions to the sluggish American economy and widespread unemployment, but offered no specifics (probably because the Libertarians don't believe in government solutions to national problems -- economic or otherwise).

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Meanwhile, the other major third party (the Green Party) is still pondering their choice for the presidential nomination. They will make their choice at their national convention to be held in Baltimore from July 12th through July 15th. The main candidates are Dr. Jill Stein (medical doctor, author, and political activist) and Roseanne Barr (actress and comedian). It should be interesting to see who they choose, since one candidate has the political gravitas and the other has name-recognition. Stein (my choice) is pictured below.