October 14, 2016

Johnson to ride his bike to NM campaign rally

Matthew Reichbach

Gary Johnson

Gary Johnson is headed back to New Mexico for a campaign rally—and for a lengthy bike ride.

The former New Mexico governor, now the Libertarian Party nominee for president, will rally in Santa Fe Plaza this Saturday, his campaign announced. While most of those attending will presumably be taking cars, Johnson will show up after a bike ride from Taos to Santa Fe.

The rally, which will take place at 3:00 p.m., is the second such rally in New Mexico in as many weeks for Johnson. In an Research and Polling/Albuquerque Journal poll conducted late last month, Johnson received 24 percent of the vote. A SurveyUSA poll conducted for KOB-TV conducted at nearly the same time showed Johnson at 14 percent.

In both cases, Johnson trailed by double digits, but Johnson’s polling in New Mexico is consistently among the highest in any state in the nation.

Johnson explained why he is making the more-than 70 mile bike ride in a release earlier this week.

“It’s going to be fun, but it’s about making a serious point. The benefits not just to each individual, but to society as a whole, of health and fitness are incalculable,” Johnson said. “As the nation continues to wrestle with health care policy and costs, too little attention is paid to being healthier in the first place.”

At a rally last week at the University of New Mexico, Johnson went after Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump.

There, Johnson outlined his likeliest path to the presidency: Win at least one state, have neither Clinton nor Trump receive 270 electoral votes, then have the U.S. House of Representatives vote for Johnson to be the next president.

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