Following the selection this morning of ex-New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson as their presidential nominee, Libertarian Party members gathered in Las Vegas named Orange County's Jim Gray as the party's vice presidential choice.
Gray–a well-respected, retired OC Superior Court judge–won 357 votes and, thanks largely to the Texas delegation, Lee Wrights came in second with 229.
Johnson had asked the convention to select Gray but heaped praise on the popular Wrights.
“You will never regret this,” Gray told the crowd after his win. “I've never been so excited.”
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Gray–long known as a conservative, if independent Republican in OC
political circles which was an odd place for one of the nation's most
outspoken opponents of the so-called “War on Drugs“–said the goal is now
to win in November.
He predicted that if Johnson is allowed to debate President Barack Obama and likely Republican Party nominee Mitt Romney “all bets are off” about conventional predictions on the inability of a third party to win the White House.
Before the party's VP vote, Dr. James Lark of Virginia called Gray “a superb choice.”
David Bergland, the party's 1984 presidential nominee, praised Gray for once challenging “the evil Barbara Boxer” for U.S. Senate in California and said he “has done great work as a Libertarian.”
During his own pre-victory speech, Gray said it is time “for third parties to rise up” and challenge the status quo.
“We
are a political party, not a philosophical debate society,” Gray told
an enthusiastic crowd. “The purpose of a political party is to enter
candidates and win elections.”
He also named deceased, free-market economist Milton Friedman
“my hero,” called for more “choice in school,” blasted the acceptance
of military torture against terrorism suspects, belittled the income tax
system and blamed federal government regulation for the nation's “loss
of prosperity.”
Go HERE to read my coverage of Johnson's victory this morning in Las Vegas.
Go HERE to read one of my prior articles about Judge Gray and his efforts to legalize marijuana.
Obama officially launched his 2012 presidential campaign today at The Ohio State University and later at Virginia Commonwealth University by claiming he's “kept my promises.”
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CNN-featured investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley has won Journalist of the Year honors at the Los Angeles Press Club; been named Distinguished Journalist of the Year by the LA Society of Professional Journalists; obtained one of the last exclusive prison interviews with Charles Manson disciple Susan Atkins; won inclusion in Jeffrey Toobin’s The Best American Crime Reporting for his coverage of a white supremacist’s senseless murder of a beloved Vietnamese refugee; launched multi-year probes that resulted in the FBI arrests and convictions of the top three ranking members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and gained praise from New York Times Magazine writers for his “herculean job” exposing entrenched Southern California law enforcement corruption.