Johnson began his talk, held at a packed CU-Boulder mathematics building classroom, on an unusual note -- by sharing his experiences as an entrepreneur and an athlete and discussing how the lessons he learned can impact people's lives in a positive way. Only afterward did he get into specific policy, noting differences between him and his two main rivals, President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney. For instance, he pointed out that he's the only member of the trio who wants to get troops out of Afghanistan immediately and sees no wisdom in bombing Iran. Likewise, he emphasized that his leadership style involves good business practices coupled with a complete disinterest in what people do in the privacy of their own bedrooms.
Another major theme -- dismissing the theory that marking a ballot for him is a wasted vote. In words quoted by the Boulder Daily Camera, he said, "Wasting your vote is voting for someone you don't believe in." He believes that earning 5 percent of the votes cast will shake the current two-party system to its core.
See and hear the entire speech below. That's followed by Johnson's first campaign commercial, which began airing last night in Colorado on outlets such as MSNBC.
More from our Politics archive: "Gary Johnson wants to 'shout from the rooftops' that Colorado can change the world."
