Excluded From N.H. Debate, Gary Johnson Campaigns in Iowa

Arbitrarily excluded from Monday night’s debate in New Hampshire, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson spent the evening campaigning in Iowa — site of the first-in-the-nation caucus — where he called for steep cuts in federal spending and declared that if elected president he would work to abolish the IRS.

“I think the biggest issue facing this country right now is that we are bankrupt and on the verge of a financial collapse,” Johnson told about 75 people at an Iowa Tea Party event at the Elks Lodge in Council Bluffs.

It was Johnson’s first campaign stop in Iowa since announcing his candidacy on the steps of the Statehouse in Concord, New Hampshire, on April 21.

Johnson, who served two consecutive terms as governor — vetoing more bills than all of the other governors in the country combined while leaving New Mexico with a billion dollar surplus when he left office in January 2003 — painted a bleak picture of the U.S. economy, issuing a sobering warning of a perilous collapse in the bond market if deficit spending isn’t quickly brought under control.

The libertarian-leaning former governor said that balancing the federal budget, including making cuts to the bloated defense budget, will be one of his highest priorities.

A fiscally conservative and socially progressive Republican, the 58-year-old Johnson advocates legalizing marijuana and supports gay marriage. He is also opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, potentially making him President Obama’s worst nightmare in the crowded field of GOP contenders.