Libertarian Gary Johnson secures running mate [View all]

[WhiteTara]

http://www.whdh.com/story/32013099/libertarian-gary-johnson-secures-running-mate

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -

Seizing new fuel for his appeal to Donald Trump's critics, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson has joined forces with another former Republican governor to strengthen his Libertarian presidential bid.

William Weld, who served two terms as the Republican governor of Massachusetts in the 1990s, will announce plans Thursday to seek the Libertarian Party's vice presidential nomination, Johnson confirmed in a Wednesday interview with the Associated Press. The pair met privately in Las Vegas over the weekend when Weld agreed to run as Johnson's running mate in the party's upcoming nominating convention and into the general election.

"We got together and shook hands on it," Johnson told the AP in an interview in Salt Lake City, where his underdog presidential campaign is based. "It brings an enormous amount of credibility to what it is I'm doing. I'm unbelievably flattered by this and humbled."

Johnson is casting himself as the best - and perhaps only - alternative to Trump, as the New York billionaire's Republican critics struggle to identify another third-party candidate.