Libertarian Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson Climbs Outdoor Wall

Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson did something Tuesday that neither President Obama nor Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney have done on their trips to Reno.

He scaled the outdoor climbing wall at CommRow in downtown Reno.

Johnson, the Libertarian Party candidate for president, climbed the wall about 70 feet before an aide asked him to come down because they had to catch a flight. By that time, Johnson said the muscles in his arms had been stressed to the max.

“Rock climbing really develops incredible arm strength and they’re muscles you don’t use otherwise,” Johnson said. “I’ve got them but they have gone unused for a while.”

Johnson, who has climbed mountains such as Everest, McKinley and Kilimanjaro, declined to issue a challenge to Obama and Romney to also climb the wall because he was sure the two major-party candidates could do it.

“I’m sure of it. I’m positive they could do it,” said Johnson, New Mexico’s Republican governor for two terms after first elected in 1994. “There could be no challenge. I’m sure they could do it.”

A TV reporter asked if climbing mountains was a metaphor for his campaign, a third party-candidate taking on a huge task of defeating Obama and Romney.

“Hey, it’s a perfect metaphor,” Johnson said. “This is an uphill climb and I’m going to argue that I’m not the third choice but the only choice in this race and maybe that’s also a metaphor, too.”