Kept off the debate stage, Gary Johnson very politely protests

Kept off the debate stage, Gary Johnson very politely protests

The Commission on Presidential Debates, which announced last week that only the Democratic and Republican candidates qualified for the first round of televised face-offs, is tucked into a pleasant but anonymous corner of northwest Washington. At noon Wednesday, the sidewalk outside the CPD was full of protesters, bearing signs and giant face masks in support of Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson. Polling stronger than any third-party contender since 1996, Johnson had missed the 15 percent polling threshold, and there was no recourse before the first debate on Sept. 26.

The protesters, at least 150 of them, had no plan except for shaming. Alex Graham, who had driven from Pittsburgh to organize the rally, said there was no interest in blocking the CPD entrance or rushing inside. “We don’t want to do civil disobedience,” she explained, as a cop asked her again how long she intended the protest to go. (Three hours.)

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Liz Mair, an anti-Trump Republican strategist now affiliated with Republicans for Gary Johnson, told protesters that the Libertarian was the best candidate to break through the major-party stranglehold.

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Other speakers focused on their personal discovery of Johnson and how up to 30 percent of millennials told pollsters that they supported him. Eventually, they were joined by Johnson himself.

“You so honor me,” Johnson said. “Thank you all so much. I found out, just the other day, that Ross Perot was polling less than we are now when he was allowed into the first debate. So this really is so important.”

As supporters crowded around him, Johnson made the argument about the need for a third party that had gotten a hearing on cable news but none at the CPD. “Democrats, what, 26 percent?” he said. “Republicans, what, 28 percent? The rest of the population is independent, and where is their representation?”

“Let Gary debate!” chanted the supporters. “Let Gary in!”