#USVote: Libertarians to pick bet in a year when they might matter

MIAMI, USA – The Libertarian Party, usually a political midget in the quadrennial battle between Democratic and Republican leviathans as they rumble toward the presidency, is picking its own champion this weekend at a time the choice may actually matter.

With many American voters seeming dismayed, or at least uninspired, by the apparent choices on the major-party menu – Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton – Libertarians are hoping the nominee they select Sunday, May 29, at their convention in Orlando, Florida, can lure large numbers of the disaffected.

Gary Johnson, the former New Mexico governor who is expected to win the nomination, has made a larger than expected dent in recent opinion polls. At least two surveys put him in double digits in a hypothetical 3-way race against the Republican Trump and the Democrat Clinton.

That 10% figure might not hold up until November. Yet, with Clinton and Trump both having the highest negatives of any presidential candidates in modern times, the Libertarians feel energized.

Johnson told foxnews.com that his surprising support probably owed both to the strong “none-of-the-above” feeling about the major party offerings and to growth in his party’s numbers. As the Libertarian candidate in 2012, he drew 1.2 million votes, the party’s most ever.

Johnson said the party expected to be on all 50 states’ ballots by November.

He has said he would pick another former Republican – onetime Massachusetts governor William Weld – as his running mate. Both men are considered fiscal conservatives and social liberals.

Analysts said a Johnson-Weld ticket might siphon votes from Republicans who believe their party’s nomination was stolen by a reality television star with dubious Republican bona fides, and from Democrats who see Clinton as too hawkish, untrustworthy, and overly in the thrall of big Wall Street supporters. – Rappler.com