Johnson channeled Paul during a Reddit Q&A Wednesday. | AP Photos Johnson: Paul write-in 'meaningless'

Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian presidential candidate, said Wednesday that writing in Rep. Ron Paul’s name on the November ballot “will effectively be meaningless.”

But that didn’t stop Johnson from using his second Reddit “Ask Me Anything,” an online Q&A, to champion many of the foreign policy doctrines that have made Paul, the Texas Republican and former presidential nominee, a star among libertarian-minded voters.


“As much as I support Ron Paul, I think writing in his name will effectively be meaningless,” Johnson wrote.

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He also took a hard line against U.S.-led military interventions and said it would be “very problematic” if Israel bombed nuclear sites in Iran without American backing.

“I think that with out U.S. support, that bombing by Israel becomes very problematic,” he wrote, adding elsewhere, “I would use the bully pulpit of the presidency to point out that bombing Iran would result in another 100 million enemies to the country, that otherwise would not have existed. STOP MILITARY INTERVENTIONS!”

Johnson, a two-term former governor, dropped his bid for the GOP presidential nomination after he was shut out of the nationally televised primary debates earlier this year. He later decided to pursue the Libertarian Party’s nomination, which he won in May. He will appear on the November ballots in 47 states, including Washington, D.C., and the party is litigating in Michigan, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania to appear on ballots there.