Matthew Tully

America is peppered with conflicted Republicans — loyal members of the Grand Old Party who simply cannot tolerate the notion of voting for Donald Trump, but who also find the idea of casting a ballot for Hillary Clinton unimaginable, if not sacrilegious.

It’s a quandary for many of you. If you’re among those in this political black hole, I feel for you.

And, so, today I am here to help. I’ll do that by introducing my troubled Republican friends to Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee for president. He’s a former two-term Republican governor of New Mexico and, thanks to this year’s political discontent, he notched a head-turning 10 percent in a recent national poll.

That’s almost uncharted territory for a Libertarian. It’s also a sign of how strange this political year has been, Johnson said when speaking at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting Monday in Downtown Indianapolis.

“Here’s how crazy it is,” the candidate said. “I might be the next president of the United States.”

Well, probably not. But his campaign looks almost certain to accomplish two big things. First, he’ll likely give the Libertarian Party its best showing in quite some time. Second, he’ll give many tortured Republicans an easy out on Election Day. “Hey,” they can say, “I didn’t support my party’s nominee, but at least I didn’t vote for a Democrat.”

Johnson showed up in Indianapolis a day after Hillary Clinton spoke to the group of mayors. His appearance was marked by two major differences. First, in contrast to Clinton’s appearance, which featured heavy security, there was no noticeable security before Johnson’s speech. I guess 10 percent gets you only so much respect. Second, the audience of mayors and media on Monday was only a fraction of what it had been Sunday.

Libertarian candidate trying to win over Clinton, Trump haters

That’s not meant to discount Johnson’s message, which also might appeal to quite a few Democrats of the Bernie Sanders variety (though it is clearly Trump who is causing more of a moral quandary for party regulars). Johnson called himself “a fiscal conservative and a social liberal” and added that his party “takes the best” of the Democratic and Republican parties.

“I want to keep the government out of my pocketbook,” he said. “And I want to keep the government out of my bedroom.”

The first thing I noticed about Johnson, as he stood without an entourage to the side of the stage before his speech, was that he wore black-and-white tennis shoes under his otherwise formal attire. That’s a style you don’t see often on a politician, but I liked it. (It’s a much better look than a presidential candidate who goes around wearing a goofy baseball cap over his suit and tie.)

As for the issues, Johnson rattled off a long list of proposals. He called for the legalization of marijuana, term limits for politicians, free markets, fewer regulations on small businesses, a less interventionist military philosophy, reform of Social Security that includes means testing and a raised retirement age, and a replacement of the current tax structure with a flat consumption tax.

“If you do away with the corporate tax,” he said, “you will issue pink slips to 80 percent of the lobbyists in Washington.”

The mayors, all entrenched members of the two-party system, listened politely, and many even grabbed selfies with Johnson after his speech. But there wasn’t any talk of endorsements to come. Across the street from the JW Marriott, where he delivered his speech, a couple dozen supporters waved Johnson for president signs at drivers. Many of those drivers surely wondered, “Who’s Johnson?” but the candidate was good-natured as he fielded questions about his long odds after the speech.

He noted that he and running mate William Weld, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts, would be the only third-party candidates on the ballots of all 50 states. He pointed out that his ticket included a pair of “two-term governors who had won in heavily blue states,” and who will be running against “arguably the two most polarizing figures who have ever run for president.”

Despite the turbulent political mood, most voters, even independents, remain tied to the two-party tradition. Breaking through that tradition, Johnson said, would be his greatest challenge. The key, he added, is getting his poll numbers up to 15 percent so that he’ll be granted a spot onstage during the presidential debates this fall.

That, he said, “is the only chance I have.”

If he wins that spot onstage, Johnson will dismiss, as he almost mockingly did Monday, Trump’s call to build a wall on the border, to expel millions of undocumented immigrants and to ban people from this country based on their religion. But he'll also tag Clinton as the status quo candidate and echo part of the anti-establishment message that has propelled Trump and Sanders this election year.

“Government is for sale,” he said. “Government favor is for sale. We can level the playing field.”

The candidate in the black-and-white sneakers may not be the next president — even this political year is not that crazy — but he is likely to give many voters something they desperately want: another choice.

You can reach me at matthew.tully@indystar.com or at Twitter.com/matthewltully.