Its co-chairmen are Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, and Michael D. McCurry, who served as press secretary to former President Bill Clinton. The co-chairman emeritus is Paul G. Kirk Jr., a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee who also served briefly as a Democratic senator from Massachusetts after the death of Edward Kennedy.

The commission has assembled an impressive board of directors that includes two former senators (both Republicans), a retired congresswoman (a Democrat), and an ex-governor (a Republican). The board boasts admirable representation from both sides of the aisle. Yet it also suffers from an obvious fealty to conventional two-party politics in an election year marked by consistent and widespread public dissatisfaction with the nominees of the Republican and Democratic parties.

As a two-term governor, Gary Johnson has spent more time in elected executive office than Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump combined. His views on fiscal policy, the size and scope of government, social tolerance, and international affairs are in many respects more in line with the views of most Americans than those of his opponents. The Times-Dispatch endorsed Johnson on Labor Day weekend. He has moved into double digits in several major national polls this month.