Gary Johnson threatens third-party run

The former Republican governor, excluded from all but two debates this year, tells the Santa Fe New Mexican that he could seek the Libertarian Party nomination for the general election:

"I feel abandoned by the Republican Party," Johnson said in a phone interview. "The Republican Party has left me by the wayside." ... Advertisement "If I'd have been included in 16 of the last debates we wouldn't even be having this conversation," Johnson said. Johnson said there have been "overtures made" by the Libertarian Party. While there's no guarantee he'd win the nomination, Johnson believes he'd have a fair chance.

A Gary Johnson third-party candidacy would be a conundrum for the political media: On the one hand, the Libertarian Party is about as impactful a force in national politics as Gary Johnson has been in the Republican primary. But Johnson is a former two-term governor of a swing state and, at least on paper, more deserving of attention than, for example, Ralph Nader. His unusual issue profile could also make it hard to predict which party he'd siphon more votes away from.