8/25 Quinnipiac Poll - Gary Johnson at 10% Nationally and 62% Want Him In Debates

Quinnipiac University Poll

82% 18-38 want him in the debates. Wowza!

Gary Johnson’s Response to the Presidential Debate

Gary Johnson 2012

We didn’t see a debate tonight. We saw two slightly differing versions of defending the Republican and Democrat status quo that has given us war after war after war, a $16 trillion debt, and a government that is the answer to everything.

Nowhere was there a real plan for reducing government, balancing the budget any time in the foreseeable future, or a path that will actually put Americans back to work.

We heard two politicians arguing over which of their plans for government-run health care is less bad. We heard fantasies about balancing the budget while not reducing Medicare costs.

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are nibbling around the edges of the nation’s problems. We don’t have time to nibble — we need to devour them.

Americans deserve real debates and a voice who will actually tell the truth about what it will take to put this great nation back on track.

A Letter To The Editor Regarding Southwest Airlines And The Presidential Debates

You may not be aware of this but because of pressure from consumers, 3 sponsors have pulled out of the Presidential Debates thus far. On Monday it was BBH New York, on Wednesday the YWCA dropped out and on Friday it was Philips Electronics.

As you can see, public opinion does matter to large corporations. With that in mind, we need to make it known to the other debate sponsors that there are those of us who are not happy with the Commission on Presidential Debates' decision to exclude other qualified 3rd party candidates from the upcoming debates.

Well, Southwest Airlines is one of those debate sponsors. They need to be put on notice that we are unhappy with their decision to support the exclusion of qualified 3rd party candidates who are on the ballots in enough states to have access to 270 or more electoral votes and thus a mathematical chance of winning the Presidency.

By excluding these candidates, Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Party's Jill Stein, Southwest, as well as the remaining six other sponsors, are actively silencing the voices of candidates who can influence the outcome of the election.

We know Southwest Airlines' senior management is aware of the issue as responses to email inquiries to the company show.

After careful review of the CPD’s request for Southwest Airlines involvement in the upcoming debates, our Senior Leaders felt that the core values of Southwest Airlines aligned with the CPD’s mission of providing American Citizens the opportunity to make informed decisions.

To this end, we must continue to pressure Southwest to reconsider their sponsorship and end their involvement with these sham debates.

I ask you all to email a Letter to the Editor of the Dallas Morning News (200 words or less), the major daily newspaper in Southwest's home city of Dallas. Also provided are the email addresses to Southwest executives so they may receive a copy of your letter. Blind copies should be sent to three additional Texas newspapers in cities served by Southwest as well.

Together we can make our voices and the voices of all qualified Presidential candidates heard.

Thank you for your support.

Here is a copy of the email that I sent, but remember to be effective you should use your own words.

To: letters@dallasnews.com, letterstoeditor@dallasnews.com

cc: gary.kelly@wnco.com, jeff.lamb@wnco.com, ron.ricks@wnco.com, dave.ridley@wnco.com, kevin.krone@wnco.com, linda.rutherford@wnco.com, ellen.torbert@wnco.com

bcc: letters@statesman.com, viewpoints@chron.com, letters@express-news.net

Subject: Why is Southwest Airlines limiting our choices in the upcoming Presidential election?

To the editor:

As a businessman who is a frequent traveler through Dallas and who regularly uses Southwest for my other business and personal travel, I am disheartened to hear that Southwest is suggesting that I only have the choice to vote for a Republican or a Democrat for President.

In sponsoring the Commission on Presidential Debates, an organization of professional Republican and Democratic functionaries in DC, Southwest is doing just that; preventing me and two hundred million other American voters from hearing other qualified candidates for President who will be on the majority of ballots this November.

I strongly disagree with Southwest's statement to me that, "The Senior Leadership of Southwest Airlines felt that their core values aligned with the CPD’s mission of providing American Citizens the opportunity to make informed decisions" given they are not allowing the American electorate to hear all the options in order to make that informed decision.

If a "core value" of Southwest is to silence the voices of qualified Presidential candidates, other than those from the Democratic or Republican parties, I wish to no longer do business with them.

Southwest should stay out of politics and not have a hand in influencing this important election.

Chris Walsh
San Tan Valley, AZ

And, if you wish to get in touch with the other six sponsors, here is their contact info as well:

Crowell & Moring LLP
At Crowell – Moring LLC, the Chairman is Kent A. Gardiner and his email is
kgardiner@crowell.com

Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
One Busch Place
St. Louis, MO 63118
800-342-5283
E-mail Contact Form: http://contactus.anheuser-busch.com/Contactus/email.asp

The Howard G. Buffet Foundation
158 W Prairie Ave, Suite 107
Decatur, IL 62523-1442
Also:
121 S 51st St
Omaha, NE 68132
402-556-6641

Sheldon S. Cohen, Esq.
Farr, Miller & Washington
1020 19th Street, NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036
800-390-3277
202-530-5600
202-530-5508 Fax
Email: sscohen@farrmiller.com

International Bottled Water Association
1700 Diagonal Road
Suite 650
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-683-5213
703-683-4074 Fax
Email: ibwainfo@bottledwater.org
800-WATER-11 (Information Hotline)
http://bottledwater.org

The Kovler Fund
aka Marjorie Kovler Research Fellowship
c/o John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Columbia Point
Boston, MA 02125
617-514-1624
617-514-1625 Fax
Email: kennedy.library@nara.gov

Gov Gary Johnson Sends Letter To The Commission On Presidential Debates

Gary Johnson 2012

On Monday, August 20, 2012, Gov. Gary Johnson sent the following letter to the Executive Director, the Co-Chairmen, and the Board of Directors of the Commission on Presidential Debates.

The Commission on Presidential Debates began in 1987 by the Democratic and Republican parties to establish the way that presidential election debates are run between presidential candidates.

Inclusion in the Presidential Debates


To the Commission on Presidential Debates,

I am writing to request that the National Commission on Presidential Debates reconsider your current – and exclusionary – requirements for participation in this Fall’s all-important Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates.

I am well aware of the history and genesis of the Commission, including the reality that it was created largely by the respective national leadership of the Democrat and Republican Parties. While I respect and understand the intention to provide a reasonable and theoretically nonpartisan structure for the presidential debate process, I would suggest that the Commission’s founding, organization and policies are heavily skewed toward limiting the debates to the two so-called major parties.

That is unfortunate, and frankly, out of touch with the electorate. You rely very heavily on polling data to determine who may participate in your debates, yet your use of criteria that are clearly designed to limit participation to the Republican and the Democrat nominee ignore the fact that many credible polls indicate that a full one-third of the electorate do not clearly identify with either of those parties. Rather, they are independents whose voting choices are not determined by party affiliation.

That one-third of the voters, as well as independent-thinking Republicans and Democrats, deserve an opportunity to see and hear a credible “third party” candidate. I understand that there are a great many “third party” candidates, and that a line must be drawn somewhere. However, the simple reality of our Electoral College system draws that line in a very straightforward and fair way – a reality that is reflected in your existing criteria. If a candidate is not on the ballot in a sufficient number of states to be elected by the Electoral College, it is perfectly logical to not include that candidate in a national debate. If, on other hand, a candidate IS on the ballot in enough states to be elected, there is no logic by which that candidate should be excluded.

Nowhere in the Constitution or in law is it written that our President must be a Democrat or a Republican. However, it IS written that a candidate must receive a majority of the votes – or at least 50% – cast by electors, and that any candidate who does so, and otherwise meets the Constitution’s requirements, may be President.

As the Libertarian Party’s nominees for Vice-President and President, Judge Jim Gray and I have already qualified to be on the ballot in more than enough states to obtain a majority in the Electoral College, and we are the only candidates other than the Republican and Democrat nominees to have done so, or who are likely to do so. In fact, we fully intend and expect to be on the ballots of all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

However, the Commission has chosen to impose yet another requirement for participation: 15% in selected public opinion polls. Unlike your other requirements, this polling performance criterion is entirely arbitrary and based, frankly, on nothing other than an apparent attempt to limit participation to the Democrat and the Republican.

Requiring a certain level of approval in the polls has nothing to do with fitness to serve, experience, or credibility as a potential President. Rather, it has everything to do with the hundreds of millions of dollars available to and spent by the two major party candidates, the self-fulfilling bias of the news media against the viability of third party candidates, and an ill-founded belief that past dominance of the Republican and Democrat Parties should somehow be a template for the future.

In all due respect, it is not the proper role of an nonelected, private and tax-exempt organization to narrow the voters’ choices to only the two major party candidates – which is the net effect of your arbitrary polling requirement. To the contrary, debates are the one element of modern campaigns and elections that should be immune to unfair advantages based upon funding and party structure. Yet, it is clear that the Commission’s criteria have both the intent and the effect of limiting voters’ choices to the candidates of the two major parties who, in fact, created the Commission in the first place.

Eliminating the arbitrary polling requirement would align the Commission and its procedure for deciding who may participate in the critical debates with fairness and true nonpartisanship, which was the purported intent behind the Commission’s creation. As of right now, eliminating that requirement would not disrupt the process or make it unmanageable. Rather, it would simply allow the participation of a two-term governor who has more executive experience than Messrs. Obama and Romney combined, who has garnered sufficiently broad support to be on the ballot in more than enough states to achieve a majority in the Electoral College, and who, without the help of party resources and special interests, has attracted enough financial support to qualify for presidential campaign matching funds.

I urge and request you to remove the partisanship from the debates, and allow the voters an opportunity to hear from all of the qualified candidates – not just those who happen to be a Democrat or a Republican.

Thank you.

Governor Gary Johnson

Libertarian Nominee for President of the United States

Gary Johnson Gets 24% In New LASPAC Nationwide Poll

Gary Johnson has gained 5 points since last month's LASPAC poll while Obama is down 11.

This is further proof that Governor Johnson is a legitimate contender for the Presidency and that the bias against him by the mediots, other polling organizations and the Commission on Presidential Debates is just that, bias.

Instead, because of the way that the system is rigged by and set up to favor only the Republiocrats, other candidates are excluded from consideration and do not get a fair shake. This deprives the American electorate of truly fair and free elections.

LASPAC

In a nationwide poll of 1,000 likely voters, 24% of respondents said they would vote for Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson.

Likely voters were asked, “Suppose in this year’s Presidential Election you had a choice of Libertarian Gary Johnson or Democrat Barack Obama. If the election were held today would you vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson or Democrat Barack Obama?”

24% Johnson
45% Obama
27% Some other candidate
3% Not sure

This national telephone survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted by Pulse Opinion Research on August 8, 2012. Pulse Opinion Research, LLC is an independent public opinion research firm using automated polling methodology and procedures licensed from Rasmussen Reports, LLC. The poll was conducted on behalf of Libertarian Action Super PAC.

Pulse Opinion Research has handled public opinion polls for organizations such as Rasmussen Reports and The Hill newspaper.

View the poll results

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) has said that its threshold for getting into their debates is 15%. According to this poll, Libertarian Gary Johnson easily passes that test.

Some observers believe that two-candidate polls can produce biased results if there are more than two candidates running. However, the Commission on Presidential Debates apparently uses two-candidate polls when deciding whom to allow in its televised debates. (Those polls only include the Democratic and Republican candidates.)

The LASPAC poll follows the pattern of two-candidate polls conducted by other polling organizations.

Conclusions:

* The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) can’t have it both ways. If two-candidate polls are acceptable, then this poll should count toward the inclusion of Gary Johnson. If two-candidate polls are not acceptable, then CPD must not consider any two-candidate polls from other polling firms. Any other choice would demonstrate partisan bias on the part of CPD. (As a 501(c)(3) organization, CPD is not permitted to show partisan bias when making its selections.)

* A large percentage of voters are clearly willing to consider Libertarian Gary Johnson as an option. His name should be included in all presidential polls.

Gary Johnson Gets 19% In LASPAC Nationwide Poll

Fair is fair.

And don't forget the Gary Johnson Twitter Bomb tomorrow, 8/3.

LASPAC

We just conducted a nationwide telephone poll of registered voters. Here’s what the poll sounded like:



The results:
Barack Obama 56%
Gary Johnson 19%
Undecided/neither 25%

You may be thinking, “Why does that matter, since it doesn’t include the Republican?”

Here’s why it matters:

Gallup has been conducting presidential polls just like this:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/150743/Obama-Romney.aspx

Note the wording of their question:
“Suppose the presidential election were held today. If Barack Obama were the Democratic Party’s candidate and Mitt Romney were the Republican Party’s candidate, who would you vote for, Barack Obama, the Democrat or Mitt Romney, the Republican?”

It includes the incumbent, Obama, plus one selected challenger, Romney — and no one else.

Now here’s our question:
“Suppose the presidential election were held today. If Barack Obama were the Democratic Party’s candidate and Gary Johnson were the Libertarian Party’s candidate, who would you vote for, Barack Obama, the Democrat or Gary Johnson, the Libertarian?”

It’s exactly the same question, except we picked a different challenger.

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) wants candidates to get at least 15% in nationwide polls. But most of those polls only include Obama and Romney. So, if those polls count, then our poll counts too.

We did this poll cheaply (but scientifically) using a less-known robocall firm. Now we want to do it again, on a bigger scale, using a well-known polling organization like Public Policy Polling, SurveyUSA, or Gallup. If we ask the question the same way (just like Gallup), Gary Johnson has a very good chance of getting more than 15%.

Let’s show that to the Commission on Presidential Debates! They can’t have it both ways — they can’t include biased polls that only name Obama and Romney, and then ignore polls like ours.

We’d love to push the CPD into a corner. If they have to accept polls like this, then Gary Johnson has a great chance of getting into the debates. At worst, they’ll have to start demanding that all their polling organizations include Gary Johnson — and that would be a good thing too.

Gary Johnson Could Appear in Presidential Debates

It appears that the noise that Gary Johnson and his supporters are making for his inclusion in the debates is being noticed. We must continue to keep the pressure on.

For those who have seen The Shawshank Redemption, we all remember what Andy Dufresne said after his once a week letter writing campaign to get funding and supplies for the prison library was successful, "From now on, I send two letters a week instead of one."

In other words, now that we know they are sick of hearing from us, we need to make twice as much noise.

US News

After weeks of angry protests on Reddit, Facebook and Twitter to get Libertarian party nominee Gary Johnson in the presidential debates, Janet Brown from the Commission on Presidential Debates tells Whispers he might appear there.

Supporters of Johnson, a former New Mexico governor, have repeatedly said their candidate has been unfairly excluded from presidential election coverage by the mainstream media, hurting his chances to appear in the debates.

That anger only heightened last week when a electoral map generated by data from ISideWith.com, an online app that connects voters with candidates based on their platform stances, showed that Johnson would be the next president if voters cast ballots based solely on the issues.

But Brown told Whispers no decisions on candidate selection have been made yet. Those lobbying to get Johnson in the debates, she said, are "making assumptions about something that has not [happened]."

According to the commission site, a candidate must fulfill three criteria, and Johnson seems to meet them.

Johnson, of course, fulfills an age and nationality requirement, and he has recently met the second criterion as well: That a candidate's name must "appear on enough state ballots to have at least a mathematical chance of securing an Electoral College majority in the 2012 general election."

But the third requirement could lead to Johnson's exclusion. The commission requires a candidate to secure at least 15 percent in selected polls, which Johnson has not yet done. (Gary Johnson polled at 5.3 percent in a poll earlier this month by JZ Analytics; an April Public Policy Polling poll showed him at 6 percent.)
Johnson campaign spokesman Joe Hunter told Whispers of the 15 center benchmark: "We're certainly working towards that and hoping to achieve it."

Johnson's supporters have centered much of their polling frustrations on CNN, which has not included the candidate in their polling since last September. A Twitter hashtag #BlackoutCNN has been used hundreds of times over the last several weeks. Earlier this month, 100 protesters stood outside CNN headquarters in Atlanta with signs and T-shirts asking the network to "Include Gary!" according to the Independent Voter Network.

A request for comment from CNN was not immediately returned, but Hunter told Whispers that whether CNN includes Johnson or not, the campaign is "optimistic" Johnson could appear at the first debate, which will take place Oct. 3 at the University of Denver in Colorado.

New JZ Analytics Poll - Gary Johnson At 5.3% Nationally

If the election for president were held today, for whom would you vote?

Democrat Barack Obama .....43.6%
Republican Mitt Romney.....38.0%
Libertarian Gary Johnson....5.3%
Not sure...................13.1%

According to the poll Gary Johnson pulls more away from Mittens (4.1%) than he does from Barry (1.3%). Most polls where the former New Mexico Governor has been included generally showed that Johnson pulled equally from both, within 1%, so maybe this means that people are waking up to the fact that the Mittster is a horrible choice and is Obama-lite when it comes to most issues.

While this is down from the 7% Gary Johnson was pulling in a March PPP poll, he is still pleased, as he told Capitol Report New Mexico. "It’s all good, from our vantage point a lot more money is coming in. If people get the notion that I could win, that could be a game-changer. We’re not there yet, I’m not saying that, but these numbers are encouraging."

What Gary Johnson needs right now is money and exposure. It's encouraging to hear that a generous Libertarian supporter has recently donated $1 Million to a GJ2012 Super Pac but more is needed.

One way you can help is by participating in the #BlackoutCNN Twitter Bomb on Monday July 16th to @CNN, @CNNPolitics and @CNNBRK urging CNN to give Gary Johnson fair coverage.

The more people that hear about Gary Johnson, the better his chance to be included in the polls and hit the 15% mark that he needs to get into the national debates.

Let’s Put Gov Gary Johnson On The National Debate Stage!

Gary Johnson 2012

You know the story. The elite national news media and the Establishment-created Commission on Presidential Debates have rigged the game to try to limit this fall’s presidential debates to only the Democrat Barack Obama, and the Republican Mitt Romney.

They have rigged the debates by picking a number out of the air and declaring that a presidential candidate must have at least 15 percent support in a sample of national polls that – you guessed it – they choose.

Never mind that one out of three Americans don’t consider themselves to be either Republicans or Democrats, or that, in poll after poll, a sizable percentage of voters say they would seriously consider a ‘third party’ candidate.

And never mind that their arbitrary and unfair polling requirement might exclude from the debates a successful two-term governor who will likely be on the ballot in all 50 states.

If you agree that this debate-rigging is just plain wrong, go to www.garyjohnson2012.com and do something about it. Give Gov. Johnson a podium by joining our “15% in the Polls” Money Bomb.

The two-party establishment doesn’t want Gov. Gary Johnson in the debates for one simple reason: They don’t really want to have debates. They don’t really want to give a national microphone to a candidate who will challenge business-as-usual. And if they succeed in keeping Gov. Johnson off the stage, they will get exactly what they want.

What they want is a “debate” between two candidates who will argue over which government health care program is better, Obamacare or Romneycare. They don’t want to hear from a candidate who will actually scrap the job-killing tax code. What they want is a Republican and a Democrat who will just quibble about how to tinker with the existing system that lets them hand out subsidies and benefits to their friends.

Without Gov. Johnson on the debate stage, there will be NO debate about wars. Mitt Romney and Barack Obama both support foreign intervention. There will be NO debate about civil liberties. Just a Democrat and a Republican who both support the Patriot Act, who both will continue the failed War on Drugs, and neither of whom will defend marriage equality as a constitutional right.

If you want REAL debates, go to www.garyjohnson2012.com today and make a contribution that will put Gov. Johnson on the stage.

America deserves – and wants – to see real presidential debates. With enough financial support, we can make sure that Gov. Johnson has an opportunity to deliver a message of true liberty, real freedom and financial sanity. Help him show America that there really is a choice in this election.

The goal of our Money Bomb, starting today, is to raise $10,000 for every percentage point in the polls we need in order to put a podium on the stage for Gov. Johnson. Help make sure we do just that! Go to www.garyjohnson2012.com today and make a contribution.

Your support is the key. We can do this.

Thank you,

Ron Nielson
Senior Advisor
Gary Johnson 2012