Say what you want about the libertarian candidate for president Gary Johnson, but one thing is clear. If you really want things in Washington to change dramatically, he is your candidate.
Johnson, the plain spoken two term former governor of New Mexico has been struggling to find a footing in the race for president. He thinks that it is simply because the average voter hasn't heard enough about him.
(We interviewed Governor Johnson at our NBC12 studios)
Pointing to polls that show him garnering as much as 5% of the vote nationally, Johnson said he is not getting enough coverage.
"Do you hear my name five times for every time you hear Obama's name 45 times?" He asked. "No you hear my name mentioned one time for every five thousand times these guys names are mentioned."
To that end, Johnson is suing to seek entrance into the last two presidential debates. It's not the first time he has fought this battle and he has no illusions that his effort this time will be any more successful. Johnson said despite having the requisite criteria listed for several debates during the GOP primary he was turned back, with very little explanation.
He believes if given the chance to stand on the same stage with the two major party candidates he will prove to voters that Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are really not all that different. Johnson has a clear and dramatic difference of opinion from both republicans and democrats on any number of important issues.
"I don't want to bomb Iran, I want to get out of Afghanistan tomorrow and bring the troops home. I believe marriage equality is a constitutional guaranteed right. I want to end the drug wars, legalize marijuana now. I would've never signed the Patriot Act and I would never have signed the National Defense Authorization Act," he said.
The former governor also refuses to call military spending "defense" spending because he believes American foreign policy has spent too much time on offense. Unlike both major party presidential candidates who have been warning about the devistating cuts that the sequestration act could bring, Johnson believes those cuts wouldn't be nearly enough. He is ready to slash $1.4 trillion in his first year in office.
Johnson's name will be on the ballot in 48 states, including Virginia. His efforts to get on the ballot in Oklahoma are still up in the air and he is mounting what he called a "serious" write-in campaign in Michigan.
If Johnson were to pull even 1% of the vote in a crucial swing state it could play a role in who wins and loses between Romney and Obama. Johnson welcomes that opportunity and said that there is truly not enough of a difference between the two for him to care if one or the other wins.
"I see twiddle-dee and twiddle-dum. Elect either one of them and it's continued police state, continued state of war and continued unsustainable spending."
Regardless of what happens on election day Johnson plans on staying involved in the process and believes the rise of a influential third party is only a matter of time.
The question remains what, if any, impact his candidacy will have this time around.
My full, almost 20 minute, interview with Governor Johnson can be found below:
