The third party candidates never get any respect; they’re usually considered the Rodney Dangerfield of politics.
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A third party candidate’s main objective is to play the spoiler role, taking away votes from the two other guys to unbalance the race.
Texas independent billionaire Ross Perot ran in the 1992 and 1996 presidential election, while Green Party candidate Ralph Nader ran for the White House five times in 1992, as well as in the New Hampshire Democratic primary in 1996, 2000, and as an independent candidate in 2004 and 2008.
Nader received 0.56 percent of the popular vote in the 2008 United States presidential election.
In the 1992 election, Perot received 18.9 percent of the popular vote; becoming the most successful third-party presidential candidate in terms of the popular vote in history.
Perot made the best case for abolishing the traditional two party system.
This time around, the guy who plans on playing the spoiler is former New Mexico State Governor Gary Johnson.
Every presidential election, the third party guy gets lampooned and his voice lands on deaf ears. He’s never invited to the debates and he gets little to no media coverage. The one thing you can count on from the third party guy is that he will swing some voters to his side, and throw off the race in some minor way.
Let’s take a look at a few things you need to know about this election’s third party guy, Gary Johnson.
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Johnson’s campaign slogan is Live Free, while Romney and Obama go for the less controversial Believe In America and Forward slogans, respectively.
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Johnson ran the state of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 and was dubbed Governor Veto, as he vetoed 200 of the 424 bills approved by the State Legislature. Johnson set a national record for vetoing more bills than all the other 49 state governors combined.
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Unlike Paul Ryan, Johnson doesn’t lie about his athletic achievements. They are well documented.
Johnson climbed Mount Everest despite frostbite, he’s competed in multiple Ironman races, he once ran 100 miles in 30 consecutive hours, and he almost died after accidentally paragliding into a tree.
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Johnson is a thorn in the side of the current Republican Party, he is to the left of being left. Johnson believes in low taxes, supports gay marriage, wants to decriminalize possession of a small amount of marijuana, and is against the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Johnson is fiscally conservative and socially liberal and the GOP hates that.
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Johnson is a 5 percenter. He feels that he only needs 5 percent of the vote to win monumental victory and end the two-party system that is running the country.
Johnson tweeted the other day:
“5% ends the two-party system & allows Libertarian candidates equal ballot access.”
Johnson is on a mission and with the election so tight, he just may achieve that goal.
