Gary Johnson Supporters Descend on Republican Convention to Woo the Never Trump Crowd
As Republicans descended on the convention arena in Cleveland Wednesday evening, a group of libertarians gathered at a bar nearby called the Winking Lizard to see Gary Johnson and discuss tactics for picking off voters from the GOP, one never-Trumper at a time.
Johnson's appearance at the event was a quick one -- after about half an hour he departed to the Quicken Loans Arena, where the Republican convention is taking place. But after he left, a handful of his supporters lingered, chatting and mingling while barely noticing the convention blaring on the televisions overhead.
"They didn't let him in, did they?" one man asked another.
"Apparently they did, very strange," he replied.
To say Johnson faces an uphill battle in Election 2016 is an understatement.
While he has more name recognition than he did when he ran four years ago, the former New Mexico governor is still relatively unknown among many Americans. According to a RealClearPolitics average of the polls that actually include him (many don't), he boasts about about 8.5% support -- he needs to be at 15% to make it onto the presidential debate stage in the fall.
He knows not making it would be a deal-breaker. So do his supporters.
"I'm with Governor Johnson, if he gets into the debates, winning the elections," said Anthony Dlugos, a libertarian from Ohio who found out about Wednesday's event on Facebook. "I agree with him as well that if he doesn't get in he can't win, not possible. If he gets in, then anything is possible. I actually believe that, it's not Polyannaish thinking on my part."
Part of Johnson's game plan for his campaign and at the RNC is to get press, taking a page from Donald Trump's playbook in garnering free earned media. He is making an appeal to those not convinced by either Trump or Hillary Clinton, and in Cleveland, his backers are looking specifically to make Libertarians out of the #NeverTrump crowd.
"We're basically just here for the convention, we want to explain to the never-Trump delegates the message of Gary Johnson," said Kirsten Jones, who had come in from nearby Columbus.
Jones, like Dlugos, had found out about the gathering on Facebook -- she's a member of a number of pro-Johnson groups on the platform. She admitted, however, that her heart still belongs to former U.S. Representative Ron Paul, whose campaign she worked on in 2012. She pulled back her hair to reveal the initials "RP" tattooed on her neck.
"I don't have GJ on my neck, I have Ron Paul, he's my man," she said.
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In the corner stood a group of women chatting over chips and dip. Among them were two women running for Congress in Michigan.
"There are a lot of people who are disillusioned, and we thought we would come down here, talk to people to give them another option, and that's Gary Johnson," said Lisa Lane Gioia, who is running in Michigan's District 10, a seat currently occupied by Republican Candice Miller, who is not seeking reelection. "We're here to spread the word, there is a choice."
She said she has been approaching those wearing "Dump Trump" t-shirts around town.
Gioia came to Cleveland with Diane Bostow, who is running in Michigan's District 1, a seat about to be left open by Republican incumbent Dan Benishek. Bostow drives around a trailer sporting her name around northern Michigan and does the grunt work of her campaign herself.
"I'm the grey-haired lady by the side of the road planting road signs," she joked, though she qualified she enjoys it. "Worst things can happen than being in the UP campaigning in the summertime."
She also has a special connection to Johnson -- she is his first cousin. "I think I have to get out and let people see him," she said.
As to what Johnson's supporters think of the man of the hour in Ohio at the moment, Trump, they're not exactly his biggest fans.
Jones cackled when asked, then replied, "He does not spread the message of liberty, that's the nicest way I can put it."
Jason Weinman, outreach director of the Libertarian Party of Nevada, was more cutting in his assessment. "Well, Trump is the worst," he said.
He quickly changed the subject to the uptick he's seen in attendance of Libertarian events since 2012. "Now, we can fill any venue with people who are beating the door down," he said. (This was not the case with Wednesday's event.)
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