Boston Herald

Stossel’s job: Let America meet Libertaria­n leaders

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debate stage. PurplePac, a Libertaria­n SuperPac, is launching a $1 million ad campaign on Fox and CNN today to boost the ticket’s chances. The gist of the ad is that “America deserves better” than Trump or Clinton.

“Everybody says that if the Libertaria­ns can’t make it this year, when the major party candidates are so unpopular, they will never make it, and that may be true,” Stossel said. “But things happen slowly. People are in the habit of voting either Democratic or Republican. It will take time to change.”

Johnson and Weld will follow tonight’s Town Hall with a campaign stop tomorrow in Massachuse­tts — where Clinton is dominating Trump. But polls show that their support is mostly coming from Clinton voters, and there are plenty of them here.

The event will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. at Boston Common’s Parkman Band Stand. And do tell ’em the Track sent you ... they’ll get there.”

Towards that end, Stossel will host Johnson and Weld’s Libertaria­n Town Hall at 9 p.m. tonight on the Fox Business channel. “The studio audience can ask whatever questions they want and I’ll also ask questions from my social media feeds, Facebook and Twitter and we’ll have some questions from people on the street,” Stossel said.

Weld may face some tough grilling from hard-core Libertaria­ns in the audience who aren’t too thrilled with his stance on gun control. Stossel, a Libertaria­n, said he was initially skeptical about the former Mass. governor, but he’s come around.

“I remembered him as being another boring Republican,” he said. “But he’s not boring. He speaks more passionate­ly and clearly than either of the major party presidenti­al candidates. And Johnson seems to do better when Weld is around.”

None of which will matter unless they can get on the televised presidenti­al

When Fox News pundit John Stossel went out on the streets of New York City to ask people what they wanted to know from Libertaria­n Party presidenti­al and vice-presidenti­al candidates Gary Johnson and Bill Weld, the most common response he got was, “Who?”

“Most people never heard of them” Stossel told the Track.

Of course, here in Massachuse­tts, we know Bill Weld. He was our governor from 1991 to 1997. And presumably, Johnson is equally well-known in New Mexico, where he ran the state for eight years. But in between here and there, not so much.

Which is not good news for Libertaria­ns, because unless they poll 15 percent or above, Johnson and Weld won’t get to debate Hillary Clinton and

Tim Kaine and Donald Trump and Mike Pence beginning next month. “Bettors give them a 20 percent chance of making it, in Europe, where betting is legal,” Stossel said. “But they seem very confident that

 ?? AP PHOTO ?? Libertaria­n presidenti­al candidate Gary Johnson, left, and his running mate Bill Weld will appear in a Libertaria­n Town Hall tonight on the Fox Business channel.
AP PHOTO Libertaria­n presidenti­al candidate Gary Johnson, left, and his running mate Bill Weld will appear in a Libertaria­n Town Hall tonight on the Fox Business channel.

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