The Libertarian Party is hoping for a post-Republican National Convention bounce of their own thanks to Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) call for voters to mind their conscience.
In the passage of his Wednesday night convention speech where Cruz drew many boos and chants from Trump fans in the delegations, the onetime GOP presidential primary candidate said, “We deserve leaders who stand for principle, who unite us all behind shared values, who cast aside anger for love. That is the standard we should expect from everybody.”
“And, to those listening, please don’t stay home in November,” Cruz continued. “If you love our country, and love our children as much as you do, stand, and speak, and vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom, and to be faithful to the constitution.”
The morning after, as pundits dissected the speech, Cruz told the Texas delegation that he won’t be “a servile puppy dog” for Trump, and Trump needled Cruz on Twitter for being among “a small group of people who have suffered massive and embarrassing losses,” the Libertarians saw an opportunity.
“Come November, we encourage those who seek to follow their conscience, who love freedom and the Constitution, as Sen. Cruz describes, to vote Libertarian,” party chairman Nicholas Sarwark declared in a statement today. “We have candidates running for positions ranging from president to city council.”
“I don’t agree with Senator Cruz on every issue, but this election is a job interview for the most important job in the country,” the party leader continued. “His call to not stay home in November, to vote your conscience, to vote for the candidate who will defend the Constitution, is one that people should heed.”
“If Americans look past names and party labels, the most honest, trustworthy, and qualified candidate is very clearly Gary Johnson. Maybe that’s why the delegates at his convention savagely booed his call to ‘vote your conscience.'”
Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson has been polling at an average of 8.9 percent in presidential surveys where his name has been included.
A mid-month CNN/ORC poll put Johnson at 13 percent in a three-way matchup. The Libertarian Party pushed supporters in a separate email today to start hitting the pavement to push Johnson to the 15 percent threshold needed to participate in the national debates.
“Placing 200 door hangers on doors takes about 2 hours in apartment complexes, or up to 4 hours or more for single-family homes,” the mailer advised. “Take some rubber bands with you to attach them to oddly shaped door knobs, but don’t put them inside mailboxes (that’s prohibited by law).”
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