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Third Parties and the Second Presidential Debate

POST-DEBATE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Joe Hunter

STATEMENT FROM GOV. GARY JOHNSON REACTING TO TONIGHT’S PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

Oct. 9, 2016, Taos, NM -- The following statement was released this evening by Gov. Gary Johnson reacting to tonight’s presidential debate:

"When Donald Trump holds a press conference an hour and a half before the debate begins with the intent of deflecting attention from his own misogyny by trying to convince us the Clintons are worse, we probably knew everything we needed to know about this debate, and more important, this campaign.

We have fallen through the looking glass. Thanks to two candidates who are each running on a platform of not being the other, we are in historically uninspiring territory. 

Yes, thanks to some great questions from the audience, there were a few brief discussions of issues. I even heard some things from each of them with which I agreed. But the bigger question hanging over the entire debate is whether either of these candidates can be believed. We heard predictable answers, incessant attacks and, sadly, no indications of leadership. Without any confidence that a President will have the integrity, character and principles to actually put the nation first, the rehearsed sound bites don’t mean very much.

Americans deserve better. They deserve candidates who are not embarrassments, who aren’t interested in pitting Americans against one another, and who have actually proven that they can lead with principle, nonpartisanship, and a singular purpose of giving Americans the opportunity to improve their lives, be safe, and be free.

That’s why Bill Weld and I are running, and why Americans deserve a chance to see the very different approach we take to governing."
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PRE-DEBATE
Gary Johnson for President
October 9, 2016

ADVISORY: GOV. JOHNSON LIVE TWEETING, GOV. WELD LIVE NYT INTERVIEW DURING TONIGHT’S DEBATE

Oct. 9, 2016, Salt Lake City, UT -- During tonight’s debate, Gov. Gary Johnson will be live tweeting reaction via his official Twitter account: @GovGaryJohnson.

The New York Times will be conducting a live email interview with Gov. Bill Weld. Once the debate begins, the live interview may be followed at http://www.nytimes.com
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Jill Stein for President
October 7, 2016

Despite Exclusion from Debate Stage, Jill Stein Will Participate in Second Presidential Debate with Real-Time, Livestreamed Responses

Despite being excluded from the Presidential debate stage at Washington University, Green Party Presidential nominee Jill Stein will engage in real time with the official debate, making her case directly to the American people in a simultaneous broadcast on multiple online and televised platforms. During the first Presidential debate at Hofstra University, Dr. Stein participated via a livestream that has reached over 19.2 million viewers to date. Since that broadcast, polls have been released showing that 76% of Americans want open Presidential debates, and 57% want a major-party alternative to the Democratic and Republican parties.

On October 9th, Dr. Stein will provide real-time responses to the debate questions alongside Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton from a studio near Washington University. Her responses will be inserted into the ongoing live feed of the official debate. This democratized version of the Presidential debate will be livestreamed on Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka’s official social media accounts via Periscope and Facebook Live, with a televised simulcast carried by Democracy Now! on Free Speech TV and Link TV as part of their "Expanding the Debate" special. Online viewers can also read, watch and share individual responses that will be posted on Dr. Stein's Twitter stream.

Information on simulcasting the live feed for online and broadcast media is available through the Stein/Baraka campaign’s technical team. As the format will require pausing the official debate telecast to allow for Dr. Stein's responses, we anticipate that our broadcast will run approximately 30-40 minutes longer than the official debate.

WHO: Jill Stein, Green Party Presidential nominee

WHAT: Simultaneous online and televised broadcast of responses to the second Presidential Debate

WHEN: Sunday, October 9, 9:00-11:30pm ET

WHERE: Live Feed available for online and broadcast platforms via Wirecast

- Jill Stein official Twitter Account via Periscope: http://twitter.com/drjillstein

- Jill Stein official Facebook Account: http://facebook.com/drjillstein

- Ajamu Baraka official Twitter Account via Periscope:http://twitter.com/ajamubaraka

- Ajamu Baraka official Facebook Account: http://facebook.com/ajamubaraka

- Democracy Now! "Expanding the Debate" special via Free Speech TV and Link TV

- Other online and broadcast platforms TBA

Libertarian National Committee
October 6, 2016

Libertarian Party: CPD shuts out millions of voters again

The Commission on Presidential Debates, a private organization controlled by the Democratic and Republican Parties, relied on rigged polls in its decision to exclude Libertarian Gov. Gary Johnson from the second presidential debate, being held on October 9. This comes in spite of the fact that polls consistently show he draws broad support from independents, military personnel, and millennials.

“By excluding the candidate most popular with independent voters, young voters, and military voters, the CPD is silencing their voices in the political process and showing that they have no interest in educating and informing the electorate,” said Nicholas Sarwark, Chair of the Libertarian Party.

Johnson is ahead of Trump among millennials and ahead of Clinton among military personnel.
To justify excluding Johnson, the decision-makers at the CPD — Janet Brown, Frank Fahrenkopf, and Mike McCurry — relied on five fraudulent polls that showed Johnson falling short of their required 15-percent average.

The CPD claims selection of the polls was based on their “soundness of the survey methodology.”

But according to Fair Debates, each of the five polls contains at least one serious flaw. For example:
  • They start with a survey question asking whether survey respondents would vote for Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton.
  • They include numerous questions about Trump and Clinton, and only one that mentions Johnson.
  • They ask outright whether respondents believe Trump or Clinton will win the election.
All of these methodologies send the false message: “Only the Democrat and the Republican are really in this race.”

“It is highly probable that, had the CPD used sound polls, as their own criteria require, Johnson would be polling well over 15 percent, and they’d have no excuse to exclude him from the debates,” said Sarwark. “But clearly, fairness is not their intent. Maintaining their two-party duopoly is.”

“The CPD calls itself a ‘nonprofit’ organization,” he continued. “But big money is at the heart of what drives the two old parties, which control the CPD and which are bought and sold by special interests. No wonder they want to keep out Johnson, whose two terms as governor of New Mexico proved he’s as impervious to special-interest peddling as a candidate can be.”
The Libertarian, Republican, and Democratic presidential tickets are the only ones on the ballot in all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, this November.

Johnson has been endorsed by the Chicago Tribune (hometown newspaper of Democrat Hillary Clinton), the Detroit News, the New Hampshire Union-Leader, the Richmond Times-Dispatch (hometown newspaper of Democrat Tim Kaine), and the Winston-Salem Journal.
Commission on Presidential Debates
October 4, 2016

CPD Invites Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump to Debate

Washington, D.C. (October 4, 2016) - The nonpartisan, non-profit Commission on Presidential Debates ("CPD") announced today that it has applied its Nonpartisan Candidate Selection Criteria for 2016 General Election Debate participation to determine eligibility to participate in the presidential debate to take place at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Pursuant to the criteria, which were publicly announced on October 29, 2015, those candidates qualify for debate participation who: (1) are constitutionally eligible to hold the office of President of the United States; (2) have achieved ballot access in a sufficient number of states to win a theoretical Electoral College majority in the general election; and (3) have demonstrated a level of support of at least 15 percent of the national electorate, as determined by five selected national public opinion polling organizations, using the average of those organizations' most recent publicly-reported results.

The Board of Directors of the CPD convened today to apply the criteria. Of the many declared candidates, four candidates presently satisfy the first two criteria: Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein.

With respect to the third criterion, on August 15, 2016, CPD announced the five polls it would rely upon, which were selected with the professional advice of Dr. Frank Newport, Editor-in-Chief of Gallup. The polls were selected based on: the reliable frequency of polling and sample size used by the polling organization; the soundness of the survey methodology employed by the polling organization; and the longevity and reputation of the polling organization. The five selected polls are: ABC-Washington Post; CBS-New York Times; CNN-Opinion Research Corporation; Fox News; and NBC-Wall Street Journal.

With the assistance of Dr. Newport, the Board determined that the polling averages called for in the third criterion are as follows: Hillary Clinton (44.8%), Donald Trump (40.8%), Gary Johnson (7.4%) and Jill Stein (2.6%). Accordingly, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump qualify to participate in the October 9 debate. No other candidates satisfied the criteria for inclusion in the October 9. The criteria will be reapplied to all candidates in advance of the third presidential debate.

The CPD has successfully sponsored the presidential and vice presidential general election debates since 1988. The CPD's planning for the 2016 debates has extended over a period of years and has drawn upon the CPD's now-extensive experience in sponsoring general election debates. CPD announced the five journalists who will moderate those debates: Lester Holt, Elaine Quijano, Martha Raddatz, Anderson Cooper, and Chris Wallace.

The candidates who have qualified to participate today previously have committed to participate in the debates sponsored by the CPD.