RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Richmond-Times Dispatch is endorsing Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson for president.

In a lengthy editorial posted late Saturday night, the newspaper said the former New Mexico governor is a man of “good integrity, apparently normal ego and sound ideas.” Johnson met with the newspaper’s editorial board last week.

The Times-Dispatch added that Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton fail to meet the moral and professional standards Americans should expect.

The editorial calls for the Commission on Presidential Debates to allow Johnson to join Trump and Clinton on stage. The debates are scheduled to begin Sept. 26 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.

Johnson served as New Mexico’s governor for two terms. He also owned a construction company that had more than 1,000 employees. </s> Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson won his first newspaper endorsement from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which labeled him a man of "integrity," "apparently normal ego" and of "trustworthy character."

"Neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton meets the fundamental moral and professional standards we have every right to expect of an American president," the paper's editorial board wrote. "Fortunately, there is a reasonable — and formidable — alternative."

The Times-Dispatch supported Mitt Romney in 2012 and John McCain in 2008. But in this election, the editorial board urged voters to reject the two major-party nominees and support Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico, and called on the commission overseeing presidential debates to include Johnson.

"If given the opportunity to make his case, Gary Johnson will persuade millions of Americans that he is the most capable and ethical candidate running this year," the board wrote. </s> The recent Richmond Times-Dispatch endorsement of Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson for president gives me a small measure of hope. Could it be that in an election where each major candidate is blackmailing us with the threat of the other, enough people might choose a better option?

It's obvious that a major problem for Johnson is simple lack of public knowledge about him. In one recent Fox News poll, only about 50 percent of people had any opinion about him at all. However, Johnson still found a favorable rating of 33 percent. That approaches Donald Trump's and Hillary Clinton's favorable ratings of 42 percent and 45 percent respectively (in the same poll). It seems reasonable that if the other 50 percent of people knew enough to say whether they like Johnson, another 33 percent would bring him to practically tower over the “traditional” candidates at 66 percent favorable.

Johnson's second problem is the standoff in which our major parties have placed us. I sincerely hope that we can de-escalate the election and not force each other to vote for candidates who are historically unpopular. Does Johnson have a chance to win this election? Maybe. I think that if all voters chose their most preferred candidate from all the available options, he could win. Only time will tell.

Wherever one stands politically, I firmly believe that each of us needs to vote for the candidate we most prefer, whoever that may be, and not for a lesser evil. I trust that the Tribune Editorial Board, like the Richmond Times-Dispatch, will consider all of the candidates carefully and fully before endorsing. </s> Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson received the endorsement of a prominent Virginia paper in an editorial posted Saturday night, notching a Labor Day weekend win for his third party bid.

The glowing appraisal of Johnson's candidacy by the Richmond Times-Dispatch's editorial board contrasts the former New Mexico governor with Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic standard-bearer Hillary Clinton, both of whom lack the proper character traits to be president, the paper said.

"Neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton meets the fundamental moral and professional standards we have every right to expect of an American president," the editorial board writes.

The editorial board's backing of Johnson is also a break in its partisan leanings, as it has endorsed Republican candidates in every presidential election for the past 36 years.

Johnson performed poorly in Virginia during his 2012 effort, securing less than one percent of the state's vote . The ex-governor has said he hopes to break out this year due to the low favorability ratings for Trump and Clinton, and the paper followed that line of thinking.

The editorial also called for Johnson to join the nationally-televised debates alongside Trump and Clinton. The former governor has said repeatedly that he needs to make the general election debates to have any realistic chance at the White House. The presidential debate commission requires a candidate to reach an average of 15 percent in the polls it has selected. Johnson must rapidly improve his position to meet this threshold. CNN's latest poll of polls found Johnson sitting at an average of 9 percent nationwide, and a Quinnipiac poll from mid-August had Johnson at 12 percent in Virginia. </s> A prominent Virginia newspaper has endorsed Libertarian Gary Johnson for president, giving a rebuke to the deeply unpopular major party candidates while trying to boost the third party contender's long-shot bid just weeks before the first presidential debate.

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The Richmond Times-Dispatch's endorsement is the first from a major newspaper for the former New Mexico governor, who is running out of time to reach the polling threshold necessary to join Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on the main debate stage this fall.

"Neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton meets the fundamental moral and professional standards we have every right to expect of an American president," the editorial begins. "Fortunately, there is a reasonable -- and formidable -- alternative."

The paper, which has endorsed the Republican nominee for president every year for the last three decades, hailed Johnson's stances for limited government, social tolerance and individual freedom.

"More important, he's a man of good integrity, apparently normal ego and sound ideas," the editorial reads.

Still, Johnson must reach an average of 15 percent support in major polling in order to make the debate stage -- a threshold that Johnson himself has framed as make-or-break for landing his third-party candidacy in the White House.

"If the Commission on Presidential Debates wants to perform a real service to its country, it will invite Gary Johnson onto the big stage," wrote the paper's editorial board. "Why not take this chance to reject the binary choice between Clinton and Trump that was created by our two-party system?"

Johnson is currently polling around 10 percent in an average of polls that the debate commission will use.

Johnson has the backing of only one sitting member of the U.S. House -- with no sitting senators or governors. Other potential supporters like former Republican nominee Mitt Romney have remained on the sidelines. </s> Purdue University President Mitch Daniels will have a public conversation with Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson on Sept. 13 on the university's campus in West Lafayette.

Johnson is a former two-term Republican govenor of New Mexico, and Daniels is a former two-term Republican governor of Indiana. Johnson's campaign said in a news release that each "is a strong advocate for small government and personal freedom."

Daniels has said he will not endorse a presidential candidate as part of his vow to avoid partisan political activity while he is president of Purdue.

"Conversations with Gary Johnson" will be at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 13 at Loeb Hall. What the Johnson campaign described in a news release as an "arm chair forum" is co-sponsored by the Purdue chapter of Young Americans for Liberty.

Event reservations may be made at www.eventbrite.com/e/a-conversation-with-gary-johnson-at-purdue-tickets-27266302244.

Results of a Washington Post-SurveyMonkey poll released Monday show that Johnson "is poised to garner significant support" in the Nov. 8 election, the Post reported. He is favored by at least 15 percent of registered voters in 15 states, the newspaper said.

The poll found Johnson is preferred by 13 percent of Indiana voters, compared with 46 percent of Hoosier voters who favor Republican Donald Trump, 30 percent who favor Democrat Hillary Clinton, 5 percent who favor Green Party nominee Jill Stein and 6 percent who have no opinion. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party hopeful Jill Stein have failed to quality for the first planned U.S. presidential debate on Sept. 26, the Commission on Presidential Debates said on Friday.

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson is seen during an interview before a rally in New York, U.S., September 10, 2016. REUTERS/Mark Kauzlarich

The commission, citing the averages the various candidates have achieved in selected polls, confirmed that Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton had met the criteria.

It also said that the vice presidential running mates of the two leading candidates were the only two to qualify for the vice presidential debate set for Oct. 4.

The first presidential debate will be held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York and the vice presidential debate at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia.

Using the average of five national polls, Clinton scored 43 percent, Trump 40.4 percent, Johnson 8.4 percent and Stein 3.2 percent, the commission said. Selection for the debates requires at least 15 percent support.

Johnson and Stein were both constitutionally eligible and had ballot access in enough states to theoretically win an electoral college majority, but missed the polling threshold.

Stein’s campaign website said she and her running mate Ajamu Baraka will both attend the first presidential debate, and urged supporters to join them. The campaign said it might ask supporters to attempt to escort the candidates into the debate in an action that “may lead to arrest — it is possible but not definite. There will be actions you can take with us at Hofstra that do not risk arrest.”

The campaign said it is “organizing nonviolent civil resistance training for this.”

Johnson said in a statement that: “I would say I’m surprised that the CPD has chosen to exclude me from the first debate, but I’m not.”

The commission was a private organization created by the Republican and Democratic parties “for the clear purpose of taking control of the only nationally televised presidential debates voters will see,” Johnson said.

The last time a third-party candidate was allowed to participate in the televised debates was in 1992, when Ross Perot met the requirements running as an independent. </s> Gary Johnson, struggling to move his poll numbers high enough to earn a spot in the presidential debates, is beginning his first television advertising of the 2016 campaign.

Despite unprecedented discomfort with the Republican nominee, Johnson, the Libertarian candidate and a former Republican governor of New Mexico, has so far failed to sufficiently consolidate the support of Republicans opposed to Donald Trump. And he has said his campaign is doomed if he does not meet the 15% threshold needed to reach the debate stage and the national audience it provides.

So after dedicating over $2 million to radio advertising, Johnson is headed to the big screen.

"The difference between the two of us and the other candidates running for president is that we've been there," says Johnson in the low-tech, direct-to-camera spot

"And done that," adds Johnson's running mate, former Republican Gov. Bill Weld of Massachusetts.

Rather than running national advertisements aimed at lifting his numbers in the national polls used to assess viability for the debates, Johnson so far is airing the two weeks of television time mostly in western states where his campaign has expressed confidence: Washington, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and New Hampshire. A pro-Johnson super PAC aired over $550,000 in television advertisements last month, but is currently not on the air. "Give us one term, America. If, after four years, you decide you don't like peace, prosperity and freedom, you can always vote a Trump or a Hillary back into office again," Johnson says. The first presidential debate will be held September 26. </s> Another politician has announced that they’re running in 2020. This time it’s Bill Weld, the former governor of MA, and Gary Johnson’s running mate on the 2016 Libertarian ticket. Learn more about the Republican.

Welcome to the 2020 circus, Bill Weld! The former Massachusetts governor, 73, announced on February 15 that he would be challenging President Donald Trump in the primaries as a Republican. The Libertarian Republican has lost a number of elections, but does he have a real shot at replacing Trump as the Republican candidate for the presidency in the 2020 election? Let’s find out more about him:

1. He’s running because he wants to better the Republican Party: “I hope to see the Republican Party assume once again the mantle of being the party of Lincoln. It upsets me that our energies as a society are being sapped by the President’s culture of divisiveness in Washington,” he said February 15 in New Hampshire. “Because of the many concerns I’ve talked about today, I’ve established an exploratory committee … as a Republican in the 2020 election.”

2. He’s the first Republican to challenge Trump in the primaries. Plenty of democrats have already announced that they’re running in 2020, but Weld is the first republican to try to knock Trump out of the race during the primaries. He may have a harder time doing so than he thinks, however. Per CNN, sitting presidents are generally only in trouble when their approval rating within their party is below 75%. Trump is currently sitting at 89% nationally among republicans. Somehow.

3. He was the Governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997. Weld resigned in 1997 after President Bill Clinton nominated him to be the US ambassador to Mexico. He later withdrew his name after he was blocked from a Senate hearing by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He also ran for senator of Massachusetts in 1996, but lost to John Kerry. Later, he moved to New York and ran for governor in 2005, losing.

4. He ran for vice president in 2016. No, really. Weld ran on the Libertarian ticket with Gary Johnson in 2016, making them the first two former governors to run as Libertarians since 1948. While they, of course, lost, they received 4.5 million votes — the most votes ever for a Libertarian ticket. That’s actually the best any third party has done since the 1990s.

5. Though he’s a Republican, he has a history of supporting Democrats. Though he was literally running against her in 2016, Weld publicly supported for Hillary Clinton, even telling Rachel Maddow at one point that he was “not sure anybody is more qualified” than her to be president. He served as Mitt Romney’s co-chair in New York when he ran for president in 2008, but after Romney dropped out, he endorsed Barack Obama for president — not John McCain. Interesting…
The Richmond Times-Dispatch of Virginia is first to endorse Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson for president and the first newspaper media endorsement of a third-party nominee in this election cycle.