Gary Johnson
Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson has been struggling to gain some momentum in the Republican presidential race and now he’s hit another bump in the road — he’s been left off the official ballot for the Iowa straw poll, which will be held next month.
Nine GOP candidates have been listed on the ballot, including three who have not officially declared themselves for the straw poll scheduled for Aug. 13 — Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman and Newt Gingrich.
Votes for write-in candidates will be counted, so Iowans who want to cast votes for Johnson can still do so, but being left off the ballot now raises another question for Johnson: does this mean Johnson will not get an invitation to appear on the Republican candidates debate, which will be televised by the FOX News Channel on Aug. 11 in Ames, Iowa?
We asked that question of the Johnson campaign via e-mail Monday night (July 25) but have thus far not received a response.
According to the rules of the debate, all nine candidates on the official straw poll ballot receive automatic invitations. For those not on the ballot, the following rules apply, according to the Des Moines Register:
Candidates must satisfy the following by 4 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, Aug. 9:
1. Registered with the Federal Elections Commission as a presidential exploratory committee or presidential campaign
2. Meet all U.S. Constitutional requirements
3. Garnered at least an average of one percent in five national polls based on most recent polling leading up to the registration day.
Johnson qualifies on points 1 and 2, but point No. 3 may be tricky.
For example, on July 15 Gallup released a poll of Republican candidates for president and the results proved mixed for Johnson.
On the positive side, while Johnson’s numbers placed him near the bottom, he scored roughly the same or slightly better than Huntsman.
But on the negative side, Gallup tracked the recognition and intensity of the Johnson campaign on GOP voters and, according to the polling company’s website, “no Republicans in the current poll mentioned [Johnson’s] name as the candidate they are most likely to support, casting doubt on whether his candidacy is likely to have an impact on the race.”
Here are the results of that poll:
You can click here to look at the Gallup interactive chart.
Back in June, CNN left Johnson off a nationally televised debate of GOP candidates in New Hampshire.
Last week, Johnson talked to Capitol Report New Mexico and while he insisted his campaign will stay in the GOP race “until the end,” he also admitted it’s been “disheartening” that his campaign hasn’t attracted more attention from prospective voters. Click here to see Johnson talk about that … and a host of other topics.
For more on who is — and isn’t — on the Iowa straw poll ballot, click here.
