Gov. Gary Johnson Debates President Obama and Gov. Romney.

FYI - From GaryJohnson2012.com.

-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

Gov. Gary Johnson's Speech at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

FYI - From RockyMountainStreams.com.

-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

Rep. Ron Paul Answers The Iran Nuke Question.

FYI - Rep. Ron Paul on the Danny Bishop Show.

-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

Senator Rand Paul to President: "Where The Hell Where The Marines?"

FYI - From The Washington Times and Senator Rand Paul.

-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

PAUL: Where were the Marines?

Buck stops with Obama in Benghazi security breach

By Sen. Rand Paul

Monday’s foreign policy debate between President Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney was designed to help voters better understand each man’s vision for America’s role abroad. While I have publicly taken issue with both candidates on aspects of their foreign policies, there is no question that Mr. Romney remains the right choice for Americans on Nov. 6.

However, it is also clear neither candidate adequately addressed the gross intelligence failure in Libya that left four Americans dead, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens. Too many important questions remain unanswered concerning Mr. Obama’s entire mishandling of the recent siege of Benghazi.

I would like to take this opportunity to ask the questions Americans want answered.

The first and most pressing question for Mr. Obama remains: Where the hell were the Marines?

Two of the most potentially vulnerable or dangerous American embassies are in Iraq and Libya. In Iraq, we have roughly 17,000 people guarding our ambassador. Not all of them are Marines, but some several hundred are, and they guard our ambassador behind a 10-foot-high walled fortress. In Iraq, we cannot afford to take any unnecessary risks with our diplomats and go to great lengths to ensure that there are plenty of armed personnel between our representatives and any potential threats.

In Libya, there were no uniformed Marines guarding our ambassador. Originally, there was a 16-person security team led by Col. Andrew Wood, who had requested to stay in Libya. In July, Stevens sent memos to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee requesting an “extension of tour of duty (TDY) personnel.” Stevens was referring to Col. Wood’s 16-man team, which was scheduled to leave in August.Stevens requested on Aug. 2 — just six weeks before his murder — to keep security personnel in Libya “through mid-September,” calling the conditions there “unpredictable, volatile and violent.”

Col. Woods has also said that he repeatedly requested to remain in Libya because he felt both the environment and the ambassador were unsafe. Now, after the tragic fact, no one knows what happened to Stevens‘ original request.

Why was the security team that both Stevens and Col. Woods requested sent home? Who made this decision?

What happened to the plane, Mr. President? There was supposed to be a DC-3 available to help people get out of Libya or to travel around the country as needed. But that plane was taken away on May 4. On May 8, just four days later, the State Department spent $108,000 on a new electrical charging station to “green up” our embassy in Vienna.

You have to ask: Was this “green” initiative more important than the security of our embassy in Libya? We spent about $1 million on electric cars to make a political statement in Vienna, but we somehow couldn’t find the time or resources to have just one Marine guarding our Libyan embassy, much less a much-needed 16-man personnel team. We spent $100,000 on an electric car-charging station to show Vienna how green we are, but did not keep a plane in Libya that could have been instrumental in transporting our own diplomats to safety.

The president now says the buck stops with him. Fair enough. So, President Obama, again: Where the hell were the Marines? Where was the plane? Saying the buck stops with you sounds good, but you have to follow through.

We’ve seen this kind of government incompetence before.

Once the initial shock and horror of Sept. 11, 2001, began to subside, the finger pointing commenced. Everyone agreed that our intelligence had failed — massively — but no one would claim responsibility for this failure. Reports of possible terrorist attacks had been repeatedly ignored, including the FBI turning down search warrants from their Minnesota branch that could have potentially provided us valuable information.

Still, after the worst terrorist attack in American history, no one was held accountable.

In 2001, 3,000 innocent people lost their lives — but not one government bureaucrat lost his job.

The siege of our embassy and the murder of our diplomats in Benghazi should never have happened. But these events did happen, and this administration continues to be reluctant to give us answers and provide accountability.

As a member of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, I am calling for hearings and a full investigation into what really happened in Benghazi, how our intelligence failed and how, ultimately, we failed to protect our own people.

What happened in Libya was inexcusable. I’m tired of hearing too many government officials make too many excuses. Those responsible must be held accountable and those at fault should be fired.

The president now says, “The buck stops here.” It’s time for him to prove it, and if he won’t, it is time for Congress to do its job and get to the bottom of it.

Sen. Rand Paul is a Kentucky Republican.

Read more: PAUL: Where were the Marines? - Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/oct/24/where-were-the-marines/#ixzz2AMSdgv7N 

Republicans endorse Dr.Shaun Crowell over Bob Corker.

FYI - From LPTN.org.

-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sunday, October 21st, 2012

Republicans endorse Dr.Shaun Crowell over Bob Corker Candidate for U.S. Senate, Dr. Shaun Crowell already had an impressive list of endorsements. County Tea Party organizations from Humphrey, Henry, Maury, McMinn, and Upper Cumberland have all given their respective endorsements. A nationally-known wellness physician, radio personality, speaker, and author, Dr. Josh Axe, Bob Corker's Republican Primary challenger Zach Poskevich, and former Wilson County Commissioner, Heather Scott, have all also thrown their support behind Dr. Crowell. But the latest endorsement came this past Friday, October 19th, and surprised even Shaun. The Blue Republicans, a group concerned with fiscal responsibility and civil Liberties, has added themselves to the growing list of supporters for Dr. Crowell. According to the article published in the Huffington Post: "...in Tennessee, another incumbent [Bob Corker], who has voted with Pelosi...and votes with our Democratic President 61% of the time, is expecting his constituentsto return him to the Senate." "Given his agreement with Pelosi on everything that really matters (right down to farm subsidies), you'd be forgiven for thinking that he, too, is a 'progressive'Democrat. In fact, he is a Republican..." "Pelosi, a Democrat, supports indefinitely detaining Americans without trial andinvading their privacy without warrant or probable cause, at odds with our Bill of Rights. Corker, a member of the party that is supposed to oppose her, agrees with her. Corker, a Republican, supports secret bailouts of large corporations. Pelosi, a member of the party that is supposed to oppose him, agrees with him." Add to this that Dr. Crowell is included as a "Liberty Candidate" (www.libertycandidate.com) and with many Republicans abandoning the big-government incumbent, the choice is clear this election season. Bob Corker represents more government and less Freedom. Dr. Shaun Crowell stands for what made this country great: Free markets and personal responsibility. Vote Shaun Crowell 2012 and restore Peace and Liberty! The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in the United States, which is active in all 50 states and has more than 250,000 registered voters. For more information visit us at www.lptn.org or call 1-888-980-1776 x1 Media Relations: Daniel Lewis

Gov. Gary Johnson in the Third Party Presidential Debate.

FYI - Gov. Gary Johnson in the third party presidential debate.

-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

Chattanooga Times Free Press: “Gary Johnson for President”

FYI - From the Chattanooga (TN) Times Free Press and GaryJohnson2012.com.

-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

Chattanooga Times Free Press: “Gary Johnson for president”

From the Chattanooga Times Free Press

For more than 80 years, the Free Press editorial page has been a voice for free market economic philosophies, personal responsibility and limited, responsible government. Endorsing the presidential candidate who most thoroughly represents those values has been an important function of the Free Press editorial page for nearly as long.

For most of those election cycles, we have endorsed Republican candidates for president. The GOP candidate, even when flawed, generally provided the best platform for ensuring that the United States remained on a path of limited, constitutional government and free market economic policies.

This election, however, the Republican Party nominee has failed to demonstrate a consistent commitment to conservative principles. As a result of his failure to provide clear methods for reducing the size and scope of the federal government, unwillingness to address structural flaws with entitlement programs, reliance on government to intervene in issues best left to families and individuals, and sporadic support of the Constitution and America’s founding principles, Mitt Romney is too flawed to earn the Free Press’ endorsement.

Romney may be less eager to tax, spend, attack personal freedoms and disregard the constitutional limits on government than his Democratic opponent, President Barack Obama, but only slightly.

To the extent that Romney offers an alternative to Obama, the difference is in degree, not in kind.

As a result, the Free Press editorial page endorses Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson for President of the United States.

Johnson, a former two-term governor of New Mexico, has more administrative experience than Romney, who served just a single term as Massachusetts governor.

While serving as governor, Johnson slashed New Mexico’s gas tax, fought to reduce the state’s income tax and championed school choice. Romney, on the other hand, implemented a myriad of new fees on Massachusetts taxpayers and famously enacted a compulsory health insurance scheme which became the framework for Obamacare.

Unlike Obama, Johnson understands that government spending, unsustainable bailouts and stimulus schemes only lead to more unemployment, a higher national debt, a weakened dollar and a less stable economy.

Johnson’s platform includes presenting a balanced budget to Congress every year he’s in office, completely overhauling America’s ridiculous federal tax structure, and fundamentally restructuring entitlement programs to allow Americans more choice in health care and a greater opportunity to retire with dignity.

The former small business owner pledges to work to overturn Obamacare and encourage health care coverage through the free market by removing the arbitrary limits that inhibit competition among health insurers and prevent customers from receiving the best available health insurance plans and rates.

Johnson also seeks to limit military intervention abroad and overturn the restrictions on liberties at home that were created as a result of the overreaction to 9/11 and America’s bungled War on Terror.

The threads that bind Johnson’s policy platform are the beliefs that markets work better than governments and that people are more suitable and equipped than elected officials and bureaucrats to make the decisions that impact their lives and the lives of their family. As a result, Johnson promotes entrepreneurship and privatization, allowing parents the opportunity to choose which school their children attend and minimizing the amount of hard-earned dollars the federal government takes from taxpayers.

Some may argue that voting for a minor party candidate is a waste of a vote. While Johnson won’t win on Nov. 6, the more votes Johnson receives, the more the Republican and Democratic parties are forced to consider adopting his policies. Voting for Johnson is the most effective way to inject the ideas of liberty and limited government into the political mainstream.

Others claim that it is wise to vote for the lesser of two evils. The problem with that, however, is that voting for evil only leads to more evil. A vote is an affirmation that a candidate is on the right track, but Barack Obama and Mitt Romney clearly aren’t when it comes to limiting government, promoting individual liberty and protecting free market economic principles. Voting for bad policies and unprincipled people will only ensure that parties will give voters more of the same bad choices in the future.

With the founding principles and the economic future of our nation at stake, Gary Johnson offers the best plan to restore the values of limited government, personal freedom and free markets that made America the greatest country in the world.

Gov. Gary Johnson's Statement On The Foreign Policy Presidential Debate.

FYI - From GaryJohnson2012.com.

-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

Gov. Gary Johnson Releases Statement On Foreign Policy Presidential Debate.

 

LIBERTARIAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE GOV. GARY JOHNSON RELEASED THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO MONDAY NIGHT’S DEBATE:

“With only two weeks to go before Election Day, it is more clear than ever that the views and concerns of millions of Americans are being shut out of this campaign by the Republicans and the Democrats. Let’s have a debate not about how much longer to remain in Afghanistan, but about why we shouldn’t bring our men and women home now. No one on the debate stage is challenging the fundamental premise of endless foreign intervention. Rather, we have two candidates agreeing with one another about flawed foreign excursions we cannot afford.

“And remarkably, we heard a continuation of the fallacy that we can somehow balance the budget while spending more on defense. It doesn’t add up.

“There is a candidate who will, in fact, challenge the status quo. But the Republicans and Democrats don’t want the American people to hear from that candidate. Doing so would spoil the ‘two-party party.’”

Gov. Gary Johnson Files Complaint In Federal Court Against Commission On Presidential Debates.

FYI - From GaryJohnson2012.com.

-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

Gov. Gary Johnson Files Complaint In Federal Court Against Commission On Presidential Debates.

 

JOHNSON CAMPAIGN ASKS D.C. FEDERAL COURT TO INTERVENE IN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES, CITING POLLING FALLACY

October 19, 2012, Washington, DC – Citing survey data showing former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson has in fact achieved the narrow criteria required for inclusion in the Monday debate, earning more than 40 percent of the vote in “head-to-head” polls against President Barack Obama, the Libertarian Party nominee’s campaign today filed a complaint in Federal Court in the District of Columbia maintaining that Johnson has, in fact, met the Commission on Presidential Debates’ criteria for inclusion. The complaint asks the Court to compel the CPD to include Johnson.

“The CPD requirements say Johnson ‘must register support of at least 15 percent of the vote in five recent polls,’” Johnson campaign counsel Alicia Dearn said in a statement. “Nowhere does it say those polls must include three candidates. Indeed, the polls used by the CPD to exclude Johnson test only two candidates even though Gov. Johnson is on the ballot in 48 states. We argue that Gov. Johnson has met the specific and narrow criteria laid out by the CPD.

“Included in the two-party ‘deal’ struck by the Republicans and Democrats are the criteria by which candidates are invited to participate. As a two-term governor who is on more than enough states’ ballots to be elected in the Electoral College, the decision to exclude Gov. Johnson can only be based upon the CPD’s self-determined polling criterion — using polls that are ‘head-to-head’ surveys between Romney and Obama. Who decided that? The CPD rules do not specify the number of candidates to be tested in the poll. Using their own methodology, polls that ask voters’ preferences between the President and Gov. Johnson are equally valid, and as we have demonstrated, will show more than enough support for Gov. Johnson to meet the CPD’s arbitrary 15 percent requirement. The same would clearly be the result when Gov. Johnson is surveyed against only Gov. Romney. Nowhere does it say that only the Republican and the Democrat should be pitted against one another,” Dearn said.

“It must be repeated that the official-sounding Commission on Presidential Debates is not official at all. It is a private organization created by the Republican and Democratic Parties for the clear and admitted purpose of controlling the presidential debate process. Everything from the schedule to the participants to the water glasses on stage are determined by way of an MOU between the two parties, to the exclusion of everyone else.

Two debates have already happened, and have excluded Gov. Johnson. We can’t change that — no matter how unfair. However, the CPD has one last opportunity to do the right thing for Monday night’s debate, which we have asked them to do via a letter transmitted Thursday. However, we are not holding our breath for an answer, and have asked the Federal Court to help them do the right thing. Also, we make it clear in our complaint that this issue does not end Monday night, and that it is not just about Gov. Johnson. We are also asking for a permanent injunction to require that the CPD’s criteria be changed for future elections to correct the organization’s fundamental unfairness.

“The American people need to understand that the presidential debates are televised productions of the Republican and Democratic Parties. Nothing more. And those productions are designed to exclude alternative voices and ignore the simple fact that one-third of the electorate does not belong to their exclusive clubs.”

A copy of the Johnson campaign’s complaint and letter to the CPD are available here.

The Buck Stops Here! - President Obama MUST Take Responsibility For Libya!

FYI - From Tim Shoemaker/CampaignForLiberty.org.

-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

“The Buck Stops Here”

by Tim Shoemaker 

The tragedy in Libya on September 11, 2012 with the death of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens has the makings of a political firestorm this fall. The event has resulted in a spirited House Oversight hearing(while the rest of Congress is out campaigning), generated accusations of a cover-up, exposed questionable “intelligence,” and spawned a myriad of unanswered questions regarding embassy/consulate security, and the State Department’s prioritization of funding (the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, Austria received funding to “go green” while the consulate in Benghazi was denied requests for additional security personnel).

From the beginning, the administration’s response was muddled – first blaming a poorly made YouTube video negatively depicting the prophet Muhammad for inciting riots, before eventually admitting it was an act of terrorism.

Now, in an effort to deflect blame from President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told CNN that she takes responsibility for what happened in Benghazi.

Perhaps that’s honorable; but what about Truman’s famous motto: “The Buck Stops Here”?

In Truman’s farewell address, he stated poignantly, ”The President–whoever he is–has to decide. He can’t pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That’s his job.”

Others will probably remember Bush’s less eloquent way of putting it, “I’m the decider…”

The President has to be held accountable for the decisions and actions of his subordinates, particularly when he was citing bad intelligence about the YouTube video inciting anti-American violence at the United Nations. It’s bad enough the nation’s chief diplomat, Susan Rice (U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.) took to the Sunday talk shows blaming the YouTube video nearly a week after the tragedy, but when the President does it? That’s on a whole new scale.

National-security correspondent Eli Lake wrote on September 21 – ten days after the attack – that the official story was falling apart. By the 26th, he published a story citing anonymous intelligence officials who told him evidence showed within 24-hours that these were terrorist attacks organized by an al-Qaeda affiliated organization. Last Monday he wrote about a cable sent from Chris Stevens on the day he died. Most notably, it did not contain any mention of the YouTube video, or any planned protests at the consulate — as Lake points out, two key points of the official story.

At some point, the Obama Administration must be held accountable for what happened in Libya, come clean, and tell the American people the truth.

In the end, President Obama must take responsibility for the actions of his administration. The buck stops at his desk.

UPDATE: This afternoon, Obama’s campaign spokeswoman told Fox News that President Obama “takes responsibility for the safety and security of all diplomats serving overseas.” It’s one thing to have your campaign staff take responsibility for you… I’d still prefer to hear it from the President himself.

Interestingly enough, the President had that opportunity this morning, but walked away from reporters in silence.

Gov. Gary Johnson's Statement On Last Night's Presidential Debate.

FYI - From GaryJohnson2012.com.

-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

Gov. Gary Johnson Releases Statement On Presidential Debate.

 

LIBERTARIAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE GOV. GARY JOHNSON RELEASED THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO TUESDAY NIGHT’S DEBATE:

America’s challenges and the crises we face demand a real debate — not dueling Phil Donahue acts carping at one another over who is worse.

I defy anyone who watched the debate to identify a plan from either the Republican or Democrat that will achieve a balanced budget. Behind the fuzzy math and the quibbling, there was nothing more than a commitment to continue the status quo — with at most a few minor adjustments. We don’t need adjustments. We need a fundamental reduction in the role and cost of government, and both Romney and Obama are fundamentally big-government guys.

We watched a blame game over immigration, while the problem festers with no solution in sight. We heard quibbling over whose government plan would have saved GM better, but nothing about why the government should be bailing out any company at all. And we heard cheap shots about government-run health care from two candidates who both support it. Where is the reasonable argument that government shouldn’t be running health care in the first place?

On the attacks in Libya, the debate we must have is not over what we call it or when; we need a debate over why we were there at all.

There are clear choices in this election, but they weren’t on the stage tonight.

Compare and Contrast the Three Presidential Candidates: Gov. Gary Johnson (L), Gov. Mitt Romney (R), & President Barack Obama (D).

FYI - From LP.org.

-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

Compare and Contrast the Three   Presidential Candidates

Libertarian Governor Gary Johnson
Versus
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney

                                        

	Johnson	Obama	Romney
Balance Budget	NOW	In 10 years	In 10 years
Federal Spending	Reduce 43%	Raise spending	Raise spending
Increase Govt. Debt	$0	Trillions and trillions	Trillions and trillions
Patriot Act & NDAA	Repeal now!	Renew & expand	Renew & expand
Federal Reserve	Audit and Abolish	Keep	Lip service
Medical Insurance Mandates	Repeal Obamacare	Keep Obamacare	Replace Obamacare with Romneycare
Guns	Pro-gun rights	Anti-gun	Anti-gun
War in Afghanistan	Bring troops home NOW	Stay until 2014+	Stay until 2014+
Iran	Peace and Dipolmacy	Embargo: Cut off Food and Medicine	Embargo and Attack
500,000 US troops stationed abroad	Bring home 250,000 troops	Keep U.S. military in 130+ countries	Keep U.S. military in 130+ countries
Military Spending	Reduce 43%	Increase spending	Increase spending
Same-Sex Marriage	Fundamental right	Waffle, delay support	Waffle, oppose
Marijuana	Legalize - same as wine and beer	Raid, prosecute and imprison	Raid, prosecute and imprison
Campaign Financial Supporters	Individual donors	Big Banks, Cartels Government Unions Special Interests	Big Banks, Cartels Government Unions Special Interests

Sign the Petition to Include Libertarian Gov. Gary Johnson in Final Debate

Republicans and Democrats are no longer laughing at Gov. Gary Johnson!

FYI - From Jimm Rutenberg/The New York Times and GaryJohnson2012.com.

-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

The New York Times: “G.O.P. Fighting Libertarian’s Spot on the Ballot”

From The New York Times

By Jim Rutenberg

When he was running for the Republican presidential nomination last year, Gary Johnson, the former two-term Republican governor of New Mexico, drew ridicule from mainstream party members as he advocated legalized marijuana and a 43 percent cut in military spending.

Now campaigning as the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee, Mr. Johnson is still only a blip in the polls. But he is on the ballot in every state except Michigan and Oklahoma, enjoys the support of a few small “super PACs” and is trying to tap into the same grass-roots enthusiasm that helped build Representative Ron Paul a big following. And with polls showing the race between President Obama and Mitt Romney to be tight, Mr. Johnson’s once-fellow Republicans are no longer laughing.

Around the country, Republican operatives have been making moves to keep Mr. Johnson from becoming their version of Ralph Nader, the Green Party candidate whose relatively modest support cut into Al Gore’s 2000 vote arguably enough to help hand the decisive states of Ohio and Florida to George W. Bush.

The fear of Mr. Johnson’s tipping the outcome in an important state may explain why an aide to Mr. Romney ran what was effectively a surveillance operation into Mr. Johnson’s efforts over the summer to qualify for the ballot at the Iowa State Fair, providing witnesses to testify in a lawsuit to block him that ultimately fizzled.

Libertarians suspect it is why Republican state officials in Michigan blocked Mr. Johnson from the ballot after he filed proper paperwork three minutes after his filing deadline.

And it is why Republicans in Pennsylvania hired a private detective to investigate his ballot drive in Philadelphia, appearing at the homes of paid canvassers and, in some cases, flashing an F.B.I. badge — he was a retired agent — while asking to review the petitions they gathered at $1 a signature, according to testimony in the case and interviews.

The challenge in Pennsylvania, brought by state Republican Party officials who suspected that Democrats were secretly helping the effort to get Mr. Johnson on the ballot, was shot down in court last week, bringing to 48 the number of states where Mr. Johnson will compete on Nov. 6.

Reince Priebus, the national Republican Party chairman, has called Mr. Johnson a “nonfactor.” And Danny Diaz, a spokesman for the Romney campaign, said that its entire focus was on beating Mr. Obama and that “voters understand the stakes are high, and if they want to change the trajectory of this country, they’ll vote for Romney.”

But Robert Gleason, the Pennsylvania Republican Party chairman, vowing that the state will become far more competitive for Mr. Romney than Democrats realize, said he was not about to give Mr. Johnson an easy opening to play a Nader to Mr. Romney’s Gore in Pennsylvania this year.

“This election will be close — if you remember, Bush lost by only something like 143,000 votes in 2004,” said Mr. Gleason, noting that his party has managed to disqualify tens of thousands of Libertarian signatures. “So we play the game hard here.”

Both sides agree that Mr. Johnson, whose pro-marijuana legalization and antiwar stances may appeal to the youth vote and whose antigovernment, anti-spending proposals may appeal to conservative fiscal hawks — and to supporters of Mr. Paul — has the potential to draw from both Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama.

Aides to Mr. Romney, while playing down his impact on their candidate, say Mr. Johnson is more likely to hurt Mr. Obama in the potentially critical state of Colorado, where a marijuana initiative Mr. Johnson supports is expected to draw young voters to his cause on Election Day.

They have said they are keeping a keener eye on Virgil Goode of Virginia, a conservative Constitution Party candidate who is on the presidential ballot in Virginia and 28 other states.

The Republican efforts to impede Mr. Johnson’s candidacy have drawn charges of spying and coercion from Libertarians and countercharges from Republicans that the party had resorted to fraud while accepting secret help from Democrats.

Democrats and Obama campaign officials deny any such involvement. But Mr. Johnson has been receiving critical help from Roger Stone, a longtime Republican operative once so committed to his party that he has a tattoo of President Richard M. Nixon on his back.

A onetime Nixon and Reagan aide, he said he left his party this year out of frustration with its positions on social issues, spending and domestic surveillance. (Mr. Johnson supports same-sex marriage and abortion rights and opposes government surveillance.)

And Mr. Stone says he has become so frustrated with the party’s attempts to shut down Mr. Johnson, whom he says he is advising at no charge, that he vowed in an e-mail last month, “Republican blood will run in the streets b4 I am done.”

Mr. Johnson credited Mr. Stone — who helped organize for Mr. Bush the so-called Brooks Brothers riot that temporarily shut down the presidential election recount in Miami-Dade in 2000 — with helping him navigate his way through the challenges, and with overall advice.

Mr. Johnson said he had no problem being labeled a potential spoiler in an election that he views as “a debate between Coke and Pepsi.” (He said he viewed himself as Perrier.)

“Take the issue of Medicare,” he said. “Both parties are arguing over who is going to spend more money on Medicare when we should be having a raging debate in this country over how we’re going to cut Medicare.”

He admits he has only limited finances. The Federal Election Commission had denied his request for general election matching funds, ruling that he did not meet its requirements for third-party candidates. And his campaign filings show he had roughly $50,000 in the bank at the end of August, having burned through much of the more than $350,000 or so he raised in small donations that month.

He said that his campaign had found it hard to keep up with the offers of volunteer help, and that when it came to campaigning, “I think we’re going to stick with what we’ve been doing — stay flexible and take the most advantage out of media appearances.”

Democrats say Mr. Johnson could have the biggest effect on Mr. Romney in Nevada, where a Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist poll in September showed Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney effectively tied.

Mr. Stone said the campaign believed it had the potential to cut into support for Mr. Romney in three of his must-win states, Florida, Ohio and Virginia — where challenges to the Libertarian candidate quickly failed — as well as in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

There is very little polling on Mr. Johnson to bear all of this out, which his campaign points to as evidence that he is being unfairly ignored by the news media. However, The Miami Herald and The Tampa Bay Times have measured his support at about 1 percent — far more than the 537-vote margin that was ultimately deemed to have separated Mr. Bush from Mr. Gore in 2000.

“As we all learned in Florida, when something’s close enough, even small numbers can make a difference,” said Charlie Cook, the publisher of The Cook Political Report, which monitors electoral trends.

That appeared to be the thinking when Pennsylvania Republicans sought to go after Mr. Johnson’s petitions, which Mr. Gleason, the party chairman, suspected had been collected with help from Democrats. He noted that many of the signatures came from Democratic precincts of Philadelphia.

One petition gatherer, Tracey Norton of Germantown, said in an interview that she was a Democratic committeewoman, though she said she did not act in a partisan manner when being paid to collect petitions.

In court, the Republicans presented evidence that some petitions had been collected without the proper signatures. But some of that evidence was collected by the private detective, Reynold Selvaggio who, some of the petition workers said in interviews and testimony, flashed his F.B.I. badge “like he was law enforcement,” as one worker, Reynaldo Duncan, said in an interview.

In testimony, Mr. Selvaggio denied Libertarian lawyers’ suggestions that it was an intimidation tactic, saying his badge stated clearly that he was retired and that he said so in his interviews. The judge hearing the case, James Gardner Colins, a former president judge of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, seemed displeased.

“I have a badge that says I’m president judge,” he said, “but I don’t flash it to anyone, because I’m not president judge.”

His ruling in favor of the Libertarians came down on Wednesday.