Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson speaks in Orlando, Fla.
Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson is taking an unusual approach in pitching for support: He is urging people, "Waste your vote" by supporting him in the November election.
Johnson, the former two-term governor of New Mexico, used those words in a speech at New York University Wednesday evening.
Acknowledging concerns from Republicans that he could draw votes from GOP nominee Mitt Romney in a handful of battleground states and throw the election to President Obama, Johnson said, "I'm going to argue not that I am the third choice in this election but that I am the only choice in this election. What happens if you all waste your vote on me? I will be the next president of the United States."
Johnson—who pulled in 3 percent support in a CNN/ORC poll this month—ended his speech by declaring, "We can make a difference in this election. Waste your vote!"
Johnson is focusing on the youth vote in an ongoing tour of 20 college campuses.
He is on the ballot in 47 states and Washington, D.C. And Johnson is fighting legal battles to get on the ballot in the remaining three states.
In an interview with the Allentown (Pennsylvania) Morning Call, Johnson called for the U.S. to withdraw from the Middle East.
"Get out of these embassies, just plain get out," he said. "Right now, they seem to be the focal point for being able to express that dissension."
"What are U.S. Interests when it comes to the Middle East?" he added. "If it's keeping us safe, I would argue that our military interventions are what are keeping us unsafe. We're over there and innocent people are dying."
Among Johnson's other positions are support for drastic cuts in federal spending and reducing federal intervention in the economy and society in general.
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