Gary Johnson Talks About Exclusion [VIDEO]

Say you’re a presidential candidate and you schedule a town hall and then, no one shows up. That’s essentially what happened to former New Mexico on Oct. 5 at .

Due to a robocall invitation glitch, what was supposed to be the second town hall meeting on the first day of his Ride For Freedom bike tour across New Hampshire turned into a nearly one hour question and answer session between the candidate, media outlets, and campaign supporters.

The candidate talked a bit about his platform and political past. But he spent an even greater amount of time lamenting about the state of American democracy, where a two-term governor and businessman could be kept off the debate stage while other candidates with less political experience and lower poll numbers are allowed a seat at the table. Not only is Johnson not being allowed to participate in the Oct. 18, CNN Western Primary debate that he technically qualified for, before being removed from their polling data, but he is also being kept out of next week’s debate at Dartmouth, even though he didn’t even know what the criteria was to qualify. At the same time, other candidates, like Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum, are being allowed to participate with lower poll numbers.

“It sucks,” he said. “It absolutely sucks … it really smacks of somebody making a decision from on high to exclude me.”

Johnson said his positions in the race, like wanting to legalize marijuana and being the only non-social conservative in the race, set him apart from the other candidates. He said he has reached out to all the networks that had hosted debates and only Fox News allowed him into their Florida debate.

“I think Dave Weigal summarized the inclusion from the debates the best,” he said. “They sit around beforehand and they come up with the Gary Johnson rule – what does it take to just exclude Gary Johnson from the debate – I mean, that’s what it appears, that they invoke the Gary Johnson rule.”

Johnson said the downside to the campaign would be not giving it all he had especially in New Hampshire, where he is concentrating all his campaign’s effort. He termed an end to his campaign being at the point when the state’s voters gave him “a pink slip.” Johnson wouldn’t define what a pink slip would be. However, he said he was banking on momentum and better than expected results from the primary state, which would catapult him into contention for the Nevada Caucuses and other states.

Other issues

On Sarah Palin and Chris Christie not being in the presidential race, Johnson said the field is starting to be defined now.

“I think we now have a defined field,” he said. “There are 210 candidates declared for president. I’m sure that number will vary a bit.”

On Steve Jobs passing, Johnson stated, “Oh shoot. That’s tragic. It also speaks volumes that he was CEO up until a few weeks ago. An amazing guy.”

During a recent bike trip, , R-Texas, didn’t wear a helmet. However, on his Ride For Freedom, Johnson is wearing a helmet, although he wouldn't say whether it was inappropriate for Paul to set such a bad safety example.

“I would be the last person to say in New Hampshire … Live Free Or Die?,” he said. “No, it’s not a good idea to ride a bike without wearing a helmet. But, you know, riding a bike without a helmet as opposed to not riding a bike at all … I think it’s good to ride a bike.”