These journalists pass up an opportunity with these articles. They should point out that it's not so much that Johnson did not qualify for the debates as he was unsuccessful in forcefully shaming the Ds and Rs into inviting him. There is no qualification because the debates are not official or legitimate. These are private affairs promoted by politically elite minorities in attempt to foist their applicants on the rest of the population. Even Donald Trump was for having all candidates take part, back when he was not a Republican nominee.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gary...ald-trump-debate-stage/story?id=42312697

What Gary Johnson Will Be Up to When Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Take the Debate Stage
By JORDYN PHELPS Sep 26, 2016, 8:32 AM ET abc News

When Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump take the debate stage at Hofstra University tonight for first -- and highly anticipated -- presidential debate of the general election, Gary Johnson will watching on television some 30 miles away in Twitter's Chelsea office in Manhattan -- armed only with a Twitter handle.

The campaign for the Libertarian Party nominee is hoping to interject his voice into the debate from the sidelines through an aggressive Twitter and media strategy.

Both Johnson and his running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, will be live-tweeting throughout the evening.

"Govs. Johnson and Weld will be making themselves available to the media, watching the debate with great interest, and will be anxious to point out how a third voice, representing millions of independent voters disenfranchised by the Republican and Democrat parties, would better serve the American people,” campaign communications director Joe Hunter told ABC News in a statement.

He added, “They will be respectful and not interested in any grandstanding for the cameras or inappropriate 'protests.'"

Green Party candidate Jill Stein will be challenging her exclusion from the debate by holding a rally outside the secured perimeter of the debate hall. However, Stein's campaign says she will not "risk arrest" given that there is currently an active warrant for her arrest from her involvement in a recent protest against a controversial pipeline project in North Dakota. In 2012, Stein and her running mate were arrested outside Hofstra University when they attempted to enter the grounds during a presidential debate between President Obama and then-Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Instead, Stein plans to be live on Periscope during the debate, answering the same questions that are lobbed to Clinton and Trump on the debate stage.

Johnson failed to qualify for the first presidential debate after he fell short of the 15 percent polling threshold required by the Commission on Presidential Debate for inclusion. Johnson’s recent national polling average stands at 9 percent, with the most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll published over the weekend putting him at 5 percent.

Although he has previously said it would be “game over” for his campaign if he failed to qualify for the debates, Johnson now says that it is “an ongoing process” to try to reach the 15 percent threshold for subsequent debates this fall.

In an interview on ABC News' "This Week" on Sunday, Johnson criticized the Commission on Presidential Debates over its formula for deciding who will be included in the debates, saying that the panel is “made up of Republicans and Democrats that just have no intention whatsoever in seeing anyone other than a Republican or Democrat on the debate stage."

Johnson's campaign is also touting an online petition that has now garnered over 1 million signatures in support of Johnson being included in the debates.

ABC News' MaryAlice Parks contributed reporting.

even though neither Dr. Jill Stein nor johnson has a snow-balls chance in hell to win, i do agree they should have a position on the stage.

it would provide a fuller (more full?) discussion of today's issues & concerns, and shed a better light on our future directions.

they would have added, and not subtracted from the substance of the debate. but, alas it wasn't meant to be...the demopublican consortium remains solidly entrenced.

They don't offer a third perspective for the disenfranchised; they offer a less personally unlikeable Liberalism than Hil which is why they won't be there.

They'd pull from her and she needs all the help she can get. If it weren't so the media would have them there in hopes of taking Trump down.

Gary Johnson has been paid off to destroy the Libertarian brand once and for all.

Somebody could have saved their money. Rand Paul mortally wounded it the day he endorsed Romney.

WGAF about Johnson/Weld?

Both of them were stone-stupid idiots in their day, and that day has passed with no improvements.

Who is Gary johnson

Dude...he was the libertarian nominee in 2012...again now in 2016....yet 70% of voters don't even know who the fugg he is...whos fault is it? The big bad democrats and republicans??? Let me clue you in....if he wants to be a contender, he needs to put in the effort.

I'd be OK with Stein getting water for the real candidates, but I don't think anyone would take any from Johnson after that talking through his tongue thing. That was a real deal breaker, no matter what the deal was.

Tell Johnson the next debate is in Aleppo

You're kinda late on that one. Now they're pushing the Sun engulfing the Earth/We need to colonize other planets bit.

Good one!

No one cares what Johnson has to say.
If they did, he would be in the debates.

They don't "invite" those with too little support

true enough. we all understand and accept that. wonder how much support is necessary, in that the demo-publican consortium might approve?

what if there were ten parties parrying for position. what might be the minimum cut-off point to make the grade? and who should make that decision?

Anybody who wants Trump to win should know who he is.

He is the Liberal who those who love The Bern should vote for!

I really wish he was in the debate tonight; you'd hear a loud sucking sound as votes rushed from Hillary's column to his.

in a more perfect world, which was long ago & far away, the best way to handle the "parties" is to allow each one to have a vote as to whom can be on stage. it'll be adjusted/weighted by the numbers registered in each party, thus a cutoff point can be achieved. it's simple math, and simple math runs the electoral college.

that is, all the duly authorized political parties, perhaps numbering the thousands, i don't know have a chance to vie for a position "on-stage." but, we have to be practical. but, we can be more practical than just allowing two, and no more.

what about a max of ten, or some other arbitrary number greater than two? well, to be severe, we could limit it to one, couldn't we?

ok, let's compromise, the top five...how to gain entry to the top five? by the number of people who signed a petition?