A presidential campaign rally is coming to Boston Common. (No, not Trump or Clinton.)
Following a late-week swing through northern New England, the Libertarian presidential ticket is shipping down to Boston.
The third-party presidential nominee, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, and vice presidential nominee, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, are set to appear together at a rally Saturday afternoon on Boston Common.
In true civil libertarian ethic, an event page for the 1 p.m. rally says RSVPs are not required (but are appreciated).
According to the campaign, Johnson and Weld will also answer questions from the audience during the free event, held at the historic Parkman Bandstand. If nothing else, attendees can ask Weld what Charles River water tastes like.
Johnson and Weld are also scheduled to hold rallies in Burlington, Vermont on Wednesday; Concord, New Hampshire on Thursday; and Lewiston, Maine on Friday.
The string of rallies, following last week’s southwestern swing, represents a developing campaign strategy for the third-party team. Until recently, Johnson and Weld had spurned grassroots campaign rallies in favor of free media, in an effort to increase their national recognition.
Campaigning on free-market economics and social liberalism, the two former Republican governors are hoping to capitalize on a presidential cycle in which the two major-party nominates are historically unpopular.
However, in order to gain access to the general election debates, the third-party ticket needs to register 15-percent support in national polls, a benchmark which the campaign has aggressively campaigned on.
“The only chance to get elected is to be in the presidential debates,” Johnson told FiveThirtyEight in June.
Johnson and Weld are currently hovering around 9-percent support, according to an average of recent polls.
With about a month left until the first debate, polls show that still more than half of voters do not know enough about Johnson to have an opinion of him.
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