For a 3rd party, Johnson and Weld are doing well. The Libertarian Party is seeing some serious growth that it hasn’t experienced in the past.

Thanks to the horrendously awful picks by both the Democrat and Republican parties in their choice of nominee, Gary Johnson is seeing a swelling base, unlooked for endorsements, and a fattening campaign purse.

Despite this, experts have said that they doubt Gary Johnson will make the 15% in 5 polls necessary to secure his spot on the debate stage. It’s a shame, but not all is lost. Johnson and Weld are getting a piece of the national spotlight of their own.

CNN decided not long ago to host a Town Hall for Johnson and Weld on Wednesday, August 3rd at 9 pm est.

The town hall will be much like ones we’ve seen before out of CNN, with the host moderating questions and answers from a live crowd. During this they’ll be able to clarify a lot of the stances that the Libertarian party holds, as well address their thoughts on the race as a whole.

This is actually the second CNN Town Hall that Johnson and Weld will get to be in. The first one garnered nearly a million viewers, and caused an outbreak of Google searches for people trying to figure out who Johnson and the Libertarian party were, seeing as how hardly anyone had ever heard of either.

For all intents and purposes, they did well with a few exceptions. Matt Welch at Reason called the display “awkward,” and he was somewhat correct when describing certain parts. During the “word game” portion, Johnson and Weld were too busy being nice about Clinton and Obama to effectively get the point across about just how much they contrast with both of them.

Johnson doesn’t like to get negative with his campaigning, and instead wants to stick to the issues, but the issues are exactly where Johnson can go when showing just how awful the left’s policies have been in regards to free markets, personal liberty, and military intervention. While it’s juicy gossip to trash your opponent with names, and personal attacks, Johnson can uphold his no-negativity style while still talking about how one candidates ideas are horrible. After all, this is a war of ideas.

In short, it’s not time to be the nice guy. It’s time to get down to business, and let the world know what it is the party stands for. I’ve always held that the majority of America was Libertarian and didn’t know it, and I think Johnson and Weld should really make a bold statement tomorrow that let’s people know that they have a home there.

Johnson and Weld should speak boldly, not defensively about their positions. Freedom is attractive, and people will find it attractive to if they truly see two men who are unapologetically going to uphold that value.

While this town hall might not get Johnson to the debate stage, a good performance here will certainly create a media stir when they see a larger dent in the Democrat and Republican polls, and a bigger rise for the Libertarians.

And that’s one thing Johnson could really use. Good publicity, that causes publicity.