John Stossel is reportedly planning to host a nationally-televised Libertarian Party presidential primary debate on his show on Fox Business Network, possibly in March.
An announcement posted Tuesday on 2016 Libertarian presidential candidate and former Republican New Mexico governor Gary Johnson’s official Tumblr page read:
The Gary Johnson 2016 campaign has confirmed with Fox Business’s Stossel that Gov. Johnson will be delighted to participate in a televised debate among Libertarian Party presidential candidates, hopefully in March. We will of course leave the formal announcement of the debate details and date to the Stossel show, but want to express our gratitude to Mr. Stossel for working to find a date for this important event that will not disrupt any planned Libertarian Party activities and that is actually doable for all the candidates who are involved.
Political commentator Austin Petersen, also a candidate for the Libertarian Party’s 2016 presidential nomination, said in a Tuesday statement cited by his online magazine, The Libertarian Republic:
After quite a back and forth last week over whether there would be a nationally televised Libertarian Party presidential debate between myself and the other frontrunners, we just got word a few hours ago that there’s a chance we might be able to make this debate happen! That’s Tremendous news! We can’t wait for the opportunity to meet Johnson and [John] McAfee head to head… We’re planning on confirming, however we are going to be spending our time doing every bit of due diligence today just to make sure that the dates won’t interfere with any state or local LP activities we may already be committed to.
It is not yet known which candidates Stossel is planning to invite to the debate. Petersen’s statement seems to imply that the debate could at a minimum include Petersen, former Gov. Johnson, and software developer and fellow 2016 Libertarian presidential candidate John McAfee.
The Libertarian Party’s official website lists twelve 2016 presidential candidates. In addition to Johnson, Petersen, and McAfee, the party’s candidates currently include Marc Allen Feldman, Cecil Ince, Steve Kerbel, Darryl Perry, Derrick Michael Reid, Jack Robinson Jr., Rhett Smith, Shawna Joy Sterling, and Joy Waymire.
The Libertarian Party’s delegates will select its nominee at its national convention, which is set to take place on May 26-30 in Orlando, Florida.
Editor's note: This article, written by Barry Donegan, originally published on Truth in Media, and has been slightly modified for publication on IVN.