Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson uses joke to open Las Vegas forum

Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson likes to joke. He told a Las Vegas forum audience Friday that it’s a crazy election cycle.

“How crazy is it?” Johnson asked. “I might be the next president of the United States.”

That drew laughter, but he’s also dead serious. Johnson is aiming to participate in the presidential debates, which means to qualify, he must have at least 15 percent support in national polls.

A CNN poll in mid-July gave him 13 percent support in a four-way matchup with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Republican nominee Donald Trump and Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

Johnson, former President Bill Clinton, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, representing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, spoke at a forum at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. About 2,500 attended.

The forum was hosted by the Asian American Journalists Association and Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote.

Johnson, a former two-term Republican governor of New Mexico, was the first to speak at the forum.

“There’s no way that I’m going to win the presidency if I’m not in the presidential debates,” he said.

Johnson ran on the Libertarian ticket in 2012, getting about 1 percent of the popular vote.

Johnson said his platform calls for limited government, adding he’s liberal on social issues, which means you “always come down on the side of choice” and “allowing people to make choices in their own lives as long as those choices don’t adversely affect others.”

Asked if a vote for him would be a “wasted vote,” Johnson said:

“A wasted vote is voting for someone you don’t believe in.”

He added: “If you want to waste your vote on Clinton or Trump, have at it.”

Johnson said Trump’s stance on deporting 11 million people in the U.S. illegally is “based on a complete misunderstanding.”

He drew laughter when asked about Trump’s goal of building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Johnson called it “crazy,” joking that Trump is watching the Olympics to see how high Mexico’s “pole vaulters can go.”