CNN town hall gives Libertarian Party an unprecedented shot at prime time

June 22's Libertarian town hall — live in prime time on CNN — is a big deal. It marks the first time Libertarian candidates will participate in a live presidential forum on one of the three major cable news channels. Chris Cuomo, who has moderated town hall events with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders this election, will run the show, posing questions to Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and his running mate, Bill Weld, while also fielding inquiries from the audience.

Notably, CNN is billing the questions as being "similar to those posed to the Democratic and Republican candidates during the primaries." In other words, CNN is taking Johnson and Weld seriously — for an evening, at least. The two former governors (Johnson of New Mexico and Weld of Massachusetts) have enjoyed a spike in coverage lately. With the presumptive major-party nominees registering historically bad favorability ratings, the Libertarian ticket — which Johnson also led in 2012 — is getting more attention than usual. In polls that include him, Johnson's support averages 8.5 percent, according to RealClearPolitics.