Here's the thing - what if Johnson loses the nomination?
I don't think Libertarian grassroots would take the news of Weld being on the ticket too well.
I'm not sure how predictive it has been in the past, but a recently-created "who do you want to be the nominee?" poll on the LP's website has Peterson ahead of Johnson 50%-31% with McAfee at 10%.
I think Petersen's supporters are the least likely to be delegates, then Johnson's supporters, then McAfee's supporters, then Perry's supporters. Weight Internet polls accordingly. Petersen does seem to be getting a bit of a surge, but it's probably largely from the likes of Glenn Beck listeners who liked his appearances on TheBlaze. Credit to Petersen; he did very well in the debate on TheBlaze and in his interview with Glenn Beck. But that newfound support is not necessarily full of LP delegates.
I think that Petersen would perform worse than Johnson in the general, but he'd be a safer pick than McAfee, who could either perform much better or much worse. The main concern about Petersen is that it's not simple to answer the question, "Austin Petersen? Who is that?" I, as a supporter, couldn't say, "the former Governor of New Mexico" or "the McAfee Antivirus guy," I'm stuck explaining what The Libertarian Republic and Freedom Watch are, and why a guy who worked on those things should even come close to being considered for President.
