Posted at: 10/09/2012 6:43 PM By: Stuart Dyson, Eyewitness News 4

Gary Johnson brought his long-shot Libertarian campaign for president to New Mexico Tuesday, with a rally at the University of New Mexico Tuesday evening and a fundraiser high in the Sandia Mountains foothills earlier in the day.

It was barbecue and bucks at the County Line restaurant on Tramway, a fundraising luncheon for the former two term New Mexico governor.

Johnson, still steaming over his exclusion from the first Obama-Romney debate, is sticking with his message: cut federal spending, bring the troops home, legalize marijuana and gay marriage - live free.

"It's a message that resonates all across the country," Johnson said. "There are no weak spots anywhere. There's solid support and it's growing. I'm here to tell you, it's absolutely growing!"

It isn't a big bucks campaign, but the contributions keep rolling in from Americans who can't find meaning with the Republicans or Democrats. And don't try the argument that a vote for Johnson is a wasted vote.

"A wasted vote is voting for somebody you don't believe in," Johnson said. "That's a wasted vote. You vote for the person you believe in and that's how you change things in this country. if everybody wastes their vote on me - guess what? - I'm the next President of the United States!"

Johnson is polling at about 6 percent right now, when the pollsters bother to include him. Still, that's way ahead of where other Libertarians that have been in other races for the presidency.

Johnson's hometown visit will not last long. He is due to fly out of Albuquerque Wednesday, heading for Virginia and Washington D.C. to continue his tour of American college campuses.

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Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson makes a hometown visit