Gary Johnson says he isn’t planning to leave the Republican Party.

“The party left me,” said Johnson, a little-known former New Mexico governor and Republican presidential candidate. “The Republican Party hung me out to dry.”

With talk like that, Johnson’s departure from the GOP sounds all but certain. If he leaves the Republican Party, he’s likely to run for president as a Libertarian in the coming weeks.

But Johnson said he hasn’t made a final decision. Still, he came to Florida this week to meet with the Libertarian Party "and he was happy with the meeting," said one of his political advisors, Roger Stone.

An anti-tax and pro-marijuana legalization candidate, Johnson partly blames his poor standing in the race on GOP officials and elites. They did nothing, he said, to help ensure that candidates like him had a shot at being invited to the series of televised debates that have shaped the crowded Republican primary.

And he blames the television networks for not giving him a chance, either.

Johnson’s potential move is as much an act of political frustration as it is a protest of politics as usual. His predicament is also an object lesson in the difficulties of running for president, which requires millions of dollars, big name ID and Washington political connections.

“I have been excluded in 15 out of 17 debates,” he said. “Really, that has been the death-knell, if you will, to my aspirations.”

The decision to even consider running as a Libertarian has reinvigorated his campaign. He’s sitting down with local newspapers — three in Florida in two days — and he plans to work the New York cable-news circuit by week’s end to talk about the race and his potential switch.

Johnson didn’t think he’d be in this position when he began running months ago. After all, he has a resume Republican candidates would kill for.

Twice elected in an overwhelmingly Democratic state, Johnson is a self-made millionaire and political outsider who vetoed a record number of bills (742), and trimmed budget fat and the state payroll. He cut taxes, balked at raising cigarette taxes, promoted school-choice initiatives and served from 1995 to 2003.

“Overall, Governor Johnson has an excellent record on taxes and consistently pushed for tax cuts despite having to deal with the liberal New Mexico Legislature,” the conservative Club for Growth wrote in a white paper examining Johnson’s policies and positions.

Johnson isn’t a social conservative. Like Barry Goldwater and other Western Republicans, his conservatism is shot through with a leave-us-alone attitude when it comes to government.

Johnson wants to do away with the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and much of the Internal Revenue Service because he wants a national sales tax to replace income taxes. Johnson says he believes in economic freedom for business, and he also believes in social freedoms for gun owners, gays who want to marry, women who want abortions, or the millions of people who just want to smoke a joint.

“Fifty percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana. Among the universe of politicians, 0 percent supports the notion,” Johnson said. “Can you think of any other area of public policy where there’s that much of a disconnect between public opinions and politicians?”