ORLANDO — As far as much of the media is concerned, the Libertarian Party's nomination — which will be decided at this weekend's convention — is Gary Johnson's for the taking. The former governor of New Mexico and 2012 nominee has done a battery of media interviews, and his selection of former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld as a running mate has resulted in even more attention. Just last week, Weld became the party's first vice presidential hopeful to appear on a major Sunday talk show.

Gary Johnson. (Rick Bowmer/AP)

But the Rosen Centre Hotel, which is slowly being occupied by Libertarian delegates, might contain the nation's largest population of Johnson/Weld skeptics.

At a hastily scheduled Thursday night debate, before most delegates showed up, Johnson and Weld defended their records against candidates running as more purely libertarian. (None of them have, like Weld, felt compelled to release multiple statements explaining their old Second Amendment stances.) Austin Petersen, the 35-year-old, media-savvy activist who has become Johnson's readiest critic, was seen to have scored a point on the selection of Weld.

"In 2008, your vice presidential pick endorsed Barack Obama," Petersen said of Johnson and Weld. "In 2012, he didn't endorse Ron Paul; he didn't endorse you. He endorsed Mitt Romney. In 2016, he endorsed John Kasich. Why didn't your VP pick endorse you?"

Johnson did himself no favors with the answer. "First of all, beyond my wildest dreams, I asked Bill Weld to join me," he said. "You realize that we're running separately. But he's the original libertarian —"

The rest of that statement was drowned out by laughter.

According to Tom Knapp, the founder of Independent Political Report and a delegate to the convention, the room was stacked with more radical Libertarians, more inclined to back a fellow traveler than a compromise candidate. A straw poll taken afterward found just 35 percent of attendees backing Johnson, and more than 20 percent each for Petersen and the radical candidate Darryl Perry.

"I'm not saying that's representative of the whole convention," said Knapp. "But if Gary doesn't win on the first ballot, he doesn't win."

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On Friday morning, Perry was working over delegates at his booth, telling them that he was at least the second choice of every candidate. Petersen and Johnson were doing media interviews.

"Austin always has some moment where he's very forceful, then he puts it on YouTube," said Bruce Majors, the chair of D.C.'s delegation to the convention. "Gary's sort of in the same position as Hillary Clinton — he's the front-runner. It diminishes him to be onstage with competitors, but it looks bad if he isn't."