Its complicated.
Ron Paul said the two main parties own the debates.
You can't hardly get in unless your one of the chosen ones.
He also said that when you run third party you spend all your money just getting on the ballots.
In the states if your not in one of the two main parties there must be something wrong with you.
Libertarian party is often the butt of jokes in major media.
The libertarians are our third largest party.
There is talk of trying to unify the Constitution party, Libertarian party, and even the Green party.
In order to challenge the two main parties.
But it will never happen.
Money does play a major role.
As the Two main parties are already bought and payed for.
There is no reason to fund a third.