This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Mitt Romney ended an extended break from Twitter on Wednesday and immediately caused a political stir by saying he wants to see Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson debate Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

"I hope voters get to see former GOP Governors Gary Johnson and Bill Weld on the debate stage this fall," said Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate, in his first tweet since early July.

Johnson has previously said he has courted Romney's endorsement and Romney's tweet indicates that's still a possibility. Romney, who now calls Utah home, has said he won't vote for Trump or Clinton, and may write in a name if he finds no palatable candidate.

Johnson, a former governor of New Mexico, would need to average 15 percent in five national polls to make the debate stage. He's short of that now, with recent polls showing him between 7 percent and 11 percent.

He's doing much better than that in Utah, where a recent Washington Post-SurveyMonkey 50-state poll found Johnson with 23 percent. Johnson and Weld, who like Romney is a former governor of Massachusetts, have TV and billboard ads up in Utah.