Little-known presidential hopeful Gary Johnson to participate in Thursday's GOP debate

Updated: Sept. 22, 11:15 a.m

Little-known Republican presidential candidate Gary Johnson will participate in Thursday night's Republican presidential debate, CBS News has confirmed, marking his first public face-off with prominent Republican presidential contenders like Mitt Romney,  Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann.

The libertarian-leaning former New Mexico governor won a slot in the Fox News-sponsored debate after reaching one percent in national polls for the first time, according to the Daily Beast.

While Johnson undoubtedly intends to use his appearance to raise his national profile, some have already noted that the biggest impact of his inclusion in the debate may be on other candidates: "His presence in the debate could help the top two candidates, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, by diluting the airtime available to the other contenders. Or he could help rough up Perry by joining in the attacks on the Texas governor, though on many issues he would be staging his assault from the left," writes the Daily Beast's Howard Kurtz.

Nevertheless, Fellow back-of-the-pack presidential hopeful Thad McCotter congratulated Johnson for his breakthrough on Tuesday, tweeting: "Congratulations to @GovGaryJohnson 4 making it into @FoxNews debate! Go get 'em!"