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Posted on 11/08/2011 5:57:59 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Panelists Predict Third Party in 2012 Presidential Election
By Dillon van Auken, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Published: Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Harvard Institute of Politics holds a forum called “Campaign 2012: How Americans Will Select Their Next President,” which focus on the possiblity of a third party option in the upcoming presidential election.
A third party candidate might have a much better shot at winning the 2012 presidential election than most citizens believe, experts in campaign media and communications said at the Institute of Politics on Monday.
The speakers identified Americans’ growing discontent with Washington partisanship and gridlock in Congress as factors that make a third party ticket more viable.
“People always say about a third party when we bring this up, ‘Oh, this isn’t going to happen,” said Mark McKinnon, former chief media advisor to President George W. Bush’s campaigns and a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. “Just because it hasn’t happened in American politics doesn’t mean it won’t now.”
Karen E. Tumulty, a political correspondent for the Washington Post, said that principles matter to today’s voters more than party membership.
“It feels like the center of gravity of politics has changed,” Tumulty said.
She noted that the Consumer Confidence Index, which measures citizens’ outlook on the economy, is currently at a low which it last reached in 1980 and 1992—both years in which an incumbent president was thrown out of office.
Each of those years also saw campaigns by significant third party candidates: John B. Anderson in 1980 and H. Ross Perot in 1992.
(Excerpt) Read more at thecrimson.com ...
I predict a brokered Republican Convention.
Anyone but Obama. He sucks.
due to the new rules I think that will happen too.
I am not usually a big 3rd party proponent, but I will never vote for Romney, and if Romney somehow takes this, and a viable worthy 3rd party option is offered, I will vote 3rd party, if not I will just stay home.
Because Romney would be worse than Obama, because he is just as liberal as Obama, but could do more damage because the Republicans in congress wouldn’t fight as hard against his policies because he has an “R” after his name.
Amen to that, brother. I’d sooner vote for Wrong Paul on a third-party ticket than Mitt Romney.
BO’s fellow Marxists at Harvard will be promoting this scenario.That is his ticket to keeping the presidency another four years, just as Clinton would not have been president if Ross Perot had not run on a third party ticket.
0bama cannot win in a two way race and he doesn’t intend to run a two way race.
His entire political career consists of eliminating his opponents (or having the media do it for him) and running unopposed.
We’re seeing this happen with Cain, though I don’t think he’ll succeed. This 3rd party candidate route is another facet of his strategy.
As long as it is a Left-wing third party - Green or Social(ist) Democrat or something like that. That would guarantee that Obama loses.
A right wing third party would guarantee an Obama win. If I were a Evil Democrat Mastermind (but I repeat myself), I’d be funding a “Tea Party” presidential ticket with just that in mind.
I did that last primary election- by the time TX primary got here, the lib crossovers had eliminated ALL conservatives from the ticket, leaving only RP, Juan McCain, and Mike Huckleby.
NONSENSE. Here is correct way to phrase your statment: Perot or no Perot if George Bush had not lied and raised taxes Clinton would not have been president. Your error is corrected.
This may all be part of Sarah’s plan.
This could be right. I speak in favor of a 3rd Party but this is not how to do it. It must be built up slowly with a whole range of candidates—not just a White House bid like Ross Perot (But he did have some good ideas and dire predictions that have come true). If Mitt is forced down our throats like McCain, Dole etc... (The Loser of the week) then we might be forced into this dark, 3rd Party place. IF, and I do mean IF, we are forced down this path we should do it deliberately and with thought, not as an emotional response. No Ron Paul, he’s a nut with few good ideas. We must look to the Tea Party people to find someone who can lead us. Maybe Herman Cain? Maybe even Draft Sarah Palin?
Before that day comes we should, on the right:
1. Work to block Mitt Romney from the ticket—Vote Cain, Perry, etc...
2. Work with everything we can to start a Forth Leftist Party (Green-Communist-Progressive) and see if Hillary will lead this group or Jerry Brown or some other Liberal. The only reason the MSM want a 3rd Party is to get Obama Re-elected—break the left in two so its a four party election and that will stop this. (Think election of 1860)
3. Redouble efforts to find scandals linking Obama to corruption—I don’t believe this will be hard now. We must find real cause for people to dump him.
4. Look to keep the Tea Party alive in the face of the OWS demonstrations this Spring. Don’t let this movement die or the other side wins.
5. Keep finding more dirt on the OWS demonstrations and show them to be bankrupt ex-Hippies with an anti-American Message. This is real Astroturf.
6. Keep influencing the GOP and keep her on the right path. Support Right thinking Media like Beck’s Blaze.
7. Lastly—if forced to go 3rd Party—Go all the way. Not a protest but a replacement for the GOP. A Real, viable Party with a solid set of beliefs and a moral fabric. New symbols, new slogans and an agenda. It should be Pro-America, anti PC, Anti-Abortion, anti Illegal, etc... Here many Libertarian ideas might be a help. We must find new leaders not from politics —Military heroes, businessmen, actors who are right thinkers, sports heroes, etc...
Any prediction made by Harvard professors is bound to be wrong. Bet the other way.
This is an excellent plan. I try to keep a level head when talking politics, but Romney’s candidacy frustrates me so much that I guess I lost sight of the finer details in my decision.
I agree that now is the time to start working on a contingency plan such as this in case Slick Willard gets the nod. But why aren’t we hearing more about an organized effort - especially here, where there are so many others who refuse to vote for Romney?
I’d think planting the seeds for an OWS party would be a good campaign strategy regardless of who the Republican nominee is.
We need a ‘50% + 1’ system...a MAJORITY of voters REJECTED Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, yet he served two terms. Would a ‘50% + 1’ system had given us different results? It’s possible. (in 1992, Perot eliminated; Bush vs. Clinton for all the marbles.)
I think they are right. We could even see this split into 4 parties.
I think if the GOP forces Romney on us the Tea Party will say “no thanks” and run their own candidate in November. They will have come to realize that they can’t make any headway so long as the GOP establishment is always there waiting to shiv them in the back. So they’ll take them out and the party will start to wither when Mitt finishes third.
I also think it possible that the unions will exploit the OWS protests to try and start their own Labo(u)r Party. Particularly in view of reports that Wall Street has made more money in 2 1/2 yrs. under Obama than under eight of George Bush.
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