Interesting, dear brother in Christ. Something to think about.... I could warm to that idea.
But how would we know who the Electors are pledged to, when the Third Party did not exist at the time of the primary/caucus season when the electors themselves were elected (or apportioned)?
I'm wondering about the mechanics here. Or is my question just silly?
If the election gets decided by Congress, failing a majority in the Electoral College on the appointed date, we could be opening a real Pandora's box. I call your attention to the word "qualified" in Amendment XX, Section 3. What does this word mean? It seems to mean something more than "eligible" (as in the Article II eligibility requirements -- i.e., natural born, 35 years old, 14 years a resident of the U.S.).
I've consulted my usual sources, and so far, none point to a meaning of presidential "qualification" that differs from "eligibility." But then, if the two words mean the same thing, why complicate matters by using the second word, as Amendment XX, Section 3 does?
I'm scratching my head. What if the Congress does not find the elected president is "qualified?" According to my reading of Amendment XX, Congress would then be empowered to appoint an acting president for some indeterminate period of time until the "qualification" issue is cleared up.
Do I worry about nothing?
Whatever the case, the RNC would be foolish to go to a brokered convention that nominated a candidate without a majority or near majority of electoral votes as determined in the primaries/caucuses. The RNC then wouldn't just be dissing a person (say, Donald Trump). It would be dissing every person who voted for him the the primaries. To say this would be grossly undemocratic is an understatement.
In Trump's case, the folks being dissed are mainly working and middle class people. How does one win elections without such folks?
What is clear is, should the RNC proceed with such folly, it would clearly reveal itself as the party of the elites, the well-connected, the monied interests, the intellectuals, the ideologues....
But NOT the party of "average" Americans....
But when I look at the data, it’s clear to me that if I entered the race, I could not win. I believe I could win a number of diverse states -- but not enough to win the 270 Electoral College votes necessary to win the presidency.In a three-way race, it’s unlikely any candidate would win a majority of electoral votes, and then the power to choose the president would be taken out of the hands of the American people and thrown to Congress. The fact is, even if I were to receive the most popular votes and the most electoral votes, victory would be highly unlikely, because most members of Congress would vote for their party’s nominee. Party loyalists in Congress -- not the American people or the Electoral College -- would determine the next president.
As the race stands now, with Republicans in charge of both Houses, there is a good chance that my candidacy could lead to the election of Donald Trump or Senator Ted Cruz. That is not a risk I can take in good conscience. http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-03-07/the-2016-election-risk-that-michael-bloomberg-won-t-take
He recognizes that any 3rd party candidate must win a majority of the electors to have any hope of success. Moreover, anything less than a majority win goes to Congress where each state congressional delegation gets one vote for president. Most state delegations are republican, so the winner would be republican, but would it be Trump or Cruz. There's no guarantee of that.
Amendment 12: "...The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. — The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States....
So, if Clinton is the democrat candidate, a brokered convention gives us Bush, and Trump runs an independent campaign and no candidate receives a majority of the elector vote, then it goes to a republican House of Representatives, moreover one in which the state delegation is majority republican in a majority of states. They will poll the state, and their one vote will be cast. The republican representatives will vote the for the republican candidate, Bush.
So, in one sense, a Trump independent run guarantees a republican win. It is a Trump win only with a majority. Some would call that a win-win, if the republican were not Bush.