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If you want a good example of where a Romney third party campaign would go, look no further than John Anderson in 1980. Anderson broke double digits only in New England and New York and mainly for the type of people who couldn't vote for anybody with an "R" after their name under any circumstances but still thought the Democrat incumbent was an incompetent putz.

Nationwide, Anderson got one out of every 15 votes; Romney would do well to get one out of every 50, and probably from the same area of the country where he was governor.

Ah, John B. Anderson. I actually worked for his campaign.

That was back when I was young and stupid. [foolish grin]. But, I redeemed myself in '84 by working for Reagan's re-election.

Cool. I lived in North Dakota back in the time and, since I was young and foolish too, I knew more than a few types who couldn't vote for any Republican if their life depended on it. Just couldn't. However, they had to admit Carter was a dismal and utter failure. The evidence was staring them in the face daily.

I remember how giddy the Carter people were when Reagan won the nomination over Bush. It would be such an easy win. They were also giddy even before when John B. Anderson announced an independent run on April 25 after losing three consecutive primaries where he was supposed to do well, including Wisconsin.

The popular wisdom was that he would get the mainstream GOP voters (sound familiar?) plus the Democrats disgusted with Carter. He even named former Wisconsin (Democrat) governor Pat Lucey running mate and the ticket polled 22% nationally right out of the gate.

By September, as the Carter-Reagan race tightened, it became clear Anderson was drawing more votes from Jombo, who tried very hard to ignore him and even refused to attend the first debate, because Reagan insisted on including Anderson.

Do you remember the empty chair representing Carter?