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***Official Third Party/Independent*** Presidential Candidacy Thread (1 Viewer)

I don't know the requirements, but Harry Browne qualified for them one year and had to spend about a million dollars in legal fees in order to not accept them. (He didn't believe that the government should fund campaigns.)

 
[SIZE=24pt]Live Free or Trump[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Gary Johnson has climbed Mount Everest before.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]This is not a metaphor about how hard it is to operate outside our two-party system. It’s a real thing that a presidential candidate has done. It just happens to also work, you know, as a metaphor.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Gary Johnson is the former Republican governor of New Mexico. During his two terms in office, he slashed the state budget while pushing for tax cuts, school vouchers and the legalization of marijuana. In 2003, after he left office, and shortly after breaking his leg, he climbed Mount Everest — the stuff of campaign ad makers’ dreams.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Now, as the presumptive presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party, Mr. Johnson is facing another daunting task: getting attention, and votes, as a third-party presidential candidate.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]In a normal election year, Mr. Johnson’s candidacy would garner about as much publicity and respect as any third-party candidate’s, which is to say, close to zero. But this time is different. The Republican Party appears to be eating its own tail, with millions of voters lining up for a candidate that many party leaders find morally and politically reprehensible. And now, in retaliation, some of those party leaders are starting to look for their own Naderian spoiler candidate to prevent Donald J. Trump from winning the presidency.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Last Thursday, three influential conservative activists convened a meeting of anti-Trump Republicans in Washington to discuss the feasibility of running a third-party candidate. According to The Washington Post, the tone of the meeting was “muted and downbeat” — perhaps a sign of the resignation party elites are feeling as they realize Mr. Trump is likely to be their nominee.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The anti-Trump, anti-Hillary Clinton crowd isn’t out of options just yet. Some have suggested putting up an independent candidate, or going all in for Senator Ted Cruz. But an absurd, unpredictable election season sometimes merits an equally absurd, unpredictable response. That’s where Mr. Johnson comes in.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]As the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee in 2012, he won around 1 percent of the popular vote. If he somehow were elected president, he would be the first commander in chief to have posed shirtless in GQ and served as the chief executive of a medical cannabis company.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]It’s unlikely that Republican elites would ever rally round someone like Mr. Johnson. But as a firewall to prevent Mr. Trump from taking over the Oval Office, the Libertarian Party nominee — whom they disagree with on many subjects — may be their best shot.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The biggest hurdle anti-Trump Republicans must overcome, aside from finding a candidate willing to go into the wilderness for them, is getting on the ballot. The presidential election system is a patchwork of state deadlines and ballot requirements. Ralph Nader, who critics say helped usher George W. Bush into the White House by running as a Green Party candidate in 2000, is extremely familiar with the ballot requirements, having been booted off the Pennsylvania ballot in 2004. While Mr. Nader is happy to rail against the “two-party tyranny” of the American electoral system, he thinks starting a third-party run at this point in the election season a near-impossible goal.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“It’s almost too late, unless you’re a multibillionaire,” Mr. Nader said. “Other than just a tailored two- or three-state approach, I don’t see it happening.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Even if anti-Trump forces are able to put a third-party candidate on the ballot, it is a limited victory: Ensure Mr. Trump loses, while also ensuring Republicans split their votes and get another Democrat elected.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]After Mr. Johnson earns his party’s nomination for a second time, which he appears likely to do, his key challenge will be making it to the debate stage. Last year, the Libertarian Party and the Green Party filed a lawsuit against the Commission on Presidential Debates to change the national polling threshold that dictates that only candidates polling at 15 percent or higher can join in.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“There is no way that a third party wins the presidency without being in the presidential debate,” Mr. Johnson said. “The contention is on our part that if you’re on the ballot in enough states to mathematically be elected, then you should be included in the presidential debate.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]He pointed out that, unlike whichever independent candidate anti-Trump Republicans are thinking of putting up against Mr. Trump, the Libertarian Party — which will host its nominating convention in Orlando, Fla., over Memorial Day — will be on the ballot in all 50 states come November.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“There’s not another third party. There’s not. It’s just not going to happen,” he said, then added, “It could be me!”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Mr. Trump has played the primary process masterfully, staging his coup from within the palace walls. He capitalized on the very rules the Republican National Committee changed after the drawn-out 2012 primary election to make more states award their delegates as winner-take-all rather than proportionally.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Instead of ousting Mr. Trump and forcing him to run as a third-party candidate, Republican elites now find themselves, or their preferred candidates, losing control of their own party. After the meeting of anti-Trump conservatives last Thursday, one of the meeting’s organizers, the right-wing radio host Erick Erickson, put out a statement from the group.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“We intend to keep our options open as to other avenues to oppose Donald Trump,” he wrote. “Our multiple decades of work in the conservative movement for free markets, limited government, national defense, religious liberty, life and marriage are about ideas, not necessarily parties.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]It is noteworthy that Mr. Trump is running a campaign safely within the two-party system, considering he is a Voltron-like candidate built using the most successful parts of past independent campaigns.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Like George Wallace, the former Alabama governor who ran a third-party presidential campaign in 1968 after his segregationist views put him on the fringes of the Democratic Party, Mr. Trump uses strident racial language to stoke his supporters’ anger. Like Ross Perot, who won 19 percent of the popular vote as an independent in 1992, Mr. Trump is an eccentric billionaire who is fun to watch on TV, which has allowed him to move ahead without relying on traditional fund-raising channels. Like Pat Buchanan, the Reform Party candidate in 2000, he is repackaging warmed-over economic and cultural nationalism and selling it as the future of the conservative movement. Mr. Trump even has a bit of Teddy Roosevelt, whose penchant for strongman bluster made him a populist hero when he ran as the Progressive (a.k.a. Bull Moose) Party candidate in 1912.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]For now, the Republican Party’s leaders are trying to maintain some semblance of control over what’s happening to them. Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, said it was both too early and too late for his party to think about starting an independent bid.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The host, George Stephanopoulos, asked Mr. Priebus what he thought of the Stop Trump movement, and whether recruiting a third-party candidate would doom the Republican chances of winning back the White House. “Well, sure it would — of course it would,” he said. “But it isn’t likely, and it’s probably too late, and there is no definitive answer right now as to who the nominee is going to be of our party. So I think all of it’s far too early.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]It’s Schrödinger’s primary now: both alive and dead, too early to speculate about and too late to save. Worst of all, the anti-Trump movement’s only hope to save the party might be a Libertarian. According to Julia Azari, a professor of political science at Marquette University, a Trump victory would actually prove worse for the Republican Party in the long run than another Democratic presidency.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Parties are not just labels, they’re not just ideas,” she said. “They’re institutions, and they’re institutions that do have people in them that have some sense of their longevity and also their integrity. Trump could run and lose, and the Republican Party could potentially move on from that. If he runs and wins, that’s really the nightmare scenario.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Every weekday, get thought-provoking commentary from Op-Ed columnists, The Times editorial board and contributing writers from around the world.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Mr. Johnson doesn’t appear to be too concerned about the integrity of his former party, though he finds Mr. Trump’s rise as maddening as the anti-Trump crowd does. Mr. Johnson cites his experience in 2012, where he ran for the Republican nomination before going after the Libertarian one: “Thirty percent of Republicans believe the scourge of the earth is Mexican immigration,” he said. “It was my voice saying, ‘You’re wrong.’ That they’re the cream of the crop when it comes to workers. That they’re not taking jobs that U.S. citizens want.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]He added: “And the fence is crazy. It’s asinine.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The more he talks, the more the #NeverTrump forces might hear something they like.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]And Gary Johnson has a campaign slogan ready: “It could be me!”[/SIZE]
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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/22/opinion/campaign-stops/live-free-or-trump.html

[SIZE=12pt][/SIZE]

 
timschochet said:
If it's Trump, Rick Santorum is considering a 3rd party bid...
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- I have no idea how Santorum could do this considering how he leapt on stage like a little puppy with Huckabee at Trump's CNN veterans event carnival show.

Supposedly if no one else steps forward I believe Tom Coburn is also a possibility.

 
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fatguyinalittlecoat said:
I'm sorta surprised that 11% of the public even knows who he is.

But if turns out that those three are the three top candidates, I could imagine Johnson benefitting from the unpopularity of Trump.

Just as an anecdote, I saw a high school buddy last week.  This guy would very much be considered an establishment Republican.  Worked on the hill for many years for a Republican Congressman.  Had a paid staff position for Bush's 2004 Presidential campaign.  As far as I know votes Republican every election. He told me that he refuses to vote for Trump or Cruz but that he couldn't imagine himself voting for Hillary.  He also claimed many of his Republican buddies felt the same way.  Said he just wouldn't vote for President, but I think maybe Gary Johnson could appeal to him or similar voters, if nothing else but a protest vote against Trump.
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Sanders had the same effect vs Hillary. He first showed up at 5% or so but as soon as he jumped in he was quickly at 10-12%. Now Sanders fully grabbed that opportunity and ran with it of course and it was a long slog to competitiveness. Johnson would have a much shorter window.

 
Jill Stein's platform:


 


Key points of the Power to the People Plan:



A Green New Deal:


Create millions of jobs by transitioning to 100% clean renewable energy by 2030, and investing in public transit, sustainable agriculture, and conservation.


Jobs as a Right:


Create living-wage jobs for every American who needs work, replacing unemployment offices with employment offices. Advance workers rights to form unions, achieve workplace democracy, and keep a fair share of the wealth they create.


End Poverty:


Guarantee economic human rights, including access to food, water, housing, and utilities, with effective anti-poverty programs to ensure every American a life of dignity.


Health Care as a Right:


Establish an improved “Medicare For All” single-payer public health insurance program to provide everyone with quality health care, at huge savings.


Education as a Right:


Abolish student debt to free a generation of Americans from debt servitude. Guarantee tuition-free, world-class public education from pre-school through university. End high stakes testing and public school privatization. 


A Just Economy:


Set a $15/hour federal minimum wage. Break up “too-big-to-fail” banks and democratize the Federal Reserve. Reject gentrification as a model of economic development. Support development of worker and community cooperatives and small businesses. Make Wall Street, big corporations, and the rich pay their fair share of taxes. Create democratically run public banks and utilities. Replace corporate trade agreements with fair trade agreements.


Protect Mother Earth:


Lead on a global treaty to halt climate change. End destructive energy extraction: fracking, tar sands, offshore drilling, oil trains, mountaintop removal, and uranium mines. Protect our public lands, water supplies, biological diversity, parks, and pollinators. Label GMOs, and put a moratorium on GMOs and pesticides until they are proven safe. Protect the rights of future generations.


Freedom and Equality:


End police brutality, mass incarceration and institutional racism within our justice system. Expand women’s rights, protect LGBT people from discrimination, defend indigenous rights and lands, and create a welcoming path to citizenship for immigrants. Protect the free Internet, replace drug prohibition with harm reduction, and legalize marijuana/hemp.


Justice for All:


Restore our Constitutional rights, terminate unconstitutional surveillance and unwarranted spying, end persecution of government and media whistleblowers, close Guantanamo, abolish secret kill lists, and repeal indefinite detention without charge or trial.


Peace and Human Rights:


Establish a foreign policy based on diplomacy, international law, and human rights. End the wars and drone attacks, cut military spending by at least 50% and close the 700+ foreign military bases that are turning our republic into a bankrupt empire. Stop U.S. support and arms sales to human rights abusers, and lead on global nuclear disarmament.


Empower the People:


Abolish corporate personhood. Protect voters’ rights by establishing a constitutional right to vote.  Enact electoral reforms that break the big money stranglehold and create truly representative democracy: public campaign financing, ranked-choice voting, proportional representation, and open debates.
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http://www.jill2016.com/plan

 
For anyone seriously committed to what Sanders is committed to on issues alone Stein seems like the fallback in the event that Sanders does not win the nomination.

 
I will vote for Johnson if Trump is the Republican nominee.  Trump has no intentions of limiting the size and power of the government, which is my top issue. Trump is a truly awful candidate in so many ways.

I could vote for Cruz if he won the nomination (but he will have ample opportunities to say things or take positions that would send me straight back to Johnson).  I would prefer him to Hillary.

I voted for Johnson in 12 as a protest because I did not care for Romney as a candidate and I knew that Louisiana safely in his camp anyway.

 
 


The Secret Movement to Draft General James Mattis for President


Gen. James Mattis doesn’t necessarily want to be president—but that’s not stopping a group of billionaire donors from hatching a plan to get him there.
...

Think of it as a Plan B should Trump be nominated by the Republican Party in Cleveland: swing behind retired U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis and press him into service yet again as a third-party candidate.
Mattis is the former commander of Central Command, which includes the strife-afflicted conflict zones of the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia, and has developed a reputation among troops as a general officer who cares about the little guy. This reputation blossomed into the political realm during the 2012 presidential contest, when a Marine Corps veteran started an online campaign to write-in Mattis on presidential ballots—it ultimately lacked the backing to take off.
But this situation involves far bigger players: Close to a dozen influential donors—involving politically-involved billionaires with deep pockets and conservative leanings—are ready to put their resources behind Mattis. At their request, a small group of political operatives have taken the first steps in the strategic legwork needed for a bid: a package of six strategic memos outlining how Mattis could win the race, in hopes of coaxing him in.
The general has received the package of memos, according to two individuals involved with the project.
Mattis, who is also nicknamed the “warrior monk” for his contemplative devotion to the military arts, would be a fallback option for anti-Trump forces. But since the next series of GOP nomination contests heavily favor Trump, this is not exactly a fantasy scenario.
...
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/08/the-secret-movement-to-draft-general-james-mattis-for-president.html

- This is not the first time I have heard about Mattis as a candidate, apparently he is a rock star in the military and has appeared as a character in at least one series on the Iraq War. He's essentially being viewed as an Eisenhower.

 
Surely could see a Marine General drawing votes from the Trump crowd...and, too, anybody that values honor and integrity in a leader should Clinton manage to stay afloat 'til November...

 
Modern Whig Party:

Platform




Because Whigs value differences of opinion and independent thought, we do not necessarily take a position on every particular issue which may be fashionable for the moment. Rather, we propose a program of broad reforms, bold policies and sensible restraint we believe will strengthen our country as it faces the challenges of the 21st Century. Our purpose is to chart a path to a government which truly does, as the preamble to the Constitution says, "establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity."

One thing you will notice as you explore our party further is the premium we put on civil debate. We are in the process of developing several initiatives to foster discussion and communication both within the party and between the party and the general public, but in the meantime please join us on our very active Facebook group page. We would love to hear what you have to say. And of course you can go a step further and unite with us in our mission to restore representative government to our nation. Join the party, donate, volunteer, or simply enter your email address to stay informed -- every action you take helps.

As always, the policies we advocate are in line with our core values of integrity, meritocracy and independent thinking. With that, here are some of our positions on several of the key issues of the day. 

Electoral and Government Reform

Electoral reform lies at the heart of Modern Whig methodology. We believe all citizens have an equal right to be represented in the democratic process and an equivalent duty to participate in it. We oppose all attempts to limit participation or distort representation. Our current political system unduly restricts political competition and undermines the average citizen's ability to properly exercise their political rights and duties.

Modern Whigs believe we must first start with the keystone to the electoral process: the ballot. Right now, elections are decided on the basis of plurality voting -- citizens can check off just a single name on their ballots, often leading them to bypass a candidate they truly support for a "least bad" alternative they believe can win and therefore avoid "wasting" their vote. We favor an approval voting system, where voters can check off the names of all the candidates they support.  

After consultation with experts -- and careful thought and debate -- the Modern Whig Party believes the adoption of approval voting would open up the political process to new voices, reduce polarization and eliminate the “wasted vote syndrome” or “spoiler role” of alternative party candidates. Best of all, it wouldn't add any cost or complexity to the current balloting system.

For information on approval voting and a look at some sample ballots, please visit nationalrenewal.org. 

But reforming the ballot is just the first step. A possibly bigger problem is the overwhelming influence of money in politics. Supreme Court decisions in two key cases -- Buckley v. Valeo in 1976 and Citizens United v. FEC in 2010 -- have raised serious constitutional barriers to any attempt at campaign finance reform. As the law now stands, candidates and elected officials can essentially raise unlimited amounts of money through their PACs and SuperPacs, and in the case of the latter have no obligation to disclose their donors.

The result has been a kind of financial arms race, and the amounts involved have become staggering. Worse yet, because of the titanic sums involved the influence of a small group of megadonors has come to dominate the electoral process -- and, in turn, the formation of policy.

The Modern Whig Party believes the approach advocated by RepresentUs holds a great deal of promise. Their draft of an American Anti-Corruption Act can unquestionably serve as a model for similar measures at the state and local level, and according to several constitutional experts would satisfy the legal requirements of both Buckley and Citizens United were it to be adopted as federal law.

But more than that, our absolute determination to "walk the talk" means no Modern Whig candidate will ever accept donations from corporations, unions or special interest groups. We also will always disclose the names of any and all donors whether it's required by law or not. And we will continue to push for the adoption of real campaign finance limits, disclosure and transparency laws, free and equal access to the airwaves and, ultimately, perhaps even public financing of campaigns.

We also advocate placing redistricting in the hands of non-partisan citizens committees to prevent state legislative majorities from gerrymandering congressional districts to artificially create safe seats. Other proposals, such as using simple geographic models to draw district boundaries, also deserve consideration. What matters is the result: a more fair, more representative election.  

One final point. We do not believe lobbyists and the organizations they represent should enjoy special access to legislators and other serving government officials. We favor a ban on elected politicians working as lobbyists for five years after leaving office, and a similar ban on government employees doing business with their former colleagues for the same period of time. 

Once some of these common sense reforms are adopted, other measures often proposed (such as term limits, expanding early voting, moving elections to a different day of the week) can be examined. But as of now, the system is deadlocked; we need to create a more fair and open ballot, break the stranglehold money has on the electoral process, and eliminate the revolving door between government service and private industry if we are to hope to make any progress.

...
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http://action.modernwhig.org/platform

- These guys could use some help on brevity and making their platform more punchy but I'm liking these guys so far, others have mentioned them so I have included them here.






 
Right now for anyone looking to escape the current system of incredible forthcoming crappiness of Hillary/Trump/Cruz, I'm thinking there are so far two decent reliable choices:

  • Jill Stein - Green Party
  • Gary Johnson - Libertarians

 
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SaintsInDome2006 said:
timschochet said:
Doesn't matter. Well over 50% of the voters will be choosing Democrats up and down the ticket this November. 
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That may be true, Donald's influence on the general will be corrosive. Obviously people will be voting against something and not for a platform however.
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Yeah America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kinda fitting this will be a big part of Clinton's legacy among those paying attention.

 
...

In order to better understand the facts at hand and the fundamentals of public opinion, on the evenings of May 12th through May 15th Data Targeting conducted polling across the U.S. on issues regarding the presidential race and the electorate’s opinions regarding an independent candidacy.

Here are the key findings:

2. Here are the most striking, historic numbers: 58. 55. 65. What are they?

  1. 58% of respondents are dissatisfied with the current group of Republican and Democratic candidates for President.
  2. 55% of respondents favor having an independent presidential ticket in 2016.

    A shocking 91% of voters under the age of 29 favor having an independent candidate on the ballot.

[*]65% of respondents are at least somewhat, pretty or very willing to support a candidate for President who is not Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.
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http://datatargeting.com/POTUS/

- A majority of Americans want a a third candidate to support.

 
SaintsInDome2006 said:
Jill Stein's platform:


 


http://www.jill2016.com/plan
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My friend actually posted this the other day, Jill Stein and her 100% renewable energy by 2030. I thought it was the most unreasonable thing I have ever read from a friend that I respected.  I gave it 24 hours to do some researching of my own before I reached a conclusion out of respect.  After digging a little bit it was clear that  it is absolutely insane to think this is remotely possible.  And although I like setting the bar high, I could never take anyone seriously who thinks this is reasonable by 2050 much less 2030. 

 
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So if i understand correctly a 3rd party candidate that wins at least enough states to prevent anyone from getting to 270 throws the election to the House of Representatives right? A mainstream Republican would be a shoe in then i would think in the GOP controlled House.

 
Third party presidential candidate guide


According to a May Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, almost half of registered voters would consider a generic third-party presidential nominee. A Gallup poll from September 2015 found that 60 percent of Americans want there to be a third-party, tied for the highest level since Gallup started asking the question in 2004.

So who are your third party presidential options in 2016? Here they are, organized by the number of votes they got in the 2012 election.

Libertarian Party — Gary Johnson

Party's 2012 vote total: 1,275,971

Johnson, formerly a Republican, was governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003. In 1995, Johnson set a state and national record by vetoing 200 bills, 48 percent of the bills passed by the legislature that year. Johnson had no political experience before becoming governor. He owned one of the largest construction companies in New Mexico. In his personal life, Johnson spends a lot of time on personal fitness. He's run several Ironman Triathlons and climbed Mount Everest. Johnson was also the Libertarian Party nominee in 2012, earning just less than 1 percent of the popular vote.

Policy Positions:

  • Wants to eliminate individual income, corporate income and payroll taxes, to be replaced with a simple consumption tax.
  • On immigration, wants to have a system of work visas in which potential immigrants have to go through a background check, pay taxes and provide proof of employment.
  • Supports a ban on late-term abortions and taxpayer funding of abortion, but believes women have a legal right to abortion and shouldn't be subject to persecution.
Age on Election Day: 63

Education: University of New Mexico

Family: Married to Dee Simms from 1977 until they divorced in 2005 (one son, one daughter). Now engaged to Kate Prusack.

Birthplace: Minot, N.D.

Current Residence: Taos, N.M.

Religion: Lutheran

Vice Presidential Nominee: Bill Weld, former Republican governor of Massachusetts

************************************************************

Green Party — To Be Determined

Party's 2012 vote total: 469,627

The Green Party's national convention is August 4-7, when the party will select an official nominee. That said, the heavy favorite is the party's 2012 nominee, Jill Stein.

Stein was a member of the Lexington, Mass., local government from 2005 to 2011. Stein is a doctor, which she says inspired her environmental activism. She became disillusioned with the Democratic Party in 2003, when Democrats in the Massachusetts legislature repealed a campaign finance law that provided taxpayer funds for campaigns that agreed to only accept donations under $100 per person. Stein was a principal organizer of the Global Climate Convergence for People, Planet and Peace over Profit, a major September 2014 environmental protest. Stein was the Green Party's presidential candidate in 2012, where she came in fourth.

Policy Positions:

  • Believes jobs, healthcare, unions, food, water, housing, utilities and voting are human rights.
  • Wants to end fracking, offshore drilling, oil trains, mountaintop removal and uranium mines. Wants to spend federal money on public transit, sustainable agriculture, conservation and renewable energy to put the country on a path to having all energy come from renewable sources by 2030.
  • Wants a moratorium on GMOs and pesticides until they are proven to be safe.
Age on Election Day: 66

Education: Harvard University (undergraduate and medical degrees)

Family: Married to Richard Rohrer, with two sons (Noah, Ben)

Birthplace: Chicago

Current Residence: Lexington, Mass.

Religion: [Unknown]

Vice Presidential Nominee: To be determined

************************************************************************

Constitution Party — Darrell Castle

Party's 2012 vote total: 122,389

Castle served as a Marine during the Vietnam War. He has been a lawyer for more than 25 years, working on consumer bankruptcy, personal injury and social security/disability and workers' compensation. Darrell Castle and Associates is based in Memphis, Tenn., with four other firms across the midwest. Castle and his wife founded Mia's Children Foundation in 1998, a Christian mission project in Romania focused on homeless gypsy children. Castle spent two terms as chair of the Constitution Party of Tennessee and was the party's vice presidential candidate in 2008. That year, the Constitution Party earned 200,000 votes and came in fifth.

Policy Positions:

  • Claims to be 100 percent pro-life, and promises to veto any bill that would give federal funding to Planned Parenthood or other abortion providers.
  • Would repeal the Federal Reserve Act, allowing lenders and borrowers to set their own interest rates. Castle says this would end bailouts: "I would remind the banks that there would no longer be a Federal Reserve to lend to them in an emergency so if a bank gets in trouble, it's on its own."
  • Wants the United States to end its membership in the United Nations. "The very existence of the U.N. is an affront to liberty and human dignity," Castle says.
Age on Election Day: 67 or 68

Education: East Tennessee State University (Political Science and History), Memphis State University (Juris Doctorate)

Family: Married to Joan Castle (one daughter)

Birthplace: Kingsport, Tenn.

Current Residence: Germantown, Tenn.

Religion: Christian

Vice Presidential Nominee: Scott Bradley, an independent business owner from Utah.

**********************************************************************

Independent American Party — Farley Anderson

Party's 2012 votes total: 122,389 (Virgil Goode ran as both the Constitution Party nominee and the Independent American Party nominee)

Anderson ran as an independent for governor of Utah in 2010, coming third with 2 percent of the vote. He was formerly a Republican, serving as a precinct chair in 1991. Anderson owned a publishing company for five years until 2010.

Vice Presidential Nominee: [unknown]

Policy Positions:

  • Wants to repeal the Federal Reserve Act, limit taxation to the methods allowed for in the original Constitution and eliminate the national debt with a balanced budget.
  • Wants a "strong defense establishment" and says American military shouldn't be committed to international organizations (such as NATO or the U.N.).
  • Believes in Judeo-Christian heritage, and that "it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and to humbly implore His protection and favor."
Age on Election Day: 60

Education: Weber State University (Oral Communications)

Family: Married (Helen), 11 children (Tamsyn, James, Adam, Dawna, Levi, Heather, Joshua, Sarah, Sam, Ben, Emily)

Birthplace: Ogden, Utah

Current Residence: Paradise, Utah

Religion: Latter-day Saints

****************************************************

Party for Socialism and Liberation — Gloria La Riva

Party's 2012 vote total: 9,399

La Riva is the executive vice president of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, Communications Workers of America, Local 39521. She ran for governor of California twice, mayor of San Francisco once and president once, all unsuccessfully. She has also produced videos like "Heroes Not Looters" in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. La Riva calls the U.S. embargo against Cuba a "blockade" and won Cuba's Friendship Medal for her support of Cuba.

Policy Positions:

  • Wants a "decent-paying job" to be a legal right, with a $20 an hour minimum wage and a "living income" guaranteed for those who can't work.
  • Would shut down all U.S. military bases around the world, bringing all "troops, planes and ships home" and using the military budget for other needs.
  • Believes in "free, safe, legal abortion on demand."
Age on Election Day: 62

Education: Brandeis University

Family: [Unknown]

Birthplace: Albuquerque, N.M.

Current Residence: San Francisco

Religion: [Unknown]

Vice Presidential Nominee: Eugene Puryear, an activist from Washington D.C.

*******************************************************************************************************

Socialist Workers Party — Alyson Kennedy

Party's 2012 vote total: 4,117

Kennedy works at Walmart in Chicago. She has been a socialist since the 1970s and has fought for union rights for decades. Kennedy, formerly a coal miner herself, has been particularly active fighting for union rights for coal miners. She also ran as the party's vice presidential nominee in 2008 and for the U.S. Senate in Illinois in 2010.

Policy Positions:

  • Wants a minimum wage of $15 an hour, guaranteed full-time work and union rights.
  • Opposes U.S. wars, like the former war in Vietnam and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  • Wants a "government-funded public works program to create jobs and build schools, medical, child care and recreation centers, replace crumbling infrastructure and other things working people need."
Age on Election Day: 65 or 66

Education: [Unknown]

Family: [Unknown]

Birthplace: Indianapolis

Current Residence: Chicago

Religion: [Unknown]

Vice Presidential Nominee: Osborne Hart, a Walmart worker from Philadelphia.

***************************************************************************

Prohibition Party — James Hedges

Party's 2012 vote total: 518

Hedges is a former member of the United States Marine Band who now volunteers in various ways in his community, including by running a recycling program and curating the print shop at a living history museum.

Policy Positions:

  • Opposes the production, transportation and sale of all drugs, including alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, cocaine and heroin (except for medicinal use, as regulated by the Food and Drug Administration), but supports programs that would help tobacco farm and vineyard owners to switch to alternative crops.
  • Opposes free trade: "We will impose balancing tariffs on all goods imported from countries whose wage scales, labor benefits, and environmental protections are not similar to our own."
  • Favors a balanced budget amendment to the federal constitution.
Age on Election Day: 78

Education: University of Iowa (Musical Performance), University of Maryland (Master's in Geography)

Family: Married (Carolyn)

Birthplace: Iowa City, Iowa

Current Residence: Fulton County, Pa.

Religion: [Unknown]

Vice Presidential Nominee: Bill Bayes, owner of a manufacturing business.

*****************************************************************************

Veterans Party of America — Chris Keniston

Party's 2012 vote total: [wasn't formed until 2014]

Keniston served in various roles in the Air Force from 1996 to 2010. He's now a small business owner, having founded FOD Gear, which specializes in veteran-centric and patriotic apparel. Keniston has also worked in manufacturing. Keniston is the third generation of veterans in his family, dating back to his grandfather's service in World War II.

Policy Positions:

  • Wants to secure the southern border by working with state governors and legislatures, and also feels that security along the Canadian border is a serious concern.
  • On education, wants to "terminate all federal endorsement or preferential funding of the existing Common Core curriculum with extreme prejudice."
  • Believes in "non-interference in global affairs." Says the U.S. has been viewed as a bully, which is a disservice to our "global identity."
Age on Election Day: 45

Education: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Professional Aeronautics)

Family: Single (was married in 1995 until a 2001 divorce, then married from 2004 until his wife passed away in 2016)

Birthplace: Washington, D.C.

Current Residence: [Unknown]

Religion: [Unknown]

Vice Presidential Nominee: Deacon Taylor, an Army veteran and currently a construction consultant.
Click to expand...
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/third-party-presidential-candidate-guide/article/2592950

 
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cap'n grunge said:
So if i understand correctly a 3rd party candidate that wins at least enough states to prevent anyone from getting to 270 throws the election to the House of Representatives right? A mainstream Republican would be a shoe in then i would think in the GOP controlled House.
Click to expand...
That's right.

But it's really hard to win a state's EVs.

I think if someone serious like a Governor or Senator got in or a Romney or a Coburn then yeah maybe Utah or NM or some states like that could maybe possibly be in play, But even as Trump becomes loopier no one seems serious about running.

 
SaintsInDome2006 said:
I think if someone serious like a Governor or Senator got in or a Romney or a Coburn then yeah maybe Utah or NM or some states like that could maybe possibly be in play, But even as Trump becomes loopier no one seems serious about running.




 
Click to expand...
Gary Johnson could win New Mexico...

 
Maurile Tremblay said:
Gary Johnson could win New Mexico...
Click to expand...
Well, that's 5.

Wallace had a decent shot at throwing it to the HOR in 1968. If he had done a little better in TN, SC & NC plus one more state enough to flip it then that would have happened. He did win 46 EVs outright. - So base on that I'd say someone would have to win in the range of 80 EV's to make it happen.

 
It depends on how the rest of the votes are divided. Just winning New Mexico's 5 electoral votes would be enough to throw it to the House if Clinton gets 268 and Trump gets 265, for example.

 
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Group Says There’s Interest in Third-Party Run From Governors, Senators


A third party presidential campaign effort that has been working to recruit an alternative to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton says over a dozen possible candidates have been in contact about a possible run just days after the effort was officially launched.

"Better for America” was set up to ensure a third party candidate will be on the ballot in all fifty states. John Kingston, a Boston-based conservative donor who bundled for Mitt Romney, is bankrolling the group, and stresses this new effort is bipartisan. The group has been in touch with both independents and Democrats -- “senators, governors, congressman, highly regarded people from the Armed Services" - who are willing to take on the New York real estate mogul and former secretary of state.

“You wouldn’t believe the types of people we are talking to,” Kingston told ABC News. “It’s an American crisis moment, this is what it is. Is somebody of the right mettle courageous enough to step into this? It’s hard, it’s not easy.”

Kingston said the group is confident it will find the “right American to stand up in this moment of patriotic crisis.”

Joel Searby, the group's chief strategist, added that potential contenders range from “self-funding billionaires to everyday exceptional Americans.” The approach is similar to Americans Elect, a group that tried to add a third-party candidate in 2012.

...

Searby, a Republican strategist and pollster based in Florida, has been working on the effort -- mainly as a vehicle to stop Trump -- for months with Weekly Standard editor and ABC News contributor Bill Kristol. The effort has come under some ridicule; Mitt Romney, Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, former Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn and retired Marine Corps General James Mattis have all ruled out a third-party run. Last month, National Review writer and constitutional attorney David French was floated as a contender, but he too decided against running.

The group now says its efforts have become more organized and bipartisan. Ileana Wachtel, the former press secretary for Jerry Brown who also worked for Barbara Boxer, has joined forced with Kingston, Searby and Kristol. Others involved include attorney Matthew Sawyer, the general counsel for Ross Perot’s 1996 presidential run and Mitt Romney’s former chief strategist, Stuart Stevens, who is an informal adviser to the group, according to Searby. The executive director is Anne MacDonald, who worked in the White House during President George W. Bush’s administration and who also served as First Lady Laura Bush’s chief of staff for three years after the Bushes left Washington.

The group points to the high unfavorability ratings for both candidates as a reason why it's pursuing a third party candidate. An ABC News-Washington Post poll out this week shows 7 out of 10 Americans see Trump unfavorably. Fifty-five percent of respondents had an unfavorable view of Clinton.

This effort comes as nearly three dozen GOP delegates are working on a plan to block Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next month, as first reported in the Washington Post. It’s an unrelated effort, but with the same goal of dumping Trump.

Kingston's team has been holed up in hotel rooms in midtown Manhattan this week organizing ballot access efforts, talking to reporters and engaging possible donors. Kingston says he has invested in the “low seven figures and they are finding more capital along the way.”

“It’s the result of a toxic brew of illegitimate, disqualifying candidates arising out of what people perceive as an illegitimate process,” Kingston said. “The American people are hungry for something different. There is widespread perception the two party system is dysfunctional.”

...

“Better for America wants to be a place where the tens of millions of people that don’t have a place to gather can come,” MacDonald said, adding that he hopes the group "can serve as more of a draft effort to find a person who can be a rallier and uniter of more Americans.”

The group says it hopes to announce its candidate after both the Republican and Democratic conventions this summer but MacDonald said an unveiling could come as soon as the group settles on a "a fantastically strong candidate.”

Both Kingston and MacDonald believe that as the presidential campaign chugs along dissatisfaction with the candidates will increase, especially with Trump.

“I think that if the Republican Party continues to go down the path of making a misogynist racist its leader than many Republicans are going to have to take a hard, long look with continuing their affiliation with having him as their representative,” she said.

...
Click to expand...
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/group-interest-party-run-governors-senators/story?id=39939736

 
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Conservative Donor’s Group Presses Ballot Access for a Third-Party Candidate


A conservative donor who has been scouring Republican ranks for a third-party candidate is pressing ahead with a group to get on the ballot in dozens of states. The candidate will come once the group sees that the ballot access is possible.

The donor, John Kingston, a bundler and ally of Mitt Romney, said he will bankroll a ballot-access project to create a path for someone to run as another option. The effort is being called Better for America.

The idea is “to do a proof of concept for everybody,” Mr. Kingston said. “It exists, there is a pathway, there is a road that you can be going down.”

The Massachusetts man was heavily involved in efforts led by the Weekly Standard editor William Kristol to find a challenger to both Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump for a third-party line. His approach is similar to one used by a group, Americans Elect, in 2012, when it tried creating a ballot line unattached to a major party.

Better for America has Mr. Kingston working with the pollster Joel Searby as the chief strategist, as well as the lawyers Mohammad Jazil and Matthew Sawyer. Mr. Sawyer was the general counsel for the Texas business magnate H. Ross Perot’s Reform Party presidential run in 1996. Anne MacDonald, who was the chief of staff to the first lady Laura Bush, is also advising the group.

Members of the group said the project gives a shot at getting on the ballot almost everywhere, even with deadlines to do so having passed for Texas and North Carolina.

This week is crucial because a number of the states’ ballot access deadlines are due.

...

He and Mr. Jazil said that about a dozen lawyers are working on the project, and that they believe they can still get on the ballot in North Carolina and Texas through the courts.

The effort remains quixotic, and is plainly in part a “Stop Trump” effort, despite the failure of such attempts in the past. Mr. Searby, in an interview, acknowledged that he became serious about this since February, as he watched Mr. Trump’s rise in the primaries, and as his comments have become more incendiary.

“We do not have to be boxed in by this Hobson’s choice moment of Evil No. 1 or Slightly Less Evil No. 2,” Mr. Kingston said, referring to the major parties’ presumptive nominees Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton.

He would not say how much he is spending, although he said it is “less than seven figures.”

“This doesn’t become real unless people get behind it,” Mr. Kingston said.

That has been his problem so far. While Mr. Romney and Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska were aggressively recruited by Mr. Kristol, both have declined.

Mr. Kingston does not see the Libertarian Party ticket as viable, either, despite the presence of William Weld, the former Massachusetts governor, as the vice-presidential candidate.

“You saw the convention,” Mr. Kingston said, referring to the Florida-based political event in late May when Mr. Weld and Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico, were selected. One of the convention’s participants, a candidate for party chairman, took his clothes off.

“I just don’t think that’s where the American people are,” Mr. Kingston said. “I think if Bill Weld was at the top of the ticket and it would be a totally different framework, then it would be something.”
Click to expand...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/15/us/politics/third-party-candidate.html?_r=0

 
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It makes me sad that most people will be voting for either an orange faced clown or a dangerous, treasonous crook with no ethics, soul, or concern for human life or for the country beyond her own sorry ### and her money...

nice job America...

 
I can't bring myself to vote for either one of those two no talent [butt] clowns. I'll probably be writing in someone other than Deez Nutz.

 
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Be nice if they could talk the leaders of nolabels to run... Huntsman and Liberman would pull in enough from both sides to make it a REAL race... :mellow:

 
A: so are you voting for Hitler or Stalin?

B I don't really like either of them, I was considering a third party guy like this George Washington guy

A: aww man, don't waste your vote...

 
If a pollster asks you whom you're voting for and you answer Gary Johnson, it will probably be the biggest statistical impact you ever have on politics in your life.

Johnson is polling around 13% right now, and he needs to hit 15% to get into the debates. Sample sizes are often 400-1000, so he needs only 8-20 more people per poll to name him.

 
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Maurile Tremblay said:
If a pollster asks you whom you're voting for and you answer Gary Johnson, it will probably be the biggest statistical impact you ever have on politics in your life.

Johnson is polling around 13% right now, and he needs to hit 15% to get into the debates. Sample sizes are often 400-1000, so he needs only 8-20 more people per poll to name him.
Click to expand...
Is it 15% in one poll once or is there a specific poll or a specific date?

 
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