Top conservatives gather to plot third-party run against Trump

[brooklynite]

Source: Politico

Three influential leaders of the conservative movement have summoned other top conservatives for a closed-door meeting Thursday in Washington, D.C., to talk about how to stop Donald Trump and, should he become the Republican nominee, how to run a third-party “true conservative” challenger in the fall.

The organizers of the meeting include Bill Wichterman, who was President George W. Bush’s liaison to the conservative movement; Bob Fischer, a South Dakota businessman and longtime conservative convener; and Erick Erickson, the outspoken Trump opponent and conservative activist who founded RedState.com.

Please join other conservative leaders to strategize how to defeat Donald Trump for the Republican nomination,” the three wrote in an invitation obtained by POLITICO that recently went out to conservative leaders, "and if he is the Republican nominee for president, to offer a true conservative candidate in the general election."

The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, two days after winner-take-all Florida and Ohio vote in what many Republican operatives believe will determine whether Trump is on an unstoppable march to the nomination or is likely to stall out short of the 1,237 delegates he needs.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/top-conservatives-gather-to-plot-third-party-run-against-trump-220786?lo=ut_a1

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Excellent...

[Glorfindel]

1. There's such a thing as " conservative convener?" Who knew?

But I'm delighted to hear it. I HOPE they mount a third-party bid. The worst Democrat is better than any Republican.
Thank you for posting this!

[dhill926]

2. a wonderful idea...

please proceed gentlemen...

[TheOther95Percent]

3. Yeah, Really. Please Proceed.

Knock yourself out.

[geomon666]

4. .

[Botany]

5. The Japanese tried this kind of thing @ the end of WW II

Oh well "they" made this monster in Trump and now they can't control him.

BTW the # of trump voters = the # of voters who are pissed that a black man is POTUS.

[OldRedneck]

6. And who is the "true conservative" they will select??

Jeb! ?
Rafael Cruz?
Ross Perot?
Piyush Jindal?
John Kasich?
Sarah Palin?
Willard Romney?
Nimrata Nikki Randhawa?
Haley Barbour?
That former Texas governor with the owl-looking glasses?
Michele Bachmann?
Newtie?
Lil' Marco?

I mean, WTF do they have to choose from?

[Turborama]

9. I for one hope they choose Sarah Palin.

Drumpf vs Bible Spice would be an epic implosion.

[susanr516]

7. Too little, too late

The rules to get on the ballot in Texas as an independent presidential candidate are almost impossible to meet. Over 79,000 signatures from people who didn't vote in either party primary; the VP candidate must be named and submit a signed consent form; and the entire slate of 38 electors must be submitted (with signed consent forms) by May 9. Plus, we have a sore loser law, which excludes anyone who ran on either party's primary ballot from filing as an independent.

[The Second Stone]

10. This is just the break the Romney/Ryan campaign has

been looking for!

[susanr516]

12. You may be correct

I'm pretty sure this was posted in jest (forgive me if I'm wrong,) but they both meet the criteria to file in TX as independents. I always figured it would be Bloomberg, but he bowed out. We'll know soon--any independent candidate will have to get to work quickly to get on the TX ballot.

[The Second Stone]

13. I was serious and joking

and noticed they qualified, and Romney appears interested. No way Bloomberg gets traction as a Republican anywhere outside of a major metropolitan area. He's simply too liberal, and not even moderate. Heck, he's more liberal than I am.

[Jim Lane]

25. With enough money, they could do it.

They'd have to start very soon (one problem for them being that, as of right now, there's still a decent chance of denying Trump the nomination). If they could settle on a ticket (the hard part), and if the Kochs and their ilk toss in a few million bucks just for Texas, then paid signature-gatherers could probably meet the requirement.

As an alternative to a one-shot petition drive for a 2016 ticket, what are the rules about ballot access for a new party? Without naming a ticket, could they start a Conservative Party or Lone Star Party or whatever and gather signatures to get the party a ballot line, while naming the new party's candidates after May 9 (just as the Democratic and Republican Parties will)? It seems unfair that a new party would have to name its candidates months before the older parties do.

To get on the ballot nationwide would take a LOT of money. Presumably, though, if enough big donors get on board, money would be the least of their problems.

[jalan48]

8. Trump's the future of the Republican Party as the political spectrum continues going right.

[elmac]

11. and as said in MSNBS a few minutes ago

if it goes to a contested convention, a guy who has litigated for Trump for several decades said Trump will not compromise, will leave the field bloody and run third party.

[former9thward]

28. That guy must not know election law.

By the time of the convention a third party would be impossible. Ballot deadlines would have long passed.

[hay rick]

14. I see opportunity...not where you think.

If the "conservatives" split off from the Republican Party, the Democratic nominee should be able to win in a walk- as long as progressives don't also split off. After years of casting "lesser evil" votes, I would relish the opportunity to hold "moderates" feet to the fire.

[lark]

22. Yep, my thought exactly!

Dem wins for sure if Trump and a conservative run. Run conservatives run, for the good of the country, run and make sure the left wins.

[NBachers]

15. Big Points for the Montgomery Burns portrait!

[0rganism]

16. and so the sundering begins

who they choose for this thankless task... basically a "fall on your sword" moment for some minor dynasty or other.

this sad pantomime of the dissolution of the Republican party, reading like a postmodern King Lear, will be the substance of many a political science thesis over the next 3 decades.

[sofa king]

17. We need to pay attention to this.

The object here is not to win with a third-party candidate. The object is to take enough electoral votes from Hillary Clinton so that she definitely loses.

If there is no majority winner of EVs, the House of Representatives picks the President--or more importantly, doesn't. They can not pick anyone and Speaker Paul Ryan inherits the office by default, without an incriminating vote from Congress.

That was a long shot when I started writing an article about that last year (and had my life completely upended for it), but now it's about the only way that a Republican is going to get into the White House. They're out of options and willing to do anything.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. A 'true conservative' would be unlikely to take a state from Hillary, rather than from Trump

Someone like Bloomberg as a 3rd party might take states from Hillary, but not the kind of person they want to run - eg Cruz (and that's who Erickson supports).

[sofa king]

27. Truth.

I should have explained better.

The scenario I have been focused on is the opposite of this: steal the nomination from Trump and then quietly support him as a third party candidate so that he can take EVs from Mrs. Clinton, the object being to toss the election to the House. Then, to protect themselves, the House won't vote, and the Speaker of the House (presumably Paul Ryan) assumes the office in January, 2016.

But if Trump wins the nomination and they can't or won't steal it from him, then the object is to help Trump win in places like NJ, PA, NY, CT, but to use the 3rd party conservative to snap up the flyover states so that Trump can't win, either.

The end result is functionally the same: Paul Ryan becomes the default, unelected President, and no Republican in Congress is to blame.

[yellowcanine]

24. Hillary would likely win some traditional red states under this scenario.

Last time anything like this happened was 1992 when Clinton won with only 43% of the popular vote but he had a large electoral advantage.

[Sunlei]

18. Abandon ship Republicans, abandon ship!

[TryLogic]

19. Maybe there should be two "third party" movements.

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. Don't know the others, but Erickson is a buffoon, so I expect nothing will come of it

He's a stupid blogger who somehow became well known. Ironically, that may be because he embodies the prejudices of his readers, just like Trump does. But he doesn't have Trump's Bond-villain-like cunning.

[yellowcanine]

23. If anything comes of it it will not be because of Erickson.

The other names aren't impressive either. It will take some major elected Republican heavyweights - probably some governors, to mount any kind of third party run. For one thing there is the little problem of getting on the ballot in enough states to make a difference. It may already be too late, unless they can work something out with a minor party to make the conservative their candidate.

[wheniwasincongress]

26. Robert Costa just said they are looking at Ben Sasse

on Hardball just now.

[JHB]

29. When your enemy is drowning...

...throw him anvils.