Americans Elect promises that all voters who sign up online as delegates can select a Presidential ticket. What sort of ticket might such voters want?
Currently, the people who have signed up at Americans Elect thus far have chosen to “track” several politicians, which does not necessarily mean that they will support them for that party’s nomination, but it is the best approximation we have so far.
As of this writing, Ron Paul is the #1 choice, tracked by 7,768 people. President Obama is second, tracked by 5,014. Since most states don’t allow fusion, presumably Obama could not be the Americans Elect nominee. Close behind is Jon Huntsman, tracked by 4,938 and the object of recruiting efforts by some Americans Elect board members. However, Huntsman has said he will not run outside the GOP.
The next two most tracked political leaders are Bernie Sanders, at 2,548, and Buddy Roemer at 2,329.
Of these top five only Roemer has indicated any interest in the Americans Elect nomination.
If these support levels are any indication we may conclude that online voters may well have Ron Paul as their first choice for the nomination – an observation borne out by other places where people vote online.
However, there are at least two reasons why Ron Paul may not be the Americans Elect nominee even if the voters pick him to be:
1) He would have to express interest in the nomination around April or May, otherwise he would be eliminated before the last round of voting.
2) He could be eliminated by the candidate elimination committee. With members composed of Wall Street bankers, CFR members, and military-industrial and intelligence community members, many observers have expressed cynicism that Ron Paul would be found ideologically unacceptable.
Although there are no explicit rules about ideology that I know of, and in some places Americans Elect says they have no ideology, in others they say they seek to “bridge the vital center” of American politics. The only explicit rule about that which I know of is that the VP candidate can’t be the same party as the Presidential candidate.
It’s a bit early to predict who Americans Elect will nominate. The real candidates are probably under the radar at this point.
I think Americans Elect would go with a progressive ticket like Sanders/Kucinich. I’m getting the feeling though that Buddy Roemer may win the Americans Elect nomination, but I would be curious as to who he would choose as a running mate.
Not to my knowledge, although I haven’t studied their rules.
However, it would not be to Paul’s advantage to be on more than one ballot line in most states, since his votes would not accumulate.
For example,
Say the vote in a given state was
Paul 42% Republican
Paul 14% Americans Elect
Obama 43% Democrat
Others 1% Cumulative total,
In most states the electoral votes would go to Obama, even though Paul beat him 56 to 43.
There are a few exceptions, but in most states Paul would in effect be running against himself.
Do the AE or GOP rules prohibit the nomination of someone also nominated by another party?
Yeah, I’m sure they’re “tracking” him alright…
I think you are probably right, but there is a chance he might not.
Even in that case, I still don’t think he’ll go AE.
Ron Paul may be the most tracked for now, but he won’t accept since he will stay in the Republican race until the very end, long after the Americans Elect Party has chosen its candidate in April or May.
Also, it should be noted that the americanselect.org website only includes potential candidates that are Democrats and Republicans who have served in Congress or the Senate (with Gary Johnson and Jon Huntsman as exceptions). Delegates are not yet allowed to add Independents and others who have not served in the federal government as potential candidates people can track. Once they do put them up, they probably won’t have as much popularity as those who have already been on the site for months.
AE has said they will not financially support the ticket once nominated, they will leave it to the candidates.
That is why the speculation has been that they will run billionaire and/or celebrity candidates.
I do believe you are correct about rules and hijacking.
@9 AE will put their candidate on the ballot in every state and in my opinion $upply a $uperpac with huge amount$ of money.
I believe the net of the rules as that the folks who set this up are not going to have their creation hijacked by people they dislike. These are antitakover rules, just as libertarians have antitakeover rules.
None that I can think of really, but I do think it’s his for the taking if he wants it and if the process is legit. The VP rule is actually something I see as more of an election gimmick than a real constraint on whoever Americans Elect nominates. I have no reason to think Paul is interested in a Dem VP, but someone might make the case to him.
The neat thing about the idea behind AE is that it’s a potential vehicle for nearly any hypothetical ticket. If it really does end up being a scam, I hope it doesn’t discourage others from tinkering with the idea in the future.
Supposing that Americans Elect actually allowed Ron Paul to run, and the voters picked him for their nomination, I don’t see why he would choose to go that route if he decides to go non-Republican.
The VP constraint is not one he would face with LP, CP or as an independent. LP offers equivalent ballot access, has nominated him before, and would nominate him again without any trouble, along with (I predict) his choice of VP. He could get platform concessions if he wanted them, though I don’t think enough people care for it to matter. The media already call him a libertarian, indeed he does so himself.
So what advantages would AE provide? The decision timeframe would be about the same.
I want to believe that Americans Elect is on the level but I just can’t. Too much money has been poured into ballot access for there NOT to be a gameplan somewhere. People just don’t throw that kind of money around without a pretty good idea what their return on investment will be. Color me dubious.
It does seem to come down to whether you believe AE is what it says it is, or what everyone expects it to be. I absolutely love the idea of an open party, if an interesting ticket like Paul/Anybody or Ventura/Anybody gets set aside for something like Bloomberg/Roehmer, we can call shenanigans in hindsight. For now all I see I have to lose is some time on the internet and giving my contact info to yet another shady political organization. BFD.
“many observers have expressed cynicism that Ron Paul would be found ideologically unacceptable.”
Count me among the cynics.
If a rule does not yet exist which allows the people behind Americans Elect to exclude Ron Paul, and he decides he wants their nomination, they’ll make a new rule.
They can do that, you know.
I do see elsewhere in rules part 8.0 it says that a ticket with a Democrat and a Republican shall be deemed balanced, but the rules keep changing.
Richard, see
http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2011/12/22/new-americans-elect-rule-delegates-wont-be-able-to-reverse-the-exclusion-of-some-candidates-at-all/
http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2011/12/21/americans-elect-revises-its-bylaws-making-it-impossible-for-delegates-to-remove-officers/
http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2011/12/15/americans-elect-candidate-ejection-committee-chaired-by-fbi-cia-military-research-chiefs/
“Subject to reversal by vote of 2/3 of all Delegates, the Candidate Certification Committee shall determine whether any proposed ticket is balanced by reference to candidates’ responses to the Platform of Questions within fourteen days after the final Qualifying Ballot, or such further time as the Board may allow.
The Platform of Questions is an ideological litmus test asking questions regarding various issue positions. The final content of these questions will be determined by the corporate-board-appointed Platform of Questions Committee (see Rule 2.1.3.2). If the Candidate Certification Committee determines a ticket to be unbalanced, then out it goes, even if Americans Elect delegates would otherwise support it.”
As you can see from the first link the subject to 2/3…no longer applies.
http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2011/11/28/americans-elect-leaders-bylaws-are-set-up-to-constrain-democracy-favor-certain-candidates/
“In a significant scoop, reporter Jonathan Tilove has recorded two Americans Elect leaders admitting that this is exactly what the Americans Elect bylaws are set up to do. Says Americans Elect Director Dennis Blair, “The bylaws were set up in a way that gives me confidence that we’ll have a candidate who I would be able to support.” Further clarifies Americans Elect leader Will Marshall, “It’s important to say that it is a guided effort, not just an unguided democratic missile. There will be rules designed to prevent it from being commandeered by ideologues”.
There you have it from the mouths of Americans Elect’s leadership: there’ll be no unguided democratic missile at Americans Elect, blowing up the well-laid plans of corporate leadership with the dangerous weapon of what the American people actually want. It’ll all be guided from the top to prevent the emergence of that radical, explosive element called democracy.”
Paul/Kusinich !
Don’t DRINK that Kool-Aid just yet. Haas and Co. at the CFR and their lackey media will “allow” the AE ticket to be ? whoever best fits the gameplan !
It’s also worth mentioning that Bernie Sanders is an independent.
If Ron Paul wants the Americans Elect nomination and he chooses a Democrat for vice-president, AE leaders cannot interfere with the nomination. A ticket of a Rep and a Dem is “deemed” balanced.