The Washington Post had this recent story on Americans Elect’s trouble cathing fire:
Last July, a well-funded nonprofit group called Americans Elect announced it had found a new and more honorable path to the White House. It would bypass the primaries, the founders said, via the Internet.
By empowering Web-izens, the group would skip early-state hucksterism and favor-seeking donors. Using viral marketing savvy, the organizers would advance a third-party “unity” ticket without the usual cynicism, circus acts and, it turns out, scrutiny. They aimed, in short, to take the politics out of politics…
… Last week was supposed to be the first week of online voting on the Americans Elect site, when anyone anywhere could click to endorse practiced politicians or to draft neophytes. But the candidate choices have remained decidedly low-profile, and traffic is meager on the site, which cost $9 million to construct. Scrambling to avert failure, Americans Elect has postponed online voting for a month…
br: keep on a principled course while building and educating the new recruits and recalcitrant, misguided moderates.
me: I’m envisioning the “Be Rational Freedom School”…Absolutist Constructs 101. Advanced Axioms 302. Symposia such as “Private Security Firms or Insurance Companies: Who Controls the WDM”? 😉
AE is a not catchy, I’d agree. Near as I can tell, though, their contention is that “partisanship” is the problem. I’d say partisanship is the symptom. A lack of guiding principles coupled with an inability to communicate in a meaningful way are the cause of our political dysfunction.
When no candidate passes the line the board will choose.
A third party needs to have a reason to exist. It generally either has a recognizable, somewhat radical ideology or a high-profile, popular personality for a candidate.
Americans Elect has neither in addition to a stupid sounding name and a shady cabal lurking in the background that makes potential participants ware – voters and candidates. Having a lot of money makes no difference when you have nothing to offer.
This also shows why the Libertarian Party needs to keep its radical edge, restore a more Libertarian Platform, and reject non Libertarian candidates – such as Gary Johnson, unless he changes his views quickly. We have a good name and a good, radical ideology. We only need to work hard, build the party, and keep on a principled course while building and educating the new recruits and recalcitrant, misguided moderates.
An ad/media campaign for a candidate with money and/or name recognition is likely to materialize. The board can also just pick a candidate.
None of the candidates will ever meet their ridiculous goals. They should just make the first ballot the top 5 or 10 declared candidates and drop the whole “5000 supporters from 10 states” B.S.