The entire article can be read here.
“A secretive group of Republican operatives and conservative leaders convened Thursday morning for more than three hours to discuss ways to unite the right against Donald Trump, with a presentation about the feasibility of mounting a third-party challenge as well as extensive deliberations about whether a coalition of anti-Trump forces could prevent the billionaire mogul from securing the party’s presidential nomination at the July convention in Cleveland.”
A portion of a memo passed around the meeting, concerning the viability of a third-party bid. (The Washington Post)
Thank you. Excellent story. The Green Party is in this mix. The Green Party presidential candidates, and the Green Party would grow from such an effort. There are registered Green Party voters in Ohio, who would like to see Kasich seek the Green Party nomination. Dr. Jill Stein’s offer to work with Sanders brought Green Party coverage in the Boston Globe this week, and on RT-TV. All of this is an opportunity for the Green Party.
The Green Party bylaws allow for new presidential candidates to still join the contest. It will be interesting how it goes. Only the Green Party and the Libertarian Party are really reasonable ballot access options nationwide now.
Cody Quirk
I do not under stand your comment about C. P. With William “Bill” Lussenheide and Charles M. Deemer
forming the “Independent Party” in place of the Constitution Party, why would your place the C.P.
before the L.P. ? The lawsuit filed on February 16, 2016 in Sacramento in the United States District Court
of the Eastern District of California shows that they could form the Independnet Party and not even use
the C.P. or L.P.
Sincerely, Mark Seidenberg, Chairman, American Independent Party of California
Fortunately I think those that are extreme & theocratic enough to join up with the CP (and know just what they’re getting themselves involved with) wouldn’t even be stupid enough to join up with the L.P. first.
The Modern Whig party has a set of positions that fit well between L, G and C parties. When they have more members they will run more candidates.
I just don’t see an GOP Establishment backed infiltration of the LP. Sure some political entrepreneurs trying to score points with Republican leaders might try, but fail – again. The GOP Establishment does not want to look weak by attacking the LP and giving the LP credit for being a serious challengers. The LP is armored up to withstand noisy raiders.
Let’s focus energy in our candidates and campaigns.
Richard,
That table looked a lot like one of yours. Quite a compliment if you ask me.
let us select our candidate and then rope in as many votes as possible
The Modern Whig Party is not on the ballot in any state, and has never had a presidential candidate on the ballot with that ballot label.
Let us be polite to Republcians and Democrats fleeing their parties, but listen carefully to each one as an individual,a nd decide if they might better be steered to the Green, Constitution, or Modern Whig parties.
If we see a hostile takeover attempt, then by all means let’s fight it, and I’m confident the party can and would do so successfully, and that they know that well enough (or at least that it would be an iffy and bloody enough fight) to not attempt it. But it’s a threat that remains entirely speculative, and mere interest in the party as a possible #NeverTrump protest-vote vehicle does not necessarily equate to secret Romney delegates being stuffed into the LNC delegations.
At this point, I’m more concerned that this chatter will make the party hostile and paranoid to newcomers coming our way because of Trump, when we should be welcoming those voters, than I am the possibility the party’s ballot access will be stolen for Romney/Ryan 2016.
I know this might seem a touch biased coming from me, so take it with the appropriate grain of salt, but the best way the party could actually make itself unappealing for a hostile takeover attempt, would be to unify around its likely nominee. Which is happening to a fair degree. It’s a lot harder to take the nomination from a party that already has its desired candidate than one that is divided and fractured. That observation might not sit well with some, but I think it’s actually a more practical way to address this threat, if it is one, that would be any attempt on the part of state parties to somehow screen out people who might secretly be part of the conspiracy (how exactly are they supposed to go about that, anyway? Very few, and in some states no, delegate slots go to people not already known to those in the party. If the whole premise is that they’ll be sneaky about it… there’s not much to stop that, but there also aren’t enough open seats that way that they could control the convention)
In Massachusetts, ballot access belongs at one remove or another to the people. To run as a Libertarian for President, Mitt Romney would need 11 stooges to serve as electors, would need to collect 10,000 valid signatures + a safety margin on nominating papers headed “Libertarian”, and he would be on the ballot as the Libertarian Presidential candidate. I would hope that the State Libertarian Association, which I happen to chair, would give him vigorous support by advocating for fine Libertarian positions, on the lines of “Vote Romney, Libertarian, for X”
where X is
unrestricted abortion access
legalize all drugs
legalize polyamory
end selective service registration
end the war on Islam
cut the military by 2/3
war crimes trials for the Bush Administration
Of course, this point will be made known to the Republican conservatives in advance.
I know these people. Work with them and have for years. It won’t be a sinister plot. They’ll come in with smiles and rationality. Without a heads up, most people wouldn’t even realize what would be happening — it would be presented as a great opportunity.
I think it would be smart for the current LP candidates to get together and discuss the possibility of this. It would also help for the LNC (or anyone) to dedicate someone to keeping in touch with ALL state chairs on a very regular basis.
AC is correct in that the real opportunity is in kicking these people and their candidate to the curb with a great deal of fanfare.
I disagree with you utterly Andy. The threat is real and present.
I will say this: if they want to try to run their own non-libertarian establishment Republican for the LP nomination, let them, and let the entire nation see that nominee be rejected in favor of, in all likelihood, Johnson (or whoever else it may be.) An actual attempt by a GOPe big-name would bring a huge spotlight to the party, but would still comfortably fail. Unless they put up one of the few libertarian-ish Republicans who could plausibly win the nomination, but if that happens it’s not a hostile takeover, it means they managed to convince a majority of the delegates that Justin Amash or whoever is a better candidate. I don’t see that happening, though.
Here’s another article by CNN today, specifically mentioning that the LP is being considered by GOP operatives to run their own candidate.
Conservatives plot against Trump
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/17/politics/donald-trump-hill-republicans-conservatives/index.html
From the article … ‘There was discussion that if Trump became GOP nominee, then “the GOP ceases to be a party for traditional conservatives, who must go elsewhere,” according to the source familiar with the discussion. The thought process at this session was to work with “an existing third party instead of trying for ballot access.” That would probably be the existing Libertarian or Constitution parties.’
No, this isn’t evidence that there is any such plan or any reason to seriously fear it. It’s evidence that they’re seriously examining their options and the LP is, inevitably, part of that discussion, and that’s not a bad thing! But it doesn’t mean there is any effort underway to steal LP ballot access.
They’re looking at the ballot access picture, and part of that is quickly coming to the realization the the L.P. is the only one who has it at this point. That doesn’t mean there is any serious effort underway to have a takeover, or that it could plausibly be done at this point. I was just reading some of this spate of articles today that mention the LP in the #NeverTrump context, and many of them (the better-informed ones) noted how unlikely it is that the LP would allow somebody like Mitt Romney or Rick Perry or Paul Ryan to be the nominee. Here’s how Hot Air put it:
“The only option [because ballot access prevents new-party/ind.], I think, would be a hostile takeover of the party, with conservatives organizing to somehow become Libertarian delegates and then throwing the nomination at the Libertarian convention to someone like Perry. But how likely is that? The convention’s in late May and most #NeverTrumpers will be consumed with the GOP primary until then. In the end, Libertarians have an easy counterargument: If you hate Trump all that much, just suck it up and vote for Gary Johnson, their (likely) actual nominee. Johnson doubling his vote total from 2012 as #NeverTrumpers rally to him in protest is better PR for the Libertarian Party than becoming a handmaiden to the anti-Trump right is.”
http://hotair.com/archives/2016/03/17/should-nevertrump-try-to-take-over-the-libertarian-party-this-year/
Not so much a crazy theory anymore. Word is it will be a state-by-state ballot line takeover regardless of the party — just a matter of them figuring out which state parties they can takeover.
I’m not saying it’s possible. These guys really are this arrogant and desperate enough to try.
Unique times.