Third party effort packs it in for 2012
(CNN) – The non-partisan independent group whose goal was to field a third party presidential contender in the 2012 general election admitted defeat Thursday, saying their process for selecting a candidate had ended unsuccessfully.
"The primary process for the Americans Elect nomination has come to an end," the group wrote in a statement Thursday.
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Earlier this week Americans Elect said in an email their complex set of rules for nominating a candidate prevented any single person from reaching the threshold for continuing with the process.
Those rules, the group said, must be followed.
"Americans Elect, from the outset, has been a rules-based process, with the rules publicly available and open to debate by the Delegates," Thursday's statement read.
Founded in April 2010, Americans Elect had qualified for ballot access in 27 states, and raised more than $20 million over two years. Prominent financial backers include Peter Ackerman, a wealthy financial executive based in New York.
The group came under fire for not disclosing its donors, as well as for its complicated process of nominating and supporting a candidate, which involves an extensive online verification system.
Currently the group's top declared candidate is Buddy Roemer, the former governor of Louisiana who previously this cycle ran for the Republican presidential nomination.
Other candidates at the top of the list include Rocky Anderson, the former mayor of Salt Lake City, and Michealene Risley, a writer and human rights activist.
In their statement Thursday, the organization said there remained a strong desire to put forward a third party candidate, and they would continue to work toward that goal.
"There is a desire among Delegates and millions of Americans who have supported Americans Elect to see a credible candidate emerge from this process," the statement read.
It continued, "We are continuing the Americans Elect mission of creating more choice in our political system, giving candidates unaffiliated with the nominating process of either major party an authentic way to run for office and giving the American people a greater voice in our political process."
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Vote Obama/Biden and you will still be represented, they favor will be returned in 2016.
obama 2012 Forward
Another organization falls apart because they became overly obsessed with process over product. What people like this fail to realize is that what looks good on paper might not work so well in the real world. For example, if your procedures require a certain number of people to participate in a process, but you don't actually have that many people available, you end up blocking yourselves from taking action and for no good reason.
Keep it simple. Complex rules are fine for contingencies, but the process itself needs to be practical and scalable. Otherwise, you're just wasting your time.
Mitt Romney is going 3rd party in Nevada. No, I'm not joking.
Vote ROMNEY he represents americans
Go away! A third party put Bush in office... Remember Ralph Nadar taking a million votes away from Al Gore?
Yes, yes, and I join everyone in saying goodbye to that 3rd party; so, GOODBYE TEANUTs !
Good! voting for a third-party candidate in a two-party system is like trying to win a football game by sinking a ten-foot putt! not only will you not win, you're not even in the game. it's a copout for people who can't seem to decide between the real candidates, and it can have devastating consequences for the country. remember 2000 when we should've had Gore but ended up with Bush! along with the debacle in flori-duh with the butterfly ballots, Nader's candidacy did a lot to enable Bush to usurp the presidency. that never needs to happen again. it'll take decades to recover from that unspeakable act.
Paul or Roemer would have been a best choice and @Claudia shut it and he may not win since the polls have backlash over Obama.
Don't just vote for Obama/Biden but vote also for Democratic candidates for Congress (House & Senate). Otherwise, we will continue to get nothing but gridlock. Even worse, elect Republicans and watch the middle class shrink even further than it did under the Bush administration. The destruction of unions and the decline of the middle class chart downward at the exact same rate. Tax cuts for the wealthy have not created jobs in this country. Without a healthy middle class income, Americans cannot purchase American products, perpetuating further decline in U.S. businesses. We will become a 3rd world country if we support supply-side economics! Without demand, companies can't stay in business.
Anyone remotely interested in moderation is left with only one option, Vote for President Obama and elect him a congress of do something Democrats. Anything less is an unacceptable risk.
The U.S. Supreme Court killed any hopes for a third party candidate. How can a true grass-roots movement compete with the billions of the Koch brothers and corporate lobbys? The right-wing Supreme Court members gave a permanent gift to all candidates supported by the rich and powerful. Ask Ron Paul how that feels...
We need another party that can represent those that don't fit into the others. It would be good to have the Liberatarian and Green parties have more representation. I don't see why we only fit into the two major parties.
Obama is a loser, and so are you for voting for him...your small minded and easy to trick.
Keep buying his lies and see were it takes this country.
No one in office cares about any one but them selves...
Don't buy in to it any more! Put obama (the worst president ever!) Out of the whight house!
One candidate running for President does not make a party. Americans Elect was little more than an attempt at instant gratification by people who really did not want to do the hard work of building a viable political party. The last time the creation of a new party was a success was in the 1850s with the development of the Republican Party which came about because the Whig Party collapsed. It does look like the Republican Party is now on the verge of collapse. The Democratic Party would then move further right and a new liberal party will rise up. Will this happen? We will find out in November.
The first thing wrong with this group is their names because ALL Americans elect whomever they choose. You don't need another party of clowns (we already have plenty). It's like the "real" Americans the AK bimbo spoke about as if we all are NOT "real" Americans.
The country has been jerked so far to the right by big-money backed Repugnants/Teabaggers that there is a giant hole in what used to be the middle. The area for compromise and governance is now no-man's land. In response, the left has had to get more radical to balance the right wing nuts.
We see these effects when an independent group like this can't come up with a single name of someone to run as a third party, because even the independents are widely divided. There is no one in the center anymore. The only possibility I can see is a revolution of some kind where one side or the other takes control and crushes the opposition. Then, democracy will be gone and the losing side will be silenced. Not a bright prospect for our future.