“When Things Fall Apart, the Center Can’t Hold”

A paraphrase of a line from W.B. Yeats 1920 poem of the chaos of the post war period.  From the Mid-East to Europe to America, it is clear the old forms are failing and its unclear what is new is coming into being.

A new Internet-based political movement, Americans Elect (http://www.americanselect.org/), is building a national footprint to have a presidential candidate on the ballot in nearly every state.

The candidate will be nominated online, and will need to either have a national reputation or be able to self-finance a campaign.

Although no third-party candidate has been even close to winning the presidency, third-party candidates regularly can make a difference in the outcome of a race.  Ralph Nader’s votes in Florida in 2000 gave the state to G.W. Bush instead of Al Gore.  Ross Perot clearly affected many states in 1992, including shifting Colorado to Bill Clinton instead of the first President Bush. 

If Ron Paul or Donald Trump was nominated, the Republican nominee could be hurt, and Mike Bloomberg could shift Oregon or Washington to the Republicans.