I don't think Obama needs help getting on ballots.

Sounds like someone is trying to leach Obama's support

Obama's on the ballot in all 57 states.

Has anyone mentioned how Obama is really a centrist yet?

Obama is a centrist, to my chagrin.

Americans Elect says it plans to choose a presidential nominee (and a vice presidential candidate, who by the group's rules can't come from the same party) by June.

Oh no. Oh God no. Not this. Not this stupid, clueless, no-I-don't-remember-what-happened-with-Adams-and-Jefferson cockamamie idea.

That plan won't get a centrist candidate elected. It'll get a Republican elected.

FTFA : Candidates who don't want to be drafted can take their names off the ballot, but only after several rounds of voting - so a Clinton boomlet could happen even if the secretary of State says she's not playing.

Well, that's stupid.

Bayh? He's even more of an empty suit than Romney. The man had no real convictions on any issue except for positioning himself for a VP slot.

If this splits the anti-Repub vote and you guys somehow end up with Cain as POTUS, I will be very very disappointed in you all. And no, you can't claim asylum and come stay at my house for 4 years.

inkblot: That plan won't get a centrist candidate elected. It'll get a Republican elected.

You mean the one who's currently president, or the other ones?

FlashHarry: Unwashed_Mass_Member: Obama's on the ballot in all 57 states.

lol obama made a gaffe three years ago lol

Your reaction is exactly what he wanted.

bloobeary: Thanks, but no thanks. We've already got a centrist, facing off against a selection of right-wing derpers. What we need is an actual Liberal.

Pretty much this. The only real threat to Obama is a major 3rd party challenger from the left that splits the usual Democratic voters between centrist and liberal.

This is a good way to ensure a Democrat landslide victory. I figured the R's were already working on this, with a "Tea Party" candidate eventually shunting off and sucking up votes.

A truly centrist candidate would be to the left of everyone running, including Obama.

EyeballKid: You mean the one who's currently president, or the other ones?

All right, let's put it another way, mister you're-so-clever. It'll give the Tea Party access to the Big Red Button.

GWLush: What's funny to me is the Right doesn't seem to see what a centrist Obama actually is. They can't see past the fact that he is a marxist muslim hell bent on destroying our great nation. Who is also trying to abolishing religion, apple pie, and monster trucks.

And W was a flaming Lib...

It would not stun me if Americans Elect got hooked up with the Republican anonymous money train. After all, the more successful they are, the more likely they get a Republican elected. Not to mention that for a good-gov sort of party, they're not disclosing their donations or how it's possible they're doing so well in petition drives.

You could claim that the anti-incumbent vote is being split, but Republicans stick together. Democrats don't. In a close election, AE elects a Mitt Romney or even a Herman Cain. Yay Centrism.

I don't think a third-party candidate would make much difference. The political situation is so polarized right now that everyone on the right is determined to oust Obama and will vote for whichever Republican nominee is the most popular, regardless of personal preference, and the left is so scared of losing control that they won't vote for anyone but Obama.

GWLush: What's funny to me is the Right doesn't seem to see what a centrist Obama actually is. They can't see past the fact that he is a marxist muslim hell bent on destroying our great nation. Who is also trying to abolishing religion, apple pie, and monster trucks.

Then the republican party did their job. I've been saying for ages now that them calling him all of those things were simply to block that fact out. However I fear a third party candidate causing the spoiler effect.

Also why do people seem to think that you can just spark a real third party off a presidential election? This is something that needs to be done from the bottom up not from the top down.

Snapper Carr: Pretty much this. The only real threat to Obama is a major 3rd party challenger from the left that splits the usual Democratic voters between centrist and liberal the libs and the libbiest libs that ever libbed..

Fixed for Fox viewers.

FlashHarry: Unwashed_Mass_Member: Obama's on the ballot in all 57 states.

lol obama made a gaffe three years ago lol

And GWB has been out of office for 2 1/2 years... yet somehow everything is still his fault.

FlashHarry: obama IS a centrist. hell, he's slightly right-of-center by every metric known.

if there is to be a third party, it should either be a secular conservative party (old school republicans) or a true liberal party (old school democrats).

Centrist? He's a Wall St. Ho, just like the rest of them.

bloobeary: Thanks, but no thanks. We've already got a centrist, facing off against a selection of right-wing derpers. What we need is an actual Liberal.

THIS. TRIPLE THIS.

RobbieFal: It would not stun me if Americans Elect got hooked up with the Republican anonymous money train. After all, the more successful they are, the more likely they get a Republican elected. Not to mention that for a good-gov sort of party, they're not disclosing their donations or how it's possible they're doing so well in petition drives.

You could claim that the anti-incumbent vote is being split, but Republicans stick together. Democrats don't. In a close election, AE elects a Mitt Romney or even a Herman Cain. Yay Centrism.

Yeah, pretty much. The GOP looks at this kind of thing very pragmatically. 'All right, you want to be all principled and shiat, we'll give you just enough money to cause your side to cannibalize itself so we can just waltz into office and screw over the lot of you.' They will take your principle and shove it up your ass. They give money to Green candidates all the time for this exact reason. Hell, they ran fake Democrats up here in Wisconsin who openly identified as Republicans and who's sole stated purpose was to extend the recall process and give the Republicans more time to fundraise.

I'm not sure if I'd vote for someone from the Internet.

Romney's going to get the nomination.

This is stupid. It does nothing to fix the fact that our system dictates that there will only be two major parties. This piece of idiocy even pulls candidates from those two parties!

Get focused on something real. Open primaries, instant runoffs, proportional representation, I don't care SOMETHING that will address the problems and not the farkin' symptoms.

Unwashed_Mass_Member: And GWB has been out of office for 2 1/2 years... yet somehow everything is still his fault.

Funny part of this is, other than having some trolling fun (yes, I admit it), there is a central problem that both sides have found:

Crony capitalism.

Seriously, the public is aware and you have seen the reactions of it on both sides- the Tea Party to the right, and OWS tot he left (or Clowns to the Left of me, Jokers to the right).

the only difference is the proposed solution: OWS wants more government oversight, and the Tea Party wants less. Both want an end to bank bailouts and subsidies to failing businesses, but cannot agree on the way to get there.

I seriously think that through this maze of ideas we are reaching the central point and that is to get Government to stop with the bullshiat parade of our cash going to businesses that they have vested interests in seeing maintained.

How we get there is a completely different story. The candidate that can synergize those two sides will run away with it.

Meh. Majority of Americans seem to need to be part of a big, powerful 'team'. Way to scary to cut the umbilical with Dems or Repubs.

We're going to get exactly what we've already got until a generational shift happens. Most Boomers dead = opportunity for real change.

impaler: There is likely to be a wild card in the 2012 election with the group Americans Elect planning to hold a national primary election on the Internet.

Is bacon really illegible to run for office?

I suppose legibility depends on how smart the pig was to begin with.

To all those saying "we already have Obama:" they aren't talking about actual centrism. They're talking about Beltway Centrism. It's the idea that "liberal" means "whatever the Democrats think," "conservative" means "whatever the Republicans think," and the best path for America is the exact midpoint between the two. These people are the reason the Overton Window works.

They're also the people who believe that if only Obama would invite Boehner over for lunch at the White House more often, everything would be fixed forever. But that's a whole other issue.

Is this where the media begins churning the rumor mill about a Bloomburg run with zero evidence whatsoever? You know, a candidate for bankers and against guns will attract a majority of the electorate out of the two-party dynamic, because if such a combination can win elections in NYC it surely would attract both liberals and conservatives accross the country.