The Eternal Doomed Quest for a Third American Party

One of the rules of American political journalism is that every four years there must be an attempt to guage the likelihood of a “serious” third party challenge that will change everything we’d previously thought we’d known about American politics. Happily, this year is no exception. TIME’s Alex Altman asks “Can a Well-Heeled Group of Insiders Create a Populist Third Party Sensation?”. We all know the answer to that. No, they can’t. And won’t. But here, just for fun, is what Americans Elect* are planning:

What Americans Elect has done is fashion a new twist to the quadrennial quest for a credible third-party contender. Instead of an outside party, it has crafted a parallel nominating process: a nonpartisan online convention. Anyone with a valid ID and an Internet hookup is eligible to become a “delegate,” and candidates can either register by completing a questionnaire or be drafted by popular support. Through a series of online ballots, the slate of contenders will be whittled down to six in April, and then winnowed to a single winner in June.