|
will win again.
Third party candidates simply divide the vote of the party they're splitting from. If the Democratic (or in other years and other scenarios, the Republican)party were to fall into such disarray that at least half of its membership were to abandon it, maybe. And by membership I don't mean the millions out there who show up on election day and vote, but the core of the party, the precinct party chairs, the county and state chairs, and so on. The true grass roots would need to leave the Democratic (or Republican) party in very large numbers, and that kind of basic structure would need to happen with the new party.
It's extremely unlikely to happen late in a Presidential Election year. You seem to be envisioning the new party being launched sometime in the late spring of 2008. That would be so much too late for the fund raising and organization that's needed to actually run a presidential campaign.
The other reason that's extremely unlikely to happen (I won't say impossible because almost nothing is impossible) is that Al Gore is, like all politicians, a party loyalist to the core. He also, because he's been through it, knows what it takes to run a presidential campaign.
It's slightly more likely that Wes Clark would be willing to try to start a third party, since he's a very recent comer to party politics. And his solid support (for all that I met one of his loyal supporters yesterday at a local Democratic Party meeting) are few and far between. Please, with all due respect to you Clark people out there, you're a tiny minority.
If you sincerely think Hillary will sweep through the primaries (and that's not a very far-fetched suggestion, even if in the end it doesn't happen) and are unhappy with that possibility, perhaps you should be trying to work against that. Unfortunately, no one has formally declared in the Democratic party for 2008 as yet, and I doubt anyone will until at least this November.
I understand that Al is your guy. But you need to be cautious about investing too much energy into hoping he'll run again (which I consider highly unlikely but that's just my opinion) and work for 2006, supporting Democrats who can win at all levels of government. Congressmen, Senators, Governors, and perhaps most importantly state and local legislatures, because those are the people who decide what ballot-casting method is used and what electronic machines are purchased.
Volunteer to work as a poll worker on November 7th. Or a poll watcher if you're unable to commit the entire day. See to it that we actually have a free, fair, and honest election this year, and with any luck at all we'll have the same two years later.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
