Is an Independent Bid Coming? The anti-Trump wing of the GOP seems to still be in shock (and panic) over the fact that Donald Trump will be the Republican Party’s nominee in 2016. So several leading figures in that coalition, as well as in the broader conservative movement, are still considering a third-party option. Mitt Romney met with Standard Weekly Bill Kristol on a possible independent run. Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) has taken to social media to express his disgust with the choices we have for president this year. And then there’s former Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn. According to Mike Allen of Politicalhis daily routine Coursebook yesterday’s newsletter reported that there is a 50% chance that one of these men will run independently in the election:
Members of the conservative intelligentsia who want a Republican to run independently against Trump have concluded that there is a “difficult but possible path” for an independent candidate, largely based on the extraordinary unpopularity of both candidates. A prominent conservative told us that the final three possibilities are Sen. Ben Sasse, 44, of Nebraska; Sen. Tom Coburn, 68, of Wyoming; and Mitt Romney, 69.
The conservative told us we can expect renewed buzz around this possibility over the next week and sees a “50-50 chance one of those three will do it.”
That ship has likely sailed already. Beyond the money, there’s the issue of voting access, which makes this Hail Mary pass somewhat moot. “Washington Post” Ruth Marcus and “New York Times” Jonathan Martin mentioned that this is the Mount Everest of political feats, virtually insurmountable, because of the voting access rules set by the states on March 20 on Face The Nation. Martin said at the time that anti-trump wing presumably he wanted to “hook on” to other smaller parties that have access — like Libertarian or Constitution — which makes it easier to mount such a challenge. Host John Dickerson asked if these right-wing smaller parties would agree to “host” the Never Trump crowd, to which Martin replied that that was a different question entirely. USA Today Susan Page, who also appeared on the broadcast, noted that this is why the “Never Trump” supporters failed to gain momentum, because their strategies didn’t work and, more importantly, they couldn’t find a candidate to rally around.
Ed O’Keefe also from Fasting yesterday he went on CNN and said that the whole independent bid thing probably died when Michael Bloomberg decided don’t jump to 2016 ring. Like Trump, he certainly has the money to fund his entire operation. Problem: he couldn’t win.
Again, the lack of a candidate, money, organization, and ballot access is likely why Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus sees this as “suicide mission.” Frankly, the primaries are over. Time spent looking for an anti-Trump guy or gal is time wasted on our attacks on Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Party. I may not have liked Ohio Gov. John Kasich, but at least he’s not considering this far-fetched secondary protocol.
UPDATE:As Justin wrote earlier today, Sasse and Romney are out.
