Is California Ready for a Third Party?

From NBC:

A “record-breaking” 1.62 million signatures qualified Americans Elect for next November’s ballot.

A state as large and media-centric as California will put the group in the national media spotlight.

According to its website (http://www.americanselect.org), Americans Elect “is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that is not affiliated with any political party, ideology or candidate. It is funded exclusively by individual contributions—and not from corporate, labor, special interest, foreign, or lobbyist sources.“

Its goal is “to nominate a presidential ticket that answers directly to voters—not the political system,” by “using the Internet to break the gridlock in Washington, open up the political process and give every single voter—Democrat, Republican or independent—the power to nominate a presidential ticket in 2012.” (The “virtual” selection process will feature the country’s first, on-line Presidential nominating convention.)

Nationally, a third party ticket has not won the White House, but some have siphoned votes from major candidates—becoming the “spoiler” in a tight election.

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