4 way presidential race?

[Downnice]

So lets just assume a Cruz/Clinton general election bid. (I am betting on a brokered GOP convention) and this results in Sanders and Trump running as a 3rd party candidate. Trump as a independent and Sanders lets say as a Green Party candidate.

If this happens I think it changes the whole election. with Sanders being huge in the pacific northwest, I really could see Oregon, Washington, Minnesota voting for him, and for a Trump taking some deep south states.

And then we get the infighting within states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania for the Democrats, possibly leaving it open for a Trump to steal those states and for the GOP infighting in states like Georgia, Arizona giving it to the Democrats. And then you have the traditional swing states, which would be a whole other topic.

So could this happen (I personally hope it happens because it would be fun to watch) and what if no one gets 270, could be very crazy indeed.

yes or no could we see it?

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

This is the ideal scenario, new guy.  It would be wild and fun and Sanders would certainly win. 

[HagridOfTheDeep]

This is the ideal scenario, new guy.  It would be wild and fun and Sanders would certainly win. 

You're kidding, right?

No one would win a majority of EVs, the election would go to the House, and Cruz would win.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Every election this forum is full of three-, four- or five-way wet dreams and it's never going to happen.

[Vega]

Sanders has already ruled out running as an Independent and being a Nader, and even if he didn't, believe it or not, the Green Party nominating process wouldn't just accept him and drop DR JILL STEIN.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

This is the ideal scenario, new guy.  It would be wild and fun and Sanders would certainly win. 

You're kidding, right?

No one would win a majority of EVs, the election would go to the House, and Cruz would win.

Also, I don't believe a brokered convention would choose Ted Cruz.  Buzz is that it would be Paul Ryan's nomination to refuse.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

This is the ideal scenario, new guy.  It would be wild and fun and Sanders would certainly win. 

You're kidding, right?

No one would win a majority of EVs, the election would go to the House, and Cruz would win.

Maybe... but the Bern Man against 3 universally hated creeps?  I think it'll be close. 

[Orser67]

This is the ideal scenario, new guy.  It would be wild and fun and Sanders would certainly win. 

No one would win a majority of EVs, the election would go to the House, and Cruz would win.

I certainly think this is the most likely scenario. I would say there are a few other possibilities:
1)Cruz finishes fourth in electoral votes, in which case the House can't choose him (see 1824),
2)Sanders doesn't compete in many of the red states (e.g. Mississippi), and Clinton wins the red states (due to the split GOP vote) and enough other states to take the election,
3)One of the campaigns falls apart, likely that of Sanders or Trump

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

If the election is thrown to the house, do they have to pick one of the nominees or can they pick Ryan/Romney/Safe Hands?

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

If the election is thrown to the house, do they have to pick one of the nominees or can they pick Ryan/Romney/Safe Hands?

They have to vote for one of the top three EV recipients.

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-- Twelfth Amendment

[standwrand]

I'll entertain this. It really depends on ballot access. I would think that Sanders would seem to be a more formidable opponent to Hillary than Trump to Cruz, because Sanders could just use the Green Party's ballots: http://www.gp.org/ballotaccess, compared to Trump's ballot options: https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=232226.0, which would result in a really weird electoral map. Obviously, it goes to the House. I didn't really want to spend a long time analyzing this, so there's a little bit of hyperbole, but here it is:

Hillary Clinton/Julian Castro - 228 EV
Rafael Cruz/John Kasich - 244 EV
Bernie Sanders/Marissa Johnson - 31 EV
Donald Trump/Ann Coulter - 35 EV

Trump is basically the George "the South will rise again!!" Wallace 2k16 candidate, except WV which just has a huge crush on Trump. He has a write-in campaign that does very well. Cruz offends a lot of people with his face during his run, but he isn't that bad, so he still gets out the Romney vote and campaigns heavily in FL, while Kasich is sent to MI. Sanders gets the endorsement of BLM, which allows for him to crack 15% in MD and other states which almost gives CA to Cruz. Hillary is kind of just there, but spends too much time pandering to Hispanics. It goes to the House, and Rafael is elected Prez.

Closest states:

FL
MI
WI
IA
CO

[Orser67]

In the scenario below, Clinton wins all the Southern states in which Obama won at least 40% (except Texas) and Democratic-leaning and swing states that haven't voted (except Oregon) or that she won in the primary. Sanders wins all the Democratic-leaning and swing states that he won in the primary. Trump and Cruz take the remaining Republican-leaning states in primaries that they won (as well as nearby states).

Clinton gets 323 EVs.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I think that any scenario invoking thr 12th would quickly lead to a constitutional crisis, and almost certainly cause a convention to be called.

[Seneca]

I think that any scenario invoking thr 12th would quickly lead to a constitutional crisis, and almost certainly cause a convention to be called.

If the House follows the procedure for selecting the President outlined in the 12th amendment then there would not be a constitutional crisis. There is no ambiguity in how that would play out; we have a historical example from 1824. Of course a 21st century Corrupt Bargain would be hugely unpopular; the popular backlash would certainly dwarf the combined strength of the Tea Party and Occupy movements.

Calling a constitutional convention, however, is another matter entirely. Two thirds of state legislatures would need to pass resolutions calling for a constitutional convention for that to actually happen. It's not too hard to imagine how this would play out. The Republican congress gives the Presidency to their man. Assume the Republican candidate is clearly not the winner of the popular vote. Maybe the backlash would force the Democratic Party to launch a campaign for a second constitutional convention (though I highly doubt either party really would want to open that Pandora's box), but the Democratic Party does not control nearly enough state legislatures to pull that off.

Maybe if the Republican legislature chose Trump (I) in a scenario where Cruz (R) placed fourth in the electoral college, you might see certain conservative states (like Utah) joining the Democrats in calling for a second constitutional convention, but even then I'm skeptical such a thing could be pulled off. There's too much inertia built into the system for a wholesale makeover of the US constitution to be accomplished "within the system."

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

If the House follows the procedure for selecting the President outlined in the 12th amendment then there would not be a constitutional crisis. There is no ambiguity in how that would play out; we have a historical example from 1824. Of course a 21st century Corrupt Bargain would be hugely unpopular; the popular backlash would certainly dwarf the combined strength of the Tea Party and Occupy movements.

For decades they said that the popular vote winner would never lose the electoral vote, and if they did, the popular outcry would be enormous and the electoral college would be thrown out.  2000 happened, and we still have the electoral college.

[7,052,770]

If the House follows the procedure for selecting the President outlined in the 12th amendment then there would not be a constitutional crisis. There is no ambiguity in how that would play out; we have a historical example from 1824. Of course a 21st century Corrupt Bargain would be hugely unpopular; the popular backlash would certainly dwarf the combined strength of the Tea Party and Occupy movements.

For decades they said that the popular vote winner would never lose the electoral vote, and if they did, the popular outcry would be enormous and the electoral college would be thrown out.  2000 happened, and we still have the electoral college.

To be fair, the shenanigans in Florida greatly outshined the fact that Gore won the popular vote. Had Bush won Florida by 10,000 votes or so and the media spent a few months focusing only on "the popular vote winner lost!!" we might have seen some different effects.

I wonder what percentage of Americans even remember that Gore won the popular vote. 10%? 5%? It would probably be a lot higher with a clean Bush win in Florida.