William Weld - Libertarian VP Candidate

[publicunofficial]

I'm not a Libertarian by any stretch, but if I was I would think I'd be a little ticked that my party is being co-opted by moderate Republicans.

[publicunofficial]

That is a serious ticket. What is worse: it may, actually, elect Trump.

How so?  I would think that the ticket is more likely to attract dissafected Republicans than Democrats.

I'm guessing ag believes that Hillary will need those Trump protest votes to win.

[publicunofficial]

That is a serious ticket. What is worse: it may, actually, elect Trump.

How so?  I would think that the ticket is more likely to attract dissafected Republicans than Democrats.

I can see some Democrats thinking "oh, I doesn't want to vote for Trump, but I won't have to vote for Hillary now, with third candidate". Some may definitively go.

Yeah, but those voters will just vote Green or Libertarian anyway regardless of who is on those tickets, if that is their line of thinking.

[publicunofficial]

I don't expect a large number of voters abandoning their major party this election, whether we're talking about Republicans or Democrats. Third party bids are always overhyped. And the fact that both nominees are rather divisive figures (and not wildly popular) may make the election even more polarized, rather than giving a third party a credible performance.

But much of the polarization is basically "negative partisanship".  People support the candidate of one party because they hate the candidate of the opposing party so much.  If the media actually gave some coverage to one or more third party candidates and treated them as a reasonable option rather than the candidate of cranks, some of those people might then move over to that third party candidate, especially in a year like this.

The only problem, for the media to do that would probably require a few of the more prominent #NeverTrumpers to talk up Johnson (or whoever else) as an option, and I'm not sure they would do that.  Bill Kristol may not be ready to vote for Clinton or Trump, but I don't see him voting for Johnson either.

This is true. The media and #NeverTrumpers don't want a 3rd PARTY, just a 3rd candidate. That's why a hypothetical independent Romney run gets talked up more than any of the existing third parties.

[publicunofficial]

Has a third party ever ran two former statewide office holders on a national ticket since Teddy Roosevelt? Two former GOP Governors, pretty impressive ticket. Could be a legitimate option for many Republicans, don't know what kind of Republicans exactly tho (you'd think #NeverTrumps, and most would be, but I can imagine a lot of very conservative Republicans would not vote for a libertarian and a moderate/RINO).

The 1924 Progressive Party ran Sen. Robert M. Lafollette (R-WI) and Sen Burton K. Wheeler (D-MT) and carried a number of states. 

The 1948 Dixiecrats had two (2) sitting Governors, Strom Thurmond (D-SC) and Fielding Wright (D-MS). 

The 1948 Progressive Party had former VP Henry A. Wallace (D) and Sen. Glen Taylor (D-MT). 

The 1968 American Independent Party had Gov. George Wallace (D-AL) and Gov. S. Marvin Griffin (D-GA).  Griffin was the name that appeared on the ballot in most states; he was a stand-in for Gen. Curtis Lemay, who was named as Wallace's VP pick

Rep. John Anderson (R-IL) was not a statewide candidate, but he had won a significant number of delegates in 1980 and was a prominent House Republican when he ran an Independent bid for President in 1980.  Gov. Patrick Lucey (D-WI) was his running-mate.

Glen Taylor was from Idaho, not Montana. Always found it amazing that one of the most liberal Senators of the era was from what is now one of the reddest states.