Randy Evans, a Georgia attorney who served as a counsel to the Speakers of the U.S. House 1994-2006 (years of Republican control) has this article in Atlanta Business Journal, suggesting the idea that Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul might each run for president in 2016 outside the two major parties.
Completely delusional.
Rand Paul would want to preserve his future in the GOP for future runs for President and other offices (Governor? More terms as Senator, etc). Running as a LP candidate in 2016 would kill his future in the Republican Party.
He’s not a fan of the Libertarian Party and many in the LP are not fans of his. Rand Paul actively campaigned in 2014 (and other years) against strong LP, independent and conservative candidates for Governor and Senator.
Even if Rand Paul wanted the LP nomination and the LP wanted him, he’d have to make the decision to switch before Memorial Day weekend, which is earlier than the Republican nomination.
As Michigan proved in 2012, he would have to deal with “sore loser” laws in at least some states, even though they are not supposed to apply to presidential candidates. He would also have to sign loyalty pledges to the GOP to even be allowed in their primaries in some states to begin with. Most of those are non-binding, but some could lead to him being sued if he ran against the Republicans later that same year.
The Liberty Union Party is only on the ballot in one small state, if they are even on the ballot there anymore. He’d have no advantage trying to qualify that party in every state over running as an independent, and either option would present many of the same difficulties that Rand Paul would have if he were to try to run as a Libertarian, described above.
Additionally, qualifying as an independent in every state would include early petition deadlines in many states, some before many Democratic primaries take place. It would be impossible or practically impossible for him to switch midstream to independent and qualify in that many states all at the same time while losing much of the early petition period independents have because it would come before the switch.
If Sanders instead sought the nomination of a third party that is ballot qualified in a fairly large number of states, such as the Green Party and/or any of the various socialist parties, he’d still have all the same problems as Rand Paul would have if he were to try to run as an LP candidate.
In short – this will not happen. Neither Paul nor Sanders will run as independent or third party candidates this year, or most likely probably ever in the future.
Not a very astute article. Was Evans writing a high school history paper?
“Could voters have four choices in 2016?” Don’t voters always have four choices?! Libertarians and Greens consistently have had ballot access in states for an electoral college majority for their presidential nominee.
Is Evans completely unaware of ballot access law in this country? Why would Sanders seek a Liberty Union Party nomination when the Liberty Union Party may only be ballot access eligible in one state for a total of 3 electoral votes? Green Party would not be a unrealistic fit.
I recommend a failing grade for Mr Evans and send him back to do a little research and resubmit his paper.
Good comments. However, Texas is the only state that has an independent presidential petition deadline earlier than any presidential primaries. The Texas deadline is almost surely unconstitutional, under Anderson v Celebrezze. The Texas deadline is in May and all others run from late June to early September. June petition deadlines have been held unconstitutionally early in six states: Alaska, Arizona, Kansas (by consent decree), Massachusetts, Nevada (enjoined),and South Dakota,
What ballot access lawyer has ANY brain cells able to detect that —
Each election is NEW.
Separate is NOT equal. Brown v. Bd of Education 1954
How many $$$ Billions would leftists / rightists give to Paul / Sanders respectively — to DIVIDE and CONQUER in the gerrymander minority rule Electoral College.
See the minority rule election in 1860.
Result – about 750,000 DEAD Americans on both sides in 1861-1865 — with the ongoing racist stuff in many regimes in the U.S.A.
Arkansas’ new law has not been found unconstitutional yet as far as I know.
And there are other states that have third party deadlines that are earlier than some of D and R primaries.
Arkansas petition deadline for presidential candidates is still August 1. That goes both for minor parties and independent candidates.
Paul–no. He would want to keep his influence in the GOP. Sanders–maybe. If he wants to continue, he could seek the Green Party nomination and the Liberty Union/Peace Freedom Party nominations for November. He could easily get at least five percent of the vote and carry Vermont, then be the balance of power in a close deadlocked election. Think 1968 if Eugene McCarthy decided to go on to November.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
Maybe more hopeful than delusional, but a very unlikely scenario.
Rand Paul might “grow in office” as his father did, and become more libertarian. In the future he might want to run as a Libertarian candidate. Even though he is an eye doctor, it is not likely for 2020.
Bernie Sanders probably will not run again for President after this year, because of his age. If he really wanted to protest Hilary Clinton’s corporate backing, and if Hilary comes out for TPP, Sanders could run in 25 or 30 states as nominee of the Green Party, the Peace & Freedom Party, and the Vermont Progressive Party. He could even try for the Working Families Party nomination. But a national campaign is a lot of work for someone as old as Sen. Sanders.
The advantage of running a challenge to Hilary Clinton in a small number of Democratic primaries is that his campaign can be done on limited resources and with limited time on the campaign trail. Just the fact that he is a candidate has gotten him on MSNBC several times already.