Joe Manchin floats Mitt Romney as a potential running mate as he weighs a presidential bid

I'd vote for this ticket in a heartbeat over the garbage we're going to be stuck with in November. Doesn't matter which one of them was going for President. I'd also take a Larry Hogan ticket too. Hell, I'll even take Nikki Haley.

 

That wouldn't be too bad, and I also liked the Jon Huntsman with either too. Not sure if a 3rd party could pull it off this late in the race.

 

LOL

Man, is this election gonna suck....

 

That makes two of us. Let’s hope they get on enough state ballots. So far the No Labels party has ballot access in at least 14 states, worth 123 electoral college votes: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, South Dakota, and Utah. Signature gatherers have another 14 states in their sights between now and November.

Of course, how viable the No Labels Party will be depending on how much money they have to spend. It’ll take at least a billion dollars. Biden raised and spent 1.6 billion in 2020 to Trump’s 1.1 billion rounding off.

https://www.opensecrets.org/2020-presidential-race

I imagine Biden will have at least 2 billion to spend with Trump a distant second at 1.5 billion. Seems to me the two major parties are buying the presidency. No Labels it is for me also. It seems to me we have the best president money can buy. Will that continue, probably so.

 

If No Labels can get themselves on the ballot here in PA too, they'll get my vote.

 

I remember mom jeans romney being a thing here.

 

the guy from Utah with some gorgeous daughters? he seemed decent

 

If I recall correctly, Hillary Clinton spent far more money than Trump did in 2016 and she still lost, so money will only get you so far.

That being said, I can see how money is a problem for smaller, less well known parties and candidates. With Republicans and Dems flooding the airwaves it's going to be tough for anyone else to get a word in edgewise, and even when they do they're still going to get drowned out.

And with that being said, you'd think this would be a good year for other parties/candidates to get some name recognition and haul in a few votes.

 

From 1960 through 2020 the candidate with the most money won every presidential election except 2016. 2016 was unique in that Trump who was very media savvy knew how to manipulate coverage. He called into every morning talk show every day. His outrageousness earned him the top slot on the daily news delegating Clinton to basically the back page. Hillary relied on paid advertisements whereas trump was getting all this free publicity. Like that old showman, Trump’s motto was there’s no such thing as bad publicity, no publicity is bad. The only show Hillary appeared on was the VIEW. A show totally dedicated to Hillary. Hillary also went over 200 days without a press conference. In the end Hillary raised and spent 1.191 billion to Trump’s 646.8 million.

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/...-campaign-fundraising/?embedded-checkout=true

Another aspect about 2016 was Trump made 117 campaign visits, rallies, stops to Hillary’s 71. That 71 looks larger than what it was as it includes fund raisers in deep blue California and New York. In the deciding states, Trump made 5 visits to Wisconsin, Hillary 0, Michigan 6 for Trump, 1 for Hillary. Pennsylvania was closer, 8-5 Trump visits over Hillary’s. Even in electoral vote rich Florida, Trump held the edge there 13-8 over Hillary. Trump just outworked Hillary Clinton even though he was being outspent by almost a 2-1 margin.

Bottom line, Hillary Clinton became lazy. Perhaps she thought she had the presidency won. She was energetic throughout the primaries, but basically sat on her hands during the general election. Trump didn’t win the 2016 election, Hillary lost it.

And yes, it would be a great year for any third-party candidate with money to be competitive. We have around 30% of the electorate who are stating they’ll vote third party or not vote at all if the rematch occurs. This is due to the fact they dislike and don’t want neither Trump nor Biden to become the next president.

64% of all Americans state this country needs another choice other than Biden and Trump. 55% say they would consider voting for a moderate independent if the rematch occurs. Perhaps No Labels?

https://harvardharrispoll.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/HHP_Jan24_KeyResults.pdf

 

This seems like the biggest opportunity for a third party in my lifetime. Ross Perot had a chance in '96 (got my vote), but he made some political mistakes and was up against Clinton. Trump and Biden are the two oldest, most senile, and least popular candidates in history (maybe second to Clinton v Trump in 2016 in least popular), so a third party candidate would theoretically have a chance.
It might favor Trump, as his base is pretty avid (a supporter told me the other day Trump was the only one who could save America, and the world, from impending doom!)

 

I would like a Manchin/Kasich ticket. Or, Shapiro/Kasich. Huntsman would be another good one.

Of course, we all know that MAGA will vote Trump, no matter what, so a ticket like this would probably give the WH to Trump.

 

Another major factor was the political environment at the time, and with Trump it was very much "man meets moment". Anti-establishment fever was running hot in 2016, and Hillary was the ultimate establishment insider. Trump was an outsider who rode the anti-establishment sentiment all the way to the White House and likewise Bernie Sanders ran remarkably well against Clinton in the Democratic primaries. In just about every way she was the wrong candidate at the wrong time.

I'm one of that 30% (card-carrying Libertarian) and as a former Democrat and Republican I can personally relate to the widespread disaffection with both parties and their candidates. For the existing alternate parties - Libertarian, Green, No Labels, etc. - this is a golden opportunity for them to improve their existing positions and for new parties it's as good a year as it can get to launch themselves. I honestly hope all of these parties do significantly better this year because it might enable them to gain some traction and break the GOP-DP duopoly's monopoly on our politics. As both parties continue to trend towards their extremes (GOP/social conservative, Dems/socialist) and everything in between caves, the situation is only going to get increasingly more divisive and toxic. For lack of a better analogy, we find ourselves in something along the lines of a "Mother Nature abhors a vacuum" situation where the yawning chasm between the two parties is leaving more and more voters out in the cold with no party to call home.

To your question "Perhaps No Labels?", we're going to find out a lot about the leadership in the alternate parties and "movements" such as No Labels this year. The ones who have their act together are going to take advantage of this opportunity and the ones who aren't effectively led, organized, unified and capable of making themselves relevant to the American people and their lives are going to continue to labor in obscurity. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, I'm not terribly optimistic about the prospects of any of those parties and "movements" right now, but it's still early in the campaign and there's plenty of time for all of them to prove themselves.To be brutally realistic, I think any or all of them would do well to just attract more attention, members and votes for themselves this year and then build on that momentum in the future. Obviously, none of them have a prayer of winning the White House, but at least they can stake their ground and establish a presence, just as the Republican Party did in 1854. You gotta start somewhere...

 

Sounds good to me. Both are sane, honorable and moderate-conservative on almost all issues. Haley should definitely be a part of the admin, maybe as Sec of State. They would restore our sanity and credibility.

 

I agree, Hillary Clinton was definitely the wrong candidate at that time. I’m with you on breaking up the monopoly of our two-party system. I was so disgusted with both Trump and Clinton in 2016, I voted for Gary Johnson. It was my way of officially registering my disdain for both, registering my vote as being against both. I do have a habit of voting libertarian when I disliked both major party candidates.


The difference is in 1854, multi parties and candidates were the rule. At times you have 5 or 6 good candidates running from John Adams until the civil war. Today, the republicans and democrats write our election laws and they write them as a mutual protection act. If there’s one thing the two major parties agree on, it’s that no viable third party will ever rise. They make sure both major parties have automatic ballot access, then make everyone else jump through a million and one hoops just to get on the ballot. Then there’s money, the two major parties have all the well-heeled donors in their hip pockets. Look at 2020, Biden raised and spent 1.6 billion, Trump 1.1 billion, poor little Jo Jorgensen a bit less than 3 million. You’re not going to get much attention being outspent 2.7 billion to less than 3 million.


Then there’s the presidential debates, when Johnson looked like he might make that 10% threshold in the polls to be included, the so-called bipartisan debate commission raised the threshold to 15%. Our electoral system is rigged by the two major parties and all in their favor. But No Labels has a good start with ballot access. No Labels has ballot access in at least 14 states, worth 123 electoral college votes: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, South Dakota, and Utah. Signature gatherers have another 14 states in their sights between now and November.

 

No go for Joe...
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/16/politics/joe-manchin-president/index.html