Politics (formerly Election 2012)

[Arnock]

The problem is, congressional elections have far less visibility than presidential, and consequently even less voter turnout. So it would probably be even harder to gain a lot of momentum behind a third party/independent candidate.

[Skye1013]

Makes me wonder how we went from the original parties to the current ones... are they the same parties with different names?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_po ... al_parties

It's not like there has been a lack of other options.

[Koatanga]

The problem is, congressional elections have far less visibility than presidential, and consequently even less voter turnout. So it would probably be even harder to gain a lot of momentum behind a third party/independent candidate.

I agree.

But the point is that by making a statement with your Presidential vote, you are making a statement in the least effective place. Republican and Democrat Congressmen must just laugh at these "statements", knowing that their two parties' hold on the real power base isn't even being challenged. You might as well protest Taco Bell by picketing outside of a Burger King.

[Fridmarr]

The tea party, while not really a traditional third party did have a noticeable impact, and they targeted a few republicans too. At the local level, the smaller turnouts really can help the third party candidates. So I'd agree that that seems like the best option to build a foundation.

[Fivelives]

The problem with third parties is that they simply don't get any media coverage, unless they're grossly, disgustingly rich. Or, they'll get bad media coverage, which in a presidential election is worse than no media at all.

Easy solution would be to hold debates asynchronously over the internet and let ALL of the candidates participate. Make the change now, or at least Soon™, so that by the time every household in the US has internet that can handle something like Youtube it would be the new status quo.

[Tev]

Everyone vote for Invisusira of the Nyan Cat party.

[Melathys]

I think an American Idol style presidential election could work, lol. probably be better than the way it is currently......

[Fivelives]

I think an American Idol style presidential election could work, lol. probably be better than the way it is currently......

More votes are cast for American Idol over the course of a season than any presidential election in history. In 2008, there were 122.4 million votes cast for president. American Idol tallied up 97.5 million votes on the finale alone. And the '08 elections had the highest turnout in the history of the US.

[Fetzie]

How many are repeat voters though? Some people love giving Simon Cowell money and vote more than once per episode.

[Fivelives]

I don't know. I'm pretty sure they never release their raw vote data, but it's not really a subject that I follow religiously.

[Fridmarr]

Well repeat voters plus a bunch of voters who aren't eligible to vote for president because of their age.

[firstamendme]

There are youtube videos of teenage girls literally spam voting on their cell phones for the duration of the show. The comparison is hardly valid.

[Melathys]

lol. I think everyone is taking the idea a bit too literally. I said style, not "make it exactly the same".

That said, it would be an interesting thing for a third party to do to pick a candidate. Might finally give a third party the exposure needed to compete with the big two.

[Koatanga]

You've hit on a great new idea for a reality TV show. Have a bunch of people audition to be an independent Presidential candidate, then each week the finalists tackle a different issue. Americans vote for their favourite, Idol-style. By the end of the show, the remaining candidate should have received enough exposure to make a credible run at the Presidency.

On the other hand, it'll probably be like Idol - the person who wins rarely has much of a musical career.

[Fetzie]

They usually get a first album at the top of the charts though.