Left this over at Ralph Nader's new website. I don't support his presidential bid but I offered up my 5/25 plan yet again. Short review: Third parties shouldn't contest every damn seat but focus on 25 house seats and five senate seats and fully fund them at 1 million per house seat and 2 million per senate seat. That's not a minor amount but given what we've seen Ron Paul and Barack Obama do I really think that's possible. If the Netroots really wants to put the fear of god into the Democrats stop giving them money even when they screw you. Even though Regina Thomas lost, run somebody in the general as a death sentence. Pick five pro Fisa, pro Iraq dems and tell them to "Suck on This" as it were. Recruit Hollywood hard. Real hard. Run canvass based, internet based campaigns as cheaply as possible. Stir and then bake.
Here's what I wrote over there:
I'm with Joe on this one. Run for Joe Biden's senate seat. Actually, as a senator, you can do something pretty powerful. You can use the filibuster. In fact, I have something called the 5/25 plan which I wish independent parties would use. You don't need to contest all the seats. You just need 25 house seats and five senate seats and use those numbers as voting blocs. Here's the important thing abut those 5 senate seats, you would need those senators to use the old fashioned filibuster as a group. You would'nt necessarily have to win but with five senators working together you could change things. You could at least use it to counter the GOP filibuster. Who knows. Perhaps they would get rid of the filibuster which would be fine in that its used to defeat mostly progressive measures all the time. I really wish Ralph would go after Joe Biden's seat or, all those seats where you have DLC dems running against the GOP (nothing changes)...You do need to raise at least 1 million to contest a house seat and 2 million dollars to contest a senate seat using a paid field canvass (which I could run if anyone is asking) and internet media until the last few weeks of the election.
I think Ralph could win a decently funded campaign running against the two party system. I really think he could beat Joe Biden. I don't think he has a realistic chance at the presidency.
Philip Shropshire
www.threeriversonline.com
PS: I did some paid sig work for Ralph in Pennsylvania. Wasn't easy. I'm also a lifelong fan of Ralph and think he's the greatest journalist who ever lived.
Speaking of bad third party runs, looks like strictly symbolic Green Party candidate Titus North is about to make a go of it again.
Of course, there are some local races that just scream out for a third party run. How about a race against our GOP-lite. icon of machine corruption/incompetence, future DLCer Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl?
Nope. Gonna pass huh.
Well, how about Pro Fisa, Pro Iraq war insurance lobbyist jock Jason Altmire, who is one of the few Northern candidates to be targeted by Open Left as a Bush Dog Democrat?
Nyet again you say.
Certainly, it couldn't be US Congressman Mike Doyle, the guy who voted to slash Iraq War funding and just brought the entire FCC to town to fight for Net Neutrality, not him right?
Wrong.
Titus North is running against Mike Doyle. I guess, for a green, when you vote badly on coal issues it doesn't matter if you voted the right way in order to stop killing Iraqis. Thanks Titus. I'm glad that people who think that environmentalists don't have their priorities straight can't gloat too much about your decision to run. See clip below. I am impressed with his Japanese though.
Labels: bad third party runs, Ralph Nader, Titus North
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