Current Events > Politico op-ed: Biden should run as an independent alongside Mitt Romney

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/12/11/biden-2020-running-mate-romney-222861

Now heres what Biden should do next: Pick a Republican running mate in a trans-party third-party run for the White House.

Should Trump run again, this could be a break-the-glass moment for many Americans, creating an opening for a radical departure from our malfunctioning two-party political system. By injecting some ideological innovation into the process, we can break the hidebound precedents of two narrow parties running their ceremonious and illogical nominating process to select a candidate. (Why do Iowa and New Hampshire play such outsized roles? Why do independents, who outnumber both Democrats and Republicans, have only a binary political choice?) The system certainly suffered a critical failure in 2016, with both parties producing terribly flawed candidates in a race to the bottom.

The Democratic primary is shaping up to be cacophonous and chaotic. Biden should capitalize on his status as one of Americas most popular politicians, skip the risk and potential indignities of running and losing in what will be a vicious and mulish, leftward-lurching primary, and slingshot straight to the general election debate stage on a third-party ticket. Biden may not know it, but he is already well-positioned to win a three-way election outright. Heres how:

Biden could run as the major third-party candidate with a principled conservative by his side (Lieberman, a one-time Democrat, technically categorized himself as an independent at the time McCain ran for president). A number of Republicans stand out: Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, outgoing Ohio Gov. John Kasich and newly minted Utah Sen. Mitt Romney. Many past third-party bids have failed because they came from the lunatic fringesthink Jill Stein and Ralph Nader of the Green Party or Ross Perot with his quirky North American Free Trade Agreement obsession. Biden, by picking someone from the principled wing of the GOP, would instantly signal that he intends to run from the center.

And Biden, as a two-term vice president, has another characteristic past third-party candidates have lacked: enough name identification to make him an instant contender. Building the name to run nationally outside the two-party system is just too long and expensive of a process to accomplish in the 24 months before the 2020 election. Instantaneous recognition is crucial because the candidate must start out in striking distance in any three-way poll against Trumpwho has the ability to command the news cycle with a single tweetand a fill-in-the-blank Democratic nominee.

The top of the ticket needs to come from the center-left, because he or she needs to get a plurality of the vote in the blue states Hillary Clinton won (227 electoral votes), yet be moderate enough to win a plurality in some combination of Trump states such as Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan (another 119 votes). [Antifar's note: I don't think Hillary's lack of moderation cost her these states] A bipartisan ticket might even put purple states like North Carolina, Ohio and Indiana in play. A right-leaning candidate at the top of the ticket wont work, though: He or she would meet the same fate as a primary challenger to Trump. Around 36 percent of voters wont be cleaved from Trump under any circumstances, so the deep-red states would be off the table entirely.

What about policy? A Biden-led bipartisan ticket would pledge to serve a Cincinnatus-like single term and address all of the U.S.s ticking time bombs like Social Security, Medicare, health care reform, climate change, money in politics, immigration, gerrymandering and infrastructure investment in four years.

You ever want to die?
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There is more to this article, including the ludicrous idea that Mike Bloomberg would have won any states in 2016, but let's read a bit about the author:

Juleanna Glover has worked as an adviser for several Republican politicians, including George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Rudy Giuliani and advised the presidential campaigns of John McCain and Jeb Bush. She is on the Biden Institute Policy Advisory Board.

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What an awful sounding idea imo.
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Do it for the lulz
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I'd almost vote for them just to keep this clusterfuck going
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Was zum Teufel
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would definitely be more likely to vote for Biden - Romney than Romney - Biden.
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Obviously we don't know who the democrats are going to run, but just assuming for the moment they keep leaning towards the left as much as they are, I could vote for Biden/Romney.

If the dems are smart they find a likeable blue dog type, though.
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I would actually vote for this if it's Hillary v Trump again. That way I wouldn't "waste" a vote on Gary Johnson. Not that I believe it was a wasted vote because I can look myself in the mirror every morning.
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SauI_Goodman posted...

I would actually vote for this if it's Hillary v Trump again.

That's less likely than this happening
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SauI_Goodman posted...

I would actually vote for this if it's Hillary v Trump again. That way I wouldn't "waste" a vote on Gary Johnson. Not that I believe it was a wasted vote because I can look myself in the mirror every morning.

Yeah I voted for some bald guy I forget the name of now, but at least it wasn't Trump or Hillary.
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He's got Bidens full of woman!
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I've seen some shitty takes before, but this one nearly takes the cake.
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TC do you have a job? This is what, the 7th or 8th topic you've made today?

i would vote for them over trump or hillary.

CE: "The two main parties suck and I would never vote for either."

Also CE: "RUNNING AS INDEPENDENT? Are you a motherfucking idiot?"
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How long are people going to pretend Hillary is running again? I mean, I welcome idiots continuing the attacks on her instead of the actual nominee contenders, but it's still pathetic.
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rikasa posted...

CE: "The two main parties suck and I would never vote for either."

Also CE: "RUNNING AS INDEPENDENT? Are you a motherfucking idiot?"

The two main parties do suck. Combining the two will not fix that!
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rikasa posted...

CE: "The two main parties suck and I would never vote for either."

Also CE: "RUNNING AS INDEPENDENT? Are you a motherfucking idiot?"

It's not truly "running as an independent" if you have a life-long Democrat and a life-long Republican running
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I love when Republicans essentially say "For Democrats to get our vote, they should run a Republican platform or candidate".

But even ignoring the person behind the article, every "unity ticket" is just "You may say all politicians are the same and both parties are the same, so you have no choice. Well this November, we show you that's true!"
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