Former Maine Gov. Angus King joined a group of national political activists Tuesday who vowed to assemble a presidential campaign ticket in 2008 with candidates from different parties in order to reduce partisan gridlock.
However, the proposal faces significant political and technical hurdles.
“We’re trying to create a mechanism whereby a leader can emerge,” said King, an independent who served two terms as Maine’s governor. “It’s a laborious state-by-state process. There’s no other way to do it. But it can be done.”
The program, called Unity08, was organized by national figures such as Democrat Hamilton Jordan, who was chief of staff to former president Jimmy Carter, and former Republican consultant Doug Bailey.
The effort follows the path set by Ross Perot, the third-party candidate who got more votes in Maine in 1992 than the incumbent, former Republican President George H.W. Bush. Perot got 206,820 votes statewide to Bush’s 206,504, though both trailed the eventual winner, Democrat Bill Clinton, who had 263,420.
The difference is that Unity08 seeks to unify voters behind a candidate, rather than have a candidate such as Perot create a Reform Party. By linking candidates from different parties, Unity08 hopes to bridge the partisan divide on issues such as education and health care.
“We’re worried about the future of the country and the ability of the current political structure to deal with the issues confronting the country,” King said during a conference call with reporters.
Unity08 aims to hold its national convention by Internet voting some time in the first half of 2008.
By waiting until after Democratic and Republican candidates have been chosen, prospective Unity nominees can decide whether they’d have a chance of winning against the established parties.
“At some point, a Democrat or a Republican is going to have to decide which horse they’re going to ride,” King said. “There’s going to be a lot of time for them to assess their own chances.”
Significant challenges remain. Perot and third-party candidate George Wallace before him got on ballots in all 50 states. But the nomination process varies from state to state. In Maine, for example, a candidate must collect 4,000 signatures to get on the ballot.
Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia, said rules have been relaxed in recent years to allow more names on the ballot. But it costs money and takes a popular, grassroots movement.
“It can be done,” he said. “The question is whether anyone would vote for this ticket.”
Sabato suggested that a conservative Republican nominee and a liberal Democratic nominee could leave moderate voters looking for an independent ticket.
“I wouldn’t bet on it because all of American history tells us that it won’t happen,” he said. “But strange things can happen.”
King argued that the mechanism has to begin now in order to give voters a choice in 2008. It would be too late to organize such an effort after the party nominees are chosen.
The legitimacy of Internet polling remains another wild card. No states recognize Internet voting now because of security and privacy concerns.
“Internet voting is something for the future - if it ever happens,” Sabato said. “Even if you could work out the problems on identification codes, imagine how easy it would be to have people looking over your shoulder while you’re voting - even if it was just your spouse. The secret ballot would be gone.”
King said that technical problems could be overcome. “We believe that it can be done securely and in a solid fashion,” he said. “Can I tell you exactly how it’s going to work today? No.”
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