Politics: Nobody for President

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Politics Nobody for President The inevitable, glorious, $35 million failure of Americans Elect. By David Weigel Posted Wednesday, May 16, 2012, at 12:13 AM ET The founders of Americans Elect had a dream: A 50-state presidential campaign that would upend, smash, destroy the two-party system. Today, these founders admitted that it wouldn't work. No presidential candidate had survived the first round of the online primary. At least $35 million had been spent on absolutely nothing. Well, not quite nothing. We have three new tips for the next coalition of enlightened people who want to save American democracy. 1) Do not launch by telling the New York Times you've got "serious hedge fund" money. 2 ) Do not rent "swank offices a stone's throw from the White House." (Avoiding the serious hedge fund money could probably help with this.) 3 ) Don't confuse the good intentions of Tom Friedman with an idea that makes sense. Just how badly have they failed? To survive the primary, a candidate needed at least 10,000 supporters, 1,000 each from 10 states. Americans Elect claimed to have 420,000 or so such supporters. But Buddy Roemer, the former Louisiana governor turned Occupy sympathizer, had surged to the top of the pack with around 6,000 declared supporters—total. When I reached him on Tuesday, Roemer was doing his clap-for-Tinkerbell best for Americans Elect. "They aren't giving up," he told me. "They will decide Thursday from what I'm told. They can't get rid of me that easily, man!" Sure, but what if they disappear? The Americans Elect die-off comes just over four years after the ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Americans Elect Spends Millions, Doesn't Manage To Pick a Third-Party Presidential Candidate Can Fox Repeat Its New Girl Success With Mindy Kaling? The Wire vs. Treme: David Simon Stages a Battle of the Bands	Advertisement
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