(New York) At first glance, the timing couldn’t be more propitious for the election of an independent or third-party candidate for President of the United States.
Posted 1:05 a.m. Updated 6:00 a.m.
Polls indicate that a good majority of voters do not want a resumption of the confrontation between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, whose age or integrity raise concerns.
PHOTO LINDSAY DEDARIO, REUTERS
Donald Trump, former President of the United States
These same polls also reflect the weariness of a large part of the electorate vis-à-vis the political contest in Washington, where partisan interests often take precedence over common sense, what is commonly called “common sense “.
PHOTO BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Joe Biden, President of the United States
In short, the organization No Labels could not have chosen a better moment to propose the idea of an independent ticket for the presidential election of 2024. A ticket dedicated to “Common Sense”, to use the title of its program, and composed of a member of both major American parties as candidates for President and Vice President.
“The majority of common sense people don’t have a voice in this country,” former Utah Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman said at No Labels’ first town hall meeting July 17 at the New Hampshire. “She’s just watching the big circus,” he added, speaking alongside Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin.
But where does the unease surrounding the No Labels campaign come from, an unease that translates among Democrats into the conviction that the organization’s project is nothing more than a Trojan horse for Donald Trump?
Before the explanations, a step back. No Labels was founded in 2010 by a Democrat – Nancy Jacobson, former Democratic National Committee Finance Chair – and a Republican – Mark McKinnon, a former George W. Bush strategist – to counter political polarization exacerbated by the rise of the movement populist of the Tea Party.
Over the years, No Labels has endorsed Democratic or Republican candidates for Congress who advocated so-called centrist ideas. The organization also helped create the bipartisan “Problem Solvers” group in the House of Representatives.
But, until now, she had never worked on launching a presidential ticket. Its current goal is to collect the signatures necessary to ensure a place for such a ticket on the ballots of each of the 50 American states. This is a tall order for which No Labels wants to raise $70 million.
The organization is giving itself until March 2024 to decide if it will present a ticket. For the moment, she describes her initiative as an “insurance policy” in case Joe Biden and Donald Trump face off against each other again.
It adds another condition to a possible campaign: an independent ticket must be sufficiently convincing and attractive to be able to win.
In the eyes of many observers, this condition should put an end to the No Labels project illico. As the history of the United States has demonstrated, the American electoral system does not favor independent or third-party candidates. In 1912, the most successful third party in history, that of former Republican President Theodore Roosevelt, won 27% of the vote, dividing the Republican vote and giving victory to Woodrow Wilson, the first Democrat to occupy the House- White in 23 years.
More than a century later, it is the turn of the Democrats to fear the division of their vote by a ticket supported by No Labels. But they are not the only ones to believe that independents or anti-Trump Republicans could be tempted to vote for such a ticket rather than for that of the Democrats. Such a vote could allow Donald Trump to style Joe Biden in certain key states and return to the White House.
No Labels swears it has no intention of spoilsport. Two of its leaders, including former independent senator from Connecticut Joe Lieberman, signed a declaration on this subject last May titled “Donald Trump should never be president again”.
“We do not believe there is any ‘equivalence’ between President Biden and former President Trump,” wrote Joe Lieberman and Benjamin Chavis, former president of the NAACP, a civil rights organization, while further emphasizing “the importance of finding common-sense, bipartisan solutions to our country’s problems.”
And would Joe Manchin do better on this front than Joe Biden, whose bipartisan achievements are far from negligible?
The finances of No Labels are as impenetrable as its logic. Until its ticket is known, the organization is not obligated to reveal the names of its donors. However, his critics suspect that there are several Republican billionaires there. One of them has already been identified: Harlan Crow, the most generous friend of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
And then there’s the issue of centrism, that fuzzy concept whose limits are reflected in No Labels’ position on abortion: “America must strike a balance between protecting women’s right to control their own reproductive health and our society’s responsibility to protect human life. »
But where is this balance? The No Labels program does not provide an answer to this question. And what about the fight against global warming? In response to a question on this topic at the town hall meeting in New Hampshire, Jon Huntsman spoke in favor of a carbon tax.
Joe Manchin, whose state exploits coal and natural gas, immediately rejected such an idea. Earlier in the evening, he had assured audience members that he was seriously considering running for president on the No Labels ticket.
“And if I enter the race, I will win,” he promised.
2023-07-31 05:05:59
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