Obama Will Face A Third Party Challenge Financed With Secret Hedge Fund Cash. Who Is The Mystery Candidate?

As we all focus our attention to President Obama’s reelection chances and the GOP nomination circus, a quiet challenge that threatens to completely shake up the 2012 race continues to grow day by day. Americans Elect, a third party effort financed by secret donors, including some in the hedge fund industry according to Tom Friedman, is on track to gain ballot access in all fifty states. (The group is using Arno Political Consultants, a group linked to scummy GOP voter fraud efforts. Arno is currently hiring an army of signature gathers via Craigslist to put Americans Elect on the ballot. I actually encountered one in Haight Ashbury over the summer, who told me she had no idea what “Americans Elect” was all about, but handed me a pamphlet with an endorsement quote from NYT’s David Brooks.)

Who will head the Americans Elect ticket? Its a mystery. The group, which is led by an elite right of center “bipartisan” set including Fox News’ favorite “Democratic” pollster Dough Schoen, says it will allow the public to vote online to select the ticket. There’s a catch: the public can only pick from candidates chosen by Americans Elect’s “Candidate Certification Committee.” Moreover, its impossible to tell if Americans Elect will have an Internet voting system that can’t be rigged some way or another.

If Romney fizzles out by mid-summer, or the GOP nominates someone who can’t possibly win the general election, Americans Elect may become Wall Street’s Plan B to defeat Barack Obama. Here’s my idle speculation on who they might put forward:

– New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

– New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

– New York York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

– Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell.

– Former Governor Howard Dean.

– Former Senator Evan Bayh.

– CIA Director David Petraeus.

I really tried thinking of a member of the House who could possibly run, but came up empty. Eric Cantor would make an interesting VP candidate. Congressman Mike Pence seems pretty sure about his intention to run for governor of Indiana, sadly. Donald Trump has hinted that he’d like to run as the Americans Elect nominee, so I guess he’s worth mentioning.

I chose Dean and Bayh as example of Democrats with a track record of selling themselves for a quick buck (Dean, through his work for terrorist group MEK and other shenanigans through his law/lobbying firm; Bayh, there are endless examples). Either Democrat would drain votes from Obama and ensure a Romney or Gingrich ticket limps by in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio.