No Labels faces tough challenges as third party

There are a group of Americans, intelligent people [with] considerable wealth and very determined, who believe that neither the Democrat nor the Republican has an answer to America’s future. They don’t particularly want President Biden, and they sure don’t want President Trump. And over the last few years, in an effort to break out of the gridlock which has troubled Washington and made it so hard to get anything done, they’ve worked very hard to create a concept called No Labels. And the idea behind No Labels is, let’s just get together, let’s not talk conservative, let’s not talk liberal, let’s just talk solving problems. And they created a Problem Solvers Caucus of Democrats and Republicans who try to work together.

Now they’re talking about putting a presidential candidate on the field. And they’ve done the homework. One of the hardest things about a third party is just getting on the ballot. I mean, there are some states where you have to have several hundred thousand petitions signed and checked, it’s got to be accurate, you got to be voters, they have to fill out the forms right, and it’s an expensive, daunting challenge to try to get in all 50 states. With a great deal of hard work, and the investment of a substantial amount of money, the No Labels team is going to be able, I think, to have somebody on all 50 states.

Now they have two big problems. What is their platform? That is what are you going to ask people to vote for, and then [sic] not been clear at all yet. It’ll somehow be in the center, it’ll somehow involve common sense, it would somehow be practical, it’ll be somehow focused on solving problems. Those are all good words. But my experience in politics is, it’s when you get down to the details, that all of that starts to break apart. So first, they have to think about what is their platform? What are they asking people to vote for?

Second, they have to have a ticket. And everybody agrees. They probably have to have a Republican candidate for president and a Democratic candidate for vice president. But who is it who is, on the one hand, mature enough and experienced enough that they could handle a presidential campaign, and on the other hand, not already with a voting record that turns off half the country? Because that is part of the problem. I think this means that they almost certainly have to go to governors, or to people in business, entertainment and sports, who’ve never run for anything.

Now, I don’t know where Tom Brady would fit into this, or a Taylor Swift who is actually not quite old enough. But you can imagine Oprah Winfrey, people talking about The Rock as a possibility. You know, there are a lot of people out there who are famous. Question is, do they want to run? Do they want to go through the news media? Do they want to be attacked by the Democrats and the Republicans?

So I think in the next two months, we’re gonna see a great moment in American history. Very smart, very serious people with considerable resources coming together because they truly believe that neither President Biden nor President Trump is the right solution, trying to find a ticket that is articulate enough, energetic enough, and has a big enough reputation that it can actually call, bring together, millions of Americans.

I was very surprised recently. I’m doing a podcast with Mark Halperin, who’s one of the smartest people covering politics, and Halperin said he thought there was a possibility that a No Labels third party could actually win, because he thought there was a gap there of people who didn’t want Trump and didn’t want Biden. I have to say, because I respect Mark so much, for the first time, I’m intrigued. I thought it was impossible. I still think it’s a huge mountain to climb. But I recommend pay attention to No Labels, see what they’re doing, and see whether or not in fact they’re just a flash in the pan or they’re a profound change in American politics.