For conspiracy types

David Broder wrote the following in last week's Washington Post (of which I am using the Indianapolis Star's version):

Given how tarnished the Republican brand is, the GOP's best strategy is to bring Democrats down with them into the murky depths of public disapproval. This might build support for a third-party candidate in 2008 -- which could help Republicans win by splitting the anti-Bush, anti-system vote. It's still early, but not too early for Democrats to worry about this prospect and to brace themselves for some ugly politics for the rest of the year.

Today's New York Times covers New York Mayor Bloomberg's transformation from Republican to Independent with an article containing this proposal:

Which opens the door to a Swiftian modest proposal, one that might appeal to any billionaire independent presidential candidate who knows the art of a deal: Rather than try to win the White House outright — a long shot — an independent candidate could instead try for a king-making (or queen-making) bloc of votes in the Electoral College.