A New Third Party on The Rise?

That seems the point to The Washington Post's Bipartisan Group Eyes Independent Bid.

I got to admit they have an impressive line up:

Conveners of the meeting include such prominent Democrats as former senators Sam Nunn (Ga.), Charles S. Robb (Va.) and David L. Boren (Okla.), and former presidential candidate Gary Hart. Republican organizers include Sen. Chuck Hagel (Neb.), former party chairman Bill Brock, former senator John Danforth (Mo.) and former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman.

Boren, who will host the meeting at the university, where he is president, said: "It is not a gathering to urge any one person to run for president or to say there necessarily ought to be an independent option. But if we don't see a refocusing of the campaign on a bipartisan approach, I would feel I would want to encourage an independent candidacy."

The list of acceptances suggests that the group could muster the financial and political firepower to make the threat of such a candidacy real. Others who have indicated that they plan to attend the one-day session include William S. Cohen, a former Republican senator from Maine and defense secretary in the Clinton administration; Alan Dixon, a former Democratic senator from Illinois; Bob Graham, a former Democratic senator from Florida; Jim Leach, a former Republican congressman from Iowa; Susan Eisenhower, a political consultant and granddaughter of former president Dwight D. Eisenhower; David Abshire, president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency; and Edward Perkins, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Maybe something is afoot? The Republicans writhe in agony over Huckabee or Guiliani. Or so the media pundits tell us they are. I grit my teeth over Hilary but she is better than anything on the other side of the fence. I am leaning more to Obama as I do not think Dodd or Richardson (men with talent, if not the gracefulness of Obama) do not light any fires. He has no foreign policy experience? Neither did the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., but Obama shows more intelligience on a bad day than George W does on his best.

That this conference includes Gary Hart caught my eye. Hart made his comeback a few years ago. We forgot how bright he was and maybe now I understand why he has been silent in this campaign. I wonder if maybe Al Gore took a page from Hart when he decided he liked not being a candidate. Both seem better people without their presidential ambitions.

Another item today got me thinking that a third party is on its way. The New York Review of Books sent is e-mail notice to me today. The next edition carries They'd Rather Be Right about the Republicans. I have not had time to read it all but I offer this as a relevant teaser:

What would be a rational Republican response to this grim state of affairs? Given both the apparent ideological heterogeneity of the candidates and the soul-searching taking place even in the pages of National Review about how badly conservatism has failed the country, one might think that the GOP in 2008 would disclaim at least some of its current radical conservative positions and inch back toward the political center.

For all the accusations hurled at the Democratic Party, I cannot recall anytime that we were as exultant about our ideological purity as the Republicans have been since 1980. The Republicans are nothing but a conservative party. What do they do now?

Looking ahead, I think the Democrats need to show not just that they have ideas but also competence. We can look at Anderson and Kris Ockomon and see what attacks will be coming toward incumbent Democrats.