Independent President in 2020?

Point: A Blue Wave in November 2018 will energize a new generation of democratic leadership stimulating both new leadership in the House and new candidates to run for President in 2020. Do you agree?

CounterPoint: INDEPENDENT IN 2020?  NYET.

So far, Bloomberg has said he would run as a Democrat now, instead of as an Independent.

No other Independent has $2 billion to blow, which is what it would take. Ballot access in each of 50 states poses a set of hurdles for any Independent candidate; the rules vary. We do not have a National election; it is a Federated election in 50 states. Hillary and the DNC forgot that.

She won 66m votes to 63m votes for Trump, but 6m of her votes were in CA and NYC alone.  The other 48 states will not let LA and the five burroughs of NYC pick the President. That’s the deal. The President will NEVER be chosen by popular vote, because that Constitutional Amendment would require approval in 38 states. Finito.

The most an Independent candidate could do is play spoiler (remember Ross Perot… if you don’t youtube it), win a couple states (maybe) and bounce the election into the NEW House of Representatives (the one convened in Jan. 2021), where each State gets just one vote.  That might favor smaller but more numerous Red States.  Again, Democrats are piled up in urban enclaves among fewer Blue states.