If former New York Mayor
Michael Bloomberg decides to toss his hat into the presidential ring as an independent alternative he could bring about a centrist revolution, writes author Charles Wheelan at
U.S News & World Report.
Bloomberg said he will make a decision by March, and it will be affected by whether businessman Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination or Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders wins the Democratic nomination. The ex-mayor thinks both candidates are too extreme.
Wheelan, author of the book "The Centrist Manifesto" and an advocate for a new centrist party, believes Bloomberg could see that dream come to fruition simply by running.
If Bloomberg runs, Wheelan argues, it would make it less likely that any candidate would win a majority of electoral votes as required by the Constitution. If that happens, the presidency would be decided by the House of Representatives.
Each state delegation would be given one vote. And since most state delegations are majority Republican, they might just elect the GOP nominee.
That would be a nightmare scenario for Wheelan and have opposite effect of Bloomberg's intent. But Wheelan sees two other possible outcomes he would find acceptable.
Perhaps moderate Republican delegations would unite with Democrats to elect Bloomberg – or Bloomberg might actually win enough electoral votes without the decision being thrown to the House.
One other possibility would be Bloomberg not running after all, but using his vast wealth and popularity to form a new centrist movement.
"Broadly speaking, this is the political realignment that needs to happen anyway," Wheelan writes. "America needs three political parties, or even four, as in most European parliamentary systems (hard left; center left; center right; far right) with the governing coalition typically drawn from the middle two and the extreme parties serving as a populist 'escape valve.'"
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