GOP insiders say they see 3rd party challenge if Trump is nominated

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

The logistical questions would be huge. Let's say they start right after a big Trump win on Super Tuesday. They'd need to get some guy on the ballot in all 50 states in very, very short order, and it'd have to probably be someone not currently running to not get in the way of sore loser laws, and it'd have to be someone who has no future in elected office that they'd be throwing away by ruining their reputation this way.

Basically it'd have to be Mitt Romney.

What about Huntsman?

Getting three percent of the vote would not look very good.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Of course if the GOP wanted to be cartoonishly evil, they could  rig the EC by getting on only a few  balllot lines, but then throwing everything and the kitchen sink to win those states, so nobody gets 270, and the House can simply award the presidency to the third place candidate. Very unlikely of course, but would be very amusing.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Of course if the GOP wanted to be cartoonishly evil, they could  rig the EC by getting on only a few  balllot lines, but then throwing everything and the kitchen sink to win those states, so nobody gets 270, and the House can simply award the presidency to the third place candidate. Very unlikely of course, but would be very amusing.

Am I misreading this - how would that prevent the Democrat from winning if he/she had 270+ EVs?

Let's say (in a completely absurd hypothetical), Trump wins Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina and Colorado while Hilary gets the other swing states; but Mitt Romney wages a strong campaign in Utah playing up on Mormon stuff. That would leave Trump with 269, Clinton 263 and Romney 6. Then it will be thrown to the House to elect whoever the mainstream wants. That would be a ridiculous scenario, but hypothetically it is all possible.