I posted the following as a response to the Tampa Tribune article. I am reposting it here since in my opinion these questions should be answered or debated by a representative from the Unity08 Founders to help keep people energized about this movement.
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The only way Unity08 will have any true clout is if the existing parties/candidates see an early groundswell of quantifiable support coming from this organization. To be a factor on election day, we must be a cohesive force of change today.
For this to happen, the movement must stage a physical convention and/or meeting, and either nominate or confirm a ticket, or pledge support to existing candidates in return for some form of consideration. And the movement must decide what our true mission statement is: to either attempt to elect an alternative candidate to office, or to influence the selection process of the existing parties.
It is unrealistic to expect to do both.
In my opinion, Unity08 is bypassing one form of political clout - namely money - to instead focus on creating another form of clout by using the power of the internet. This new unique process would be able to mobilize a huge number of deliverable votes for a yet unamed candidate who would promise to "buy in" to the Unity08 mission statement, and would pledge to adhere to the principles of centerist politics.
The above is the very definition of an advocacy group - not a third party, and it is a goal that is both reachable and desirable.
Anything past that goal constitutes a movement toward a third party - and if that is the true mission of this movement, then it is bound to fail unless there is a cohesive political network in every state with the aim of electing candidates to office at the state and local level.
If there is ever going to be a valid third party in this country, it will be built from the bottom up... in my opinion, nothing, not even the internet, will change that fact.
We deplore the policy in vogue in both political parties to ignore the center and court the base - but the only realistic way to change the process is to create our own bigger and more powerful base - a bipartisian group of moderates with real political muscle.
If Unity08 is to be a success, then the movement must pare down our mission statement to something that is realistic and attainable; the idea of actually electing a hand-picked president and vice-president based upon the current poorly-defined organizational umbrella is a fantasy.
To be effective, even as an advocacy group, Unity08 must influence the presidential selection process by showing our collective strength sometime between today and the start of the two major party conventions. After that, it will be too late.
I applaud the idea of a centerist political movement; it is long overdue, but we need to move up the organizational timetable and more clearly define our goals if we hope to achieve measurable results.
We should be in contact with representatives from both parties, not only to declare our intentions, but also to identify where our potential support is in the congress and senate. We should not ask these people to break with their party, we should ask them to embrace the principals that we stand for as an overriding goal.
The moderates in both parties can embrace our values without defecting from their existing party, and they can show support for us as a way of standing up to be counted. They will only do that (and mean it)if our collective support can insulate them from losing their seat come election time.
Representatives from this movement must be engaged with the national press. As of today (February 7, 2024), there is a distinct lack of communication from the Unity08 Founders - even though the movement has received national attention on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews". Why is this so?
A group such as this can only move forward or backwards - standing still is a sure route to failure. Other than Mr. Waterston's interview, there is virtually nothing coming from anyone closely connected with this organization and that is a shame.
The presidential race is already starting - if this organization is meant to actually do anything, then there should be measureable activity from within the organization.
Those of us who care about changing the elective process in this country deserve an answer on these basic questions of organization.
Jeff C
