Leaked audio from the No Labels delegates meeting shows a group of people who can’t find a candidate and may never find one.
Greg Sargent wrote about the leaked call in The New Republic:
At the end of the call, No Labels National Convention Chairman Mike Rawlings said it was essential for the group to “see a path to the White House.” He acknowledged: “We don’t have a candidate. And it is possible that in the end we will not find a suitable candidate.”
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“All of the prominent candidates contacted by No Labels declined,” Third Way’s Bennett told me. “This is because it is clear that their ticket is a road to nowhere. No serious person wants to end up in single digits nationally while helping Trump win.
Joe Manchin, Nikki Haley, Larry Hogan and Kyrsten Sinema rejected No Labels. No one with a national name wants to run on this ticket when it’s clear the only thing they could accomplish is putting Trump back in the White House.
No potential candidate wants to go down in history as the person who brought about the end of American democracy.
No Labels has not been transparent with its process. The news had to leak because the organization does not allow the media to observe its decision-making process, which is another way to protect them from public accountability and the democratic process.
The third-party race may never happen. It’s already March and No Labels can’t find any credible national figure willing to run for president on its ticket.
The media hypes No Labels because they only care about drama and horse racing, but the rest of the country should be very concerned and be sure not to fall for something that looks more and more like a gift that could fall apart.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a member of the White House press pool and a congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a bachelor’s degree in political science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
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