Unlike Libertarians, Kristol's Candidate Will Be No Factor

Like Donald Trump, I am still waiting with baited breath to hear who Bill Kristol’s “impressive” third party candidate will be. Of course, whoever it is will probably have very little bearing on the outcome in November mainly because of the difficulty in getting onto the ballot in many states at this late date.  In Texas, for example, the deadline for getting on the ballot has already passed and in North Carolina, around 90,000 signatures need to be filed by June 9th – that’s not going to happen since we don’t even know who the candidate is yet.  Many other states have large signature requirements and filing dates in early August so it will take a pretty substantial financial and organizational effort to  get that done.  The reality is that, whoever Kristol’s candidate is, they will probably only be on the ballot in a handful of states at best. The Libertarian party, on the other hand, is virtually assured of being on the ballot in all 50 states, which is why that party’s ticket of Gary Johnson and William Weld actually poses a significant threat to take votes away from Trump.  Kristol, as usual, is just blowing smoke – his candidate, whoever that is, will be essentially irrelevant.