Third Party Run?

Apparently former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman—a Republican—is pushing the idea of a third party run for the Presidency in 2012.

Here is Law Professor Ann Althouse's take on it:

Although Huntsman and Whitman are nominally Republicans, I can't read this without assuming their agenda is to help President Obama win reelection.  If you're with me this far, then, consider whether they've got a good strategy.  Would Huntsman, running as a 3d party candidate, draw more voters away from the Republican (presumably Romney) or from Obama? I'm picturing dissatisfied Democrats going for Huntsman in protest... people who feel that Obama has abandoned their segment of the "Obama Coalition."  It's harder to picture voters who'd be thinking of voting for Romney who'd get the idea of switching to Huntsman.  Why would anyone do that?

I am with Professor Althouse on this.

As a side note, that URL embedded in the quote is from a New York Times article from a week ago, talking about how the Democrats are abandoning the "white working class".

But preparations by Democratic operatives for the 2012 election make it clear for the first time that the party will explicitly abandon the white working class.

In a way, the article isn't about "abandonment so much as looking at the marginal cost of the marginal vote.  A sort of Hitch and McKean meet political operatives.

Regards  —  Cliff