There was some serious talk that Sarah Palin might form a third party after she left the governorship of Alaska. The argument goes that while the elites of the Republican Party -- Peggy Noonan, David Brooks, William Kristol -- have all but dismissed her, Palin still has significant support within middle America. There is, of course, a strong tradition of "outsider" third party political candidates storming the heartland, attacking the eggheads -- from Millard Fillmore to Theodore Roosevelt to Palin supporter Pat Buchanan.

There are benefits to a Sarah Palin third party. If Palin were to run as a "Know Nothing" candidate, she would probably purify the Republican party of political toxins such as fringe groups like the "Birthers" and, we cannot fail to note, the outright sour tea-partying racists. The AM talk radio crowd and all that. Such an event would allow the Republican party to evolve into something more 21st century, multicultural-friendly without the dead weight of the past. The Democrat and Republican Parties could then conceivably have a grown-up conversation about the direction of the country without the knuckleheads in tow. The Republicans would probably veer towards sounding more like the consensus-building David Cameron of the UK (accelerating a perhaps inevitable party trend). Finally, a Sarah Palin-led third party would probably garner about as many votes as George Wallace, who in 1968 received less than 10 million. Significant, yes, but that run is essentially relegated to the dustbin of history.

In many ways the Palinites, the Birthers and the anti-Obama-at-all-costs crowd are more dangerous exerting their influence within the Republican Party.

[Image: LAProgressive]