# How late is too late for a 3rd party POTUS campaign?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-late-is-too-late-for-a-3rd-party-potus-campaign/744915>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [February 2, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-late-is-too-late-for-a-3rd-party-potus-campaign/744915 "2016-02-02T03:25:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-late-is-too-late-for-a-3rd-party-potus-campaign/744915/1 "2016-02-02T03:25:49Z")

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Looking at the current candidates and the lay of the land just makes me curious. How late can a 3rd party candidate can pull the trigger and still have a shot?

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**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-late-is-too-late-for-a-3rd-party-potus-campaign/744915/2 "2016-02-02T03:30:51Z")

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Well, never. No third party candidate _ever_ has a shot, no matter when s/he enters.

But Perot didn’t get in until late February 1992, so that’s probably our gold standard. It would take astounding name-rec and a ton of money to begin much later than that.

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**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-late-is-too-late-for-a-3rd-party-potus-campaign/744915/3 "2016-02-02T03:52:15Z")

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I think that Bloomberg would have a serious shot if it’s a Sanders/Trump race and early March would probably be the last reasonable point for him to enter. However it doesn’t look like Sanders/Trump is going to happen so I doubt Bloomberg will jump in.

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**Author:** ![NeonMadman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@NeonMadman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeonMadman)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-late-is-too-late-for-a-3rd-party-potus-campaign/744915/4 "2016-02-02T15:51:21Z")

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> [@andros](#):
>
> But Perot didn’t get in until late February 1992, so that’s probably our gold standard. It would take astounding name-rec and a ton of money to begin much later than that.

Similarly, in 1968, George Wallace announced his third party candidacy on February 8.

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**Author:** ![Nightfall1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@Nightfall1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightfall1)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-late-is-too-late-for-a-3rd-party-potus-campaign/744915/5 "2016-02-02T16:25:40Z")

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Lincoln was a third party guy. When did he get in?

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-late-is-too-late-for-a-3rd-party-potus-campaign/744915/6 "2016-02-02T16:41:43Z")

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> [@Nightfall1](#):
>
> Lincoln was a third party guy. When did he get in?

Not really. The GOP was founded in 1854, by which time the Whigs were extinct. [In 1860, it was down to the Dems and the Pubs.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1860) There were two third-party candidates – Breckenridge (Southern Democratic) and Bell (Constitutional Union) – but it was clear that they **were** the third-party candidates.