WorldNetDaily: Founder of Minutemen targets run for president

The man involved is Jim Gilchrist, not Chris Simcox, who has been at the forefront of Minuteman operations for the last year.

He and the Constitution Party look like a near-perfect fit. On three issues--unlawful presence in the country, the role of an irregular militia, and the right to keep and bear arms--Jim Gilchrist represents a direct practical application of principle. Why wouldn't the CP's have him bear their standard? (And in fact, they're highly enthusiastic about the idea.)

The article also mentions that Rasmussen survey I spoke about earlier--the one suggesting that a third-party ticket running on a border-security platform would tie the Democrats and defeat the Republicans in the popular vote. The problem: that survey made no projections on whether that hypothetical third party could carry any States, thus electing delegates to the Electoral College. (See also here.) If all that Mr. Gilchrist did was to tip the scales toward the Democrats--well, for one thing, the movement to abolish the Electoral College would die, but for another, the Democrats would create a worse problem.

Still, this is the best opportunity that any third party has ever had. Most third parties spring up when the two major parties are slow to recognize new issues and voting blocs. They then die when the majors co-opt their issues and blocs. But this time, the two major parties are ignoring the immigration issue--which is not the way to make a third party go away. You can safely ignore an issue only when it isn't important to a large enough group of voters--and if Rasmussen's data are at all accurate, that assumption is totally untenable.

If today's boycott/general strike provokes the kind of backlash I predict, then you can expect to hear more from the Minutemen and possibly the CP. Stay tuned.