Credibility outweighs party lines.

Matt Bai: I don’t think America is interested in more than two parties, because I don’t think America is all that interested in parties. But if the question is can somebody who is not a Republican or a Democrat win the White House, I would say absolutely. I mean the barriers to this that have traditionally existed have never been lower. Those barriers were money and the arcane laws of ballot access that the two parties used to keep people out of the process, and to keep them from engaging the public. Those two things simply . . . simply are less formidable than they’ve ever been. You can raise a ton of money online. You can . . . You can organize a ton of people in different states without having to spend a lot of money to go out and get you the ballot access you need. What’s . . . The only thing missing is the candidate. I mean it takes somebody who has tremendous credibility; and somebody . . . somebody of real stature; and not necessarily a billionaire because I think people are suspicious of that. But somebody who enjoys a lot of credibility and some celebrity in public life; and who is inspiring enough to you know . . . to get people to embrace a different . . . a different and more, you know, scarier direction. But I think it . . . I thought . . . I was writing 10 years ago that I thought it was more possible than it’s ever been. And I think it’s 10 times more possible now than it was then. And you know I don’t know. Maybe we’ve seen a handful of people who might have been able to pull it off. But we don’t see anyone . . . I don’t know of anyone out there on the horizon now who I think is the person to fill that role.

Recorded on: 12/13/07