Kristol Eyes Conservative Lawyer David French for Independent Presidential Run

[Purveyor]

Two Republicans intimately familiar with Bill Kristol’s efforts to recruit an independent presidential candidate to challenge Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have told Bloomberg Politics that the person Kristol has in mind is David French -- whose name the editor of the Weekly Standard floated in the current issue of the magazine.

French is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. According to the website of National Review, where French is a staff writer, he is a constitutional lawyer, a recipient of the Bronze Star, and an author of several books who lives in Columbia, Tenn., with his wife Nancy and three children.

Reached in Israel late Tuesday afternoon, Kristol declined to comment on his efforts to induce French to run. The two Republicans confirmed that French is open to launching a bid, but that he has not made a final decision. One of the Republicans added that French has not lined up a vice-presidential running mate or significant financial support. However, according to this person, some conservative donors look favorably on the prospect of French entering the fray.

In Kristol’s piece in the Standard’s June 6 issue, he argued that “the fact of Trump's and Clinton's unfitness for the Oval Office has become so self-evident that it's no longer clear one needs a famous figure to provide an alternative.” After mentioning Mitt Romney and other possibilities such as Judd Gregg and Mel Martinez, Kristol invoked French’s name and résumé, writing, “To say that he would be a better and a more responsible president than Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is to state a truth that would become self-evident as more Americans got to know him.”

Ever since Kristol tweeted on Sunday that an “impressive” independent candidate “with a strong team and a real chance” is now prepared to enter the presidential fray, the political world has been engaged in a fevered guessing game over whom that person might be.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-05-31/kristol-eyes-conservative-lawyer-for-independent-presidential-run

[UMTerp01]

1. What the entire hell?

[NightWatcher]

2. Needs to change his last name to Freedom

[jomin41]

3. Sorry, no more constitutional lawyers, please.

[sofa king]

4. Yeah, that name'll go over great with moron-Americans.

Or have they just conceded half of the Republican Party to Donald Trump?

[Initech]

5. This experiment will backfire on them big time.

[braddy]

6. I didn't realize that it would be as substantive as some lawyer that no one ever heard of.

[Hortensis]

7. A main purpose would be to redirect and rescue the

image of the floundering GOP. In spite of what those promoting him might say, a third-party candidate would not be expected to be able to win. Helping defeat the Democratic candidate or throw the election into the House would certainly be tried for, of course.

But if that couldn't be done, the candidate could still represent the kind of conservative values their voters currently lack a presidential choice to stand up for. This could prevent or severely cut down the numbers of Republicans and conservative indies turning to the Democratic or Libertarian Parties.

If he did well as a symbol of what their people feel is right about conservatism, a third-party candidacy might also help down-ticket candidates, who are at this point mostly desperately separating themselves from the guy at the top of the ticket.

Apparently a concern is whether the candidate could do well enough to get into the debates.