Consider this very sad but certain fact: the two parties and the politcians in office are not going to get any better any time soon. If we cannot get the critical mass we need in 2008, and we haven't given up yet, we have two more years to build the base and then try again. We've made phenomenal progress to date and our momentum continues to build. It is reasonable to assume if the Democratic presidential primaries weren't so close, GOOOH would have already bubbled to the top of the nation talk-radio circuit. Let's see what happens after the March 4th primaries.

Until then, and thereafter, let's continue building our base of supporters and perfecting the questions.

Thanks for the link, I see what you mean.

At one level, this is the process that seems most likely to succeed.  If you look at the Constitution Party, they have peaked for previously mentioned reasons.  America will not get better w/ what is going on now.  The existing parties can't fix it -- they are too corrupt.  How does GOOOH approach this -- by attacking what has caused the corruption:

1) Term limits to limit exposure to corruption

2) Financing only through the party, so no favors to special groups

Then, the american people are free to advance based on what is good for others, not on self-interest.  I haven't seen any third party group address the root problem like Mr. Cox has.  It is too his credit, and so I think this is the last best hope for changing things in the US for good.  (Consider that both big parties are now bought and paid for by Billionaires, certainly doesn't leave much up to the average joe)

Honestly, this will likely fail ( I put odds at 1 in 4) , but we've got to try -- we can't let our country zoom into some sort of brick wall...at the helms are people who don't care how it will affect us..

Ok, I understand what you're saying. Goooh does have, potentially, a larger supporter base. But I was thinking about our current supporter base, our current money base, and our current political power base. Even though goooh may be a great idea, it will be extremely difficult, more likely impossible, to elect anyone. I'm not sure when goooh went public; sometime in September, October, or November, I think. But now it's almost March, and we haven't seen many signs of progress. All during this time, Tim has been doing various small-time media appearances around the nation, in local talk shows and so on. But now, 4 or 5 or 6 months in, what have we gained? We have almost no money and very few people actively campaigning and gaining votes for goooh, and certainly not enough to win a single national office. You might want to look at what John said about this:

http://www.goooh.com/ShowThread.aspx?ForumID=12&ID=592

Regarding their different sizes -- I think really you can look at the Constitution Party as having reached its max appeal unless it is willing to change the way it presents itself.  It has as you said about 330,000 members.  Consider that their approach appeals to the religious right (of which I am a member) -- which is capped at around 37 million voters, of which 2/3rd voted for Republicans and 1/3rd voted for democrats -- so at max 24 million, plus their hyper small government doesnt' appeal to the Huckabee religious right republicans -- which is about 1/2rd -- so the pool of voters that the CP can appeal to is about 12 million people.  That is the effective cap of their growth.  (I think there are a number of other caps, but can't think of them off the top, so I'll stop there).  The cap on their candidates are essentially people who agree with them nearly 90% ideologically which is even less.

Plus add to that the fact that the CP party doesn't field many candidates -- focused mostly on the Presidential race, and having very few congressional candidates.  Consider that the GOOOH approach has viritually unlimited appeal (e.g. limited by the number of voters and the number of candidates), and has a primary focus of getting people in Congress to represent the people with accountability built in.  Because their focuses are different and their appeals are different, you will see different results. 

I'd take 100 candidates campaigning, honestly -- if 5 or 20 candidates succeeded (and thus GOOOH was able to capitalize on the low approval for congress).  Then you can build on that in 2010 -- and say: "Look, we have been faithful to our districts, faithful to our people, and haven't sold out.  We have been trustworthy with little, please trust us with more." 

Take my district -- it will go away in 4 years due to the shrinking population, the Republicans are offering no fight for the race, and the only person is an incumbent and a democratic challenger.  This is the opportune time for someone to place a conservative person as an alternative. 

Not sure I properly answered your question -- trying to do it from memory...

You've addressed the appeal of the ideas of goooh, but you haven't said anything about their different sizes. The Constitution Party has 366,937 national members, a great deal of money, and 0 representitives. We probably have about 100 actively involved members, at most (those who are actively campaign for and support goooh) and maybe 5000 or so passive members, those who would just vote for a goooh candidate if they're on the ballot. But as Tim said recently, goooh hasn't been getting many donations at all recently. And without money or active supporters, we can't hope to pull this off, even if it is a good idea.

How can we have hope when the 3rd largest doesn't have squat?  Well, a few things:

1) The Constitution Party (CP) is often viewed as a single issue party.  How they are viewed typically depends on the viewer.  Some view it as the anti-war party [very big Ron Paul supporters].  Some view it as the anti-abortion party.  Some view it as the wacko-conspiracy theorist party.

2) The CP has a condescending and arrogant approach which quickly alienates people who may agree with 80% of their positions.

3) The CP has largely peaked because the views they hold are not mainstream, and their efforts to educate votes usually run afoul because of #2.

4) The CP doesn't respond much to inquiries (or quickly).

So.. how is GOOOH different?  From my perspective (I just signed up today)

1) The candidates GOOOH will pick will be best for the district -- they will have the broadest appeal for the issues that are important to the district.

2) The CP is open to discussing things and views this as a democratic process.  With minimal exceptions, there are no "take it or leave it" positions.  People who care can be attracted and make a difference without having to compromise (presuming the candidate subscribes to term limits and accountability) on what they care about.

3) GOOOH is new, and its timing is perfect.  There is dissatifaction with congress, with the major parties. And people feel like they can contribute.

4) I've made an equal number of comments / inquiries with both the CP and the GOOOH groups and have been amazed at the contrast in timeliness.  I haven't heard back from the CP yet on any inquiries.

My 2 cents, but you may gather I am impressed with GOOOH :-)

Sean

How is this going to be possible? If the 3rd largest party has no seats, how could we get any?

(first post here!!)

I say: shoot for the stars: 435.  But be happy with even 5 wins.  Think about how many congressman the "largest 3rd party" (Constitution Party) has: 0.  Any number greater than that should be counted as a success.

going for all 435!

After a couple of GOOOH terms, the best Representatives should run for the Senate, or Governor, or whatever. There are millions of qualified Americans. We can replace all 435 every two or four years and not miss a beat. Any intelligent person will be able to study the issues and vote in an informed manner. Think of how much experience we had in the House in the very first session. Trust in the people. Give this process a chance to play out. You will be thrilled with the quality of the candidates.

As for the 11-22 seats that could possibly be attained by GOOOH, per previous posts:

Twenty-two more "no" votes would have prevented a lot of bad legislation.